Light Through A Shield
by QueenofLattes
Summary: A debriefing package was waiting inside Steve Roger's apartment. He didn't expect it to be a girl. He may be a man out of time, and her heart was split in two, but she was there to guide him through monsters, magic, and the 21st century. "I think I've pretended way too long, but I'm scared to fall." "Well then, I'll catch you." (Slowburn Steve/OC/Bucky)(Endgame)
1. Chapter 1: Doors Open

**A/N: Enjoy the series as it takes you through the movies, Avengers (2012) to Infinity Wars with some short story surprises with my OC. Please do not put this in a community without my permission. You may PM me and ask me, otherwise please do not put it in the community without my consent. That is all I ask, thank you.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to its respective owners. I just own my OC. Writing for fun, and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 1: Doors Open**

 **Prologue**

"Alright guys, good show tonight, let's pack it up," Clint Barton said to his crewmembers behind them as they worked on dissembling the circus carnival at Coney Island. He clasped his hands together.

"Almost done, Hawk," his crewmen chanted in sync, as men carried boards on their shoulders, walking back and forth along the stage.

Clint smiled, and nodded, watching them pack up their show. He let out a tired sigh, and grabbed a hold of his neck, leaning his head back to stare up at the night skies over Coney Island, New York. He glanced out in the audience, eyes peering through the empty seats.

His eyes scanned down the last row once but then twice when he thought he saw someone slightly move. It was a woman. She blended within the seats so well; it would've been hard to miss her had she not moved only to rest her foot in front of the seat ahead of her.

Hmm…a woman sleeping in his carnival?

That was something that didn't happen to Clint Barton, master archer and known swordsman in his domain.

People usually liked his performances and they were usually in awe. They were not asleep.

Clint hopped down the stage and walked right over to her.

"Well, well," he whispered in a slight drawl. "What have we here?" He crossed his arms over his chest, and flicked his eyes up and down her small frame rooted to the chair. She looked like she was comfortable in her black sweater, arms crossed over her own chest. Her dark brown hair was long and curled around the crook of her shoulder, in a loose ponytail. Her sweater rose up and down with her quiet breathing and he could only vaguely see red and purple bruise marks along her waistline that made him frown.

Her spectacles had fallen off her nose, and was about to fall down to the floor, so Clint carefully reached for them and folded them in his hands.

The soft yet calloused touch of his fingers had woken her up. She blinked at the grogginess she suddenly felt from her dead sleep. She stretched her arms up, and Clint could fully see the bruise on her stomach in which the girl now suddenly became aware of, and she quickly shoved her sweater down.

Embarrassment aside, she suddenly realized who she was facing. It was him, Hawkeye, the master archer, and the famous swordsman. Her mind was reeling, and she couldn't form any complete sentences right now because she was so flustered at his presence in front of her. She glanced around her surroundings and noticed that the show was over. Another flood of embarrassment waved through her as she realized that she'd fallen asleep, and now she was going to have to make a quick get away to go home.

"Um," she tried to find her voice. "I'm sorry I better get going." She was about to get up from her seat, but he pushed her back down. She closed her mouth tight, and looked into his fiery blue eyes.

"No one falls asleep during my show and get's away with it," he said, feigning seriousness before he smiled slightly at her.

The tension disappeared between them. "Heh, you're funny," Zoe said.

"Sometimes," Clint said, handing her, her glasses. "I believe these belong to you?"

She looked at them and nodded. "T-thank you," she stammered, taking them from his large hands. Everything about him seemed to make her grow weak, and she just wished that she could run away right now. She put her glasses on the bridge of her nose, and now saw Hawkeye in full view with his costume. She couldn't help but turn pink at his slight bulging muscles, glancing curiously at the straps wrapped around his arms.

"You know," he began. "I never met anyone who slept through one of my brilliant performances before." He flashed her a brilliant smile.

She frowned. The cockiness he shown on stage returned.

"Well, don't let it go to your head," she said and then quickly realized the mistake she made. He arched an eyebrow at her. "Uh, I mean, look, I'm just tired. I've been here many times."

Clint squinted his eyes at her. "Yeah. I've seen you before. You've been in here a couple times with your parents. Your dad was really impressed with my performance. How come you came alone this time?" he asked.

She bit her bottom lip, feeling the cool air hit her rosy cheeks. "I just needed to get away. Every time I see your show, I dream that I could be up there too. But…" she sighed, and sat up in her seat. She rubbed her eyes together with her fingers. "It's never going to happen. Look, I'm sorry I ruined your ego, Mr. Barton, but I'm just going to go."

She said, and got up from her seat. She was about to turn and walk away until a thought occurred to her. Hmm, maybe he needed a thank-you or something. "Thank you for saving my glasses."

"I get thank you's all the time," he said. "What I don't get are names."

She drew in a deep breath, looking up at the huge Ferris wheel in the distance, all lit up in twinkling lights.

"Zoe Sawyer," she said, glancing back at him.

"You can stay if you want, Miss Zoe Sawyer," Clint said. "It takes a lot to bruise my ego. I do admire that you tried."

He continued to talk over her flustered face. "Since you like it here so much, you can be my stage sweeper. We could use the extra help."

Zoe let out a half-snort and covered her mouth to hide the blush forming on her cheeks. "You're _hilarious_! Is this how you get girls to bed?"

Clint's face turned brightly pink at that and he shook his head. "No," he scowled.

"Look, I'd love to stay, but I have a strict curfew," she cringed.

"How old are you?" Clint asked, glancing up and down her small size.

"That's really none of your business, but if you must know," he nodded at her and she arched an eyebrow at him of his persistence. "I'm twenty-two, and still live with my parents, unfortunately," she said. "So I kind of have to follow their rules. Yes, it does suck, but I have to," she stressed. She couldn't begin to tell him how much it sucked to be ruled by her parents at her age. She still felt like a little kid.

"I'm betting it sucks even more," Clint said, motioning a quick nod to her stomach, and Zoe winced.

She drew in a deep breath. "You don't know-"

"I know plenty," Clint said, his eyes gazing darkly at her. "I know more than you can imagine."

Zoe gulped. Did he really know what it was like?

"There's a job opening for the circus. We leave tomorrow at dawn, if you're interested." Clint said.

Zoe's eyes softened and hugged herself, feeling a little bit unconscious.

"Thanks, but I can find my own way out," she said softly, and turned to run away from him.

"Suit yourself," Clint said, watching after her as she weaved in and out of the bustling people of Coney Island.

 **~*A*~**

It was extremely late by the time Zoe entered her parent's penthouse in Manhattan. She took the train, and then rode the elevator in her parent's building. She leaned her head against the wall of the elevator, replaying the night over and over in her head. She'd love nothing more than to get out. But she couldn't. They wanted her to have a good education, go to NYU, and become something amazing like her workaholic father who worked with big time CEO's all over the globe. Her parents were so damn complicated it nearly drove her insane. One minute they could be super helpful and super sweet to her, but the next they were yelling and screaming and… Zoe bit back the bitter memory that threatened to come back. She was like playing tug-o-war with them.

She stepped off the elevator and stopped walking for a brief moment when she noticed the door was slightly cracked open. Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open, and walked inside her parent's massive sleek and modern penthouse, a place Zoe wasn't too fond of. It made her feel weird, and awkward. It wasn't her style anyway. She preferred the old-fashioned antique type if she had it her way, but she didn't.

"Mom?" she called, taking off her jacket. "Dad?" she asked, glancing around her surroundings. She half-expected them to be up, waiting for her, and ready to reprimand her for staying out too late with wine glasses in their hands, but neither seemed present. She hugged her jacket over her arms as she went in search for her parents.

She walked into the living room, and stopped dead in her trek. A hurtling scream escaped from her lips at the horrible sight before her own eyes. She ran over to her parent's mangled bodies twisted and matted in blood. Their faces pale and lifeless, staring upwards at her. She leaned over the bodies, and gasped. She knew it was stupid and probably pointless to feel for her mother's pulse, but she tried and placed two fingers against her mother's neck, but she felt nothing. Zoe swallowed hard.

"No," she whispered. "No," she repeated over and over again, as her hand stumbled for cell phone in her back pocket, she began calling for the police.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Miss Sawyer," A sharp voice in the dark pierced through her ears.

She looked up shakily, and searched for the corners of her living room. "W-who are you?" she asked tentatively, stepping back, nearly falling.

"My name is Director Nick Fury," he said. "And if you call that number, you'll be blamed for your parent's murder."

"But I…" she began but he held up a hand.

She eyed him curiously, glancing at the dark eeriness that seemed to swirl around him as he walked further.

"Didn't do it?" he asked. "We know. You were in Coney Island, drooling over a certain archer we've had our eye on for quite some time now."

Zoe sighed, the feelings inside of her tight in a jungle had loosened it's grip on her heart. "What do you want?" she asked. She didn't know what to feel right now, except she was just tired.

"A job opening just opened up for S.H.I.E.L.D. and we'd like you to be on it," Fury said, hands clasped behind his back. He was now underneath the chandelier lighting and Zoe could see him full frontal. He dressed in a black leather trench coat, and wore one eye patch. He reminded her of a pirate, and to be honest, he was kind of intimidating.

But did she have a choice? All of this looked bad right now.

"What's S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Zoe asked.

"It's something that your father worked for," Fury said. "He was a very good scientist and a very good man…until he got too deep with Hydra."

"Okay," she sighed, annoyed at the crypticness. "What's Hydra?"

"Our arch-nemesis," he said, a small smirk played on his face.

"My father couldn't have…" she said softly. "He worked with big companies all over the world. He was an entrepreneur, he traveled a lot…and…" she struggled to figure this out.

"That was his cover to protect his family." Fury said.

Zoe scoffed. "Right, _protect_ his family. If he was such a goddamn protector than why the hell did he do this to me?" she asked, lifting up her shirt to show Fury the bruises on her stomach.

Fury stared at those purple and deep red marks along her skin. "Well," he drawled slowly and tentatively. "You can blame Hydra for that."

Zoe sighed, and pulled her sweater down. She looked at Fury again, wondering who this man was. Every word out of his mouth seemed so damn convincing to her that she was considering the job offer, after all she was in between jobs right now, and she could use the money now that her parents were dead. But why would S.H.I.E.L.D., this unknown company to her, ask her for a job?

"Miss Sawyer," Director Fury said, walking around her parent's bodies in the middle of the living room. "We've been watching you, your whole life. We know what you're capable of," he said, taking out a file. He set it on the coffee table and she blinked at it. That was hers? She chewed her bottom lip, and didn't want to see it. "You're quite the actress, and you can keep your head full of secrets. You keep secrets from your best friends, and then they leave you. You're happiest on stage, performing for the arts. You're creative, that's where you excel. At one point in your life, you even helped stage a robbery for one of your best friends in Soho…" Fury said.

Zoe looked at him with dread. She wasn't proud of that, but she did it.

"Your father bailed you out and…" Fury said, stopping to see her facial expression change into a painful memory glossing over her face. She sat down on the sofa. "Yeah. Not so good times after all, huh Miss Sawyer?"

Zoe tried to fight the tears threatening to overwhelm her. "I just want it to go away," she whispered. "I didn't mean to get caught up in…" she swallowed hard.

"I know," he said. "That's why if you join S.H.I.E.L.D. and work for us, in hopes you can track down certain characters when we need them, then…perhaps we can come to a certain understanding of one another."

"Don't you have people for that?" Zoe asked.

"We do," Fury said. "And you'll be training with one of them. I need someone I can trust in the field. Your father was a good man, Zoe. He was trying to get every information he could from Hydra, spill it all, and turn his badge in to S.H.I.E.L.D. He wanted to get away from Hydra's evil methods of brainwashing. He wanted his family back, but evidentally Hydra found him first," Fury said. With a wave of his hand, he pointed to her parent's bodies on the floor.

Zoe felt a feeling of dread and guilt wash over her.

"I am sorry you had to endure such severity of this, but I am offering a chance to redeem yourself," Fury said. "Now that his cover's been blown, we need someone else to replace him, someone we can trust," Fury said.

"You can trust me?" she asked.

"I trusted your father," Fury said. "He was a friend, and loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D. even if sometimes he did go a little crazy. He continued to feed us Intel on Hydra to the best of his abilities. Get us the information we need, and you'll be rewarded, with you know competitive wages, and training benefits and all that."

She swallowed hard, and sighed. She didn't have to continue school at NYU. She didn't have to work at odd hours of the night. She didn't have to fall in with the bad crowd she had in the past. She didn't have to think about joining a circus to get away. She could just be herself. She could find out what really happened with her father, and what really went down with this mystery group called Hydra. She would know and learn everything she could. She would learn everything she could about S.H.I.E.L.D. She liked to read. She liked to escape within different movies and shows. She liked great spectacles that made her feel she could do anything in the world, and not be who she really is…not that she ever knew who she was. She was still working on that and maybe she'll find her place with S.H.I.E.L.D. She looked up at him and licked her lips.

"When do I start?" she asked.

The corner of Fury's lips curled into a smile. They could start right now.

~*A*~

While Zoe Sawyer heard the warning signals inside one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s facilities, it wasn't her priority right now to run and hide. She'd been given a direct order to find him, to find Agent Clint Barton. It'd been a long time since she'd seen him, and it was only a brief moment of meeting, but she could still remember as a teenager she would go to Coney Island circus and watch that show every single night, wishing she could just perform up there without a care in the world. She didn't know what kind of name she'd have, but she'd always wanted to be someone else. Whenever the traveling circus was in town, she would be there to watch the amazing Hawkeye. She never had the guts to ask and be a circus performer, then again her parent's would have never approved. She walked down the hallway and toward the balcony where she could only guess that's where he'd be.

She glanced down the balcony, hearing the sound of a hiccup coming from the glowing cube downstairs that the scientists were currently working on. She chewed her bottom lip and stepped closer to Clint, who was sitting underneath the railing, holding tightly against the railing so he didn't fall.

"How's the view from up here?" she asked with a grin on her face.

Clint Barton spun around to face the familiar voice he heard behind him. His eyes widened as he glanced at the small slender figure standing right before him, the same small girl he spotted sleeping in his carnival. He thought he'd lost her a long time ago.

She was all grown up, no matter how short she was, and dressed in a S.H.I.E.L.D.'s uniform. He'd recognized her from her hazel eyes, now covered with contacts, and a brown ponytail curled against her shoulder.

Their moment in the past may have been brief, but it was interesting, because seriously no one ever slept during a circus show. No one, but she did.

"When did they find you?" he asked, as eyes his eyes stared at her while she walked closer towards the railing. She leaned her arms against it, and he turned back to stare down, peering at Dr. Selvig and his work on the glowing blue cube in the middle of the room.

"Wow," she exclaimed in awe. "You really _can_ see everything from up here."

"Zoe," Clint said slowly, glancing up at her.

"Hmm?" she said thoughtfully, placing her index finger along her lips. "Right about the same time my parents were found murdered. You?"

Clint arched an eyebrow, but then shook his head. "You know I'm not one for show and tell, Sawyer."

Zoe winced. "Agent," she corrected him. "Agent Sawyer." She looked down at the cube and then at Barton. "That cube looks shiny, probably too shiny."

He squinted his eyes at her, studying her curiously, and glanced down at her. "Are you even cleared for this level?"

"Funny you ask that, partner," Zoe said, looking down at him.

He was sitting within the railings, paying close attention to what was happening downstairs. Not much by the looks of things, but in Zoe's past experience, she didn't trust that cube with a ten-foot pole.

"What?" he asked, glancing up at her for a brief moment to stare in her hazel eyes.

She watched his face slightly pale.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no. I work alone. I was trained by the best, not trained to baby-sit," he said.

Zoe rolled her eyes. "I was trained too, you know! Also by the best," she stressed. "I can handle myself in the field. I just can't handle my emotions very well, which is why I'm still technically a level six," she said. "But I don't know why Fury wants me with you, you'll have to ask him that," she pointed downstairs.

Director Fury glanced up at the balcony, hands on his hips.

"Sir?" Clint asked, and unraveled himself from the railing so he could jump and twirl down the cable that was attached to the ceiling and the floor. Meanwhile Zoe just took the stairs to join them a moment later.

"Could've just taken the stairs, Barton" Zoe teased. Clint eyed her curiously and then opened his mouth to protest to Fury.

"Sir, this can't, we can't, you know I don't play well with others," Clint said in a low whisper, leaning closer to Fury, eyeing Zoe carefully, as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Think of it as a lesson then," Fury said. "For _both_ of you." He sighed. "Look I just figured since the two of you met, it might be a little bit easier to train with one another, that's all."

"We didn't know each other for that long," Zoe scowled, walking next to Fury.

Meanwhile Clint walked on the other side of him. "Yeah, and it wasn't like rainbows and sunshine in the sky, or anything," Clint said, glancing across from Fury at her.

Zoe glanced back at him and scoffed. "Yeah, no, it wasn't anything at all like that."

"She was drooling on my seat," Clint said.

"I was not drooling on your seat-"

"Sawyer, Barton," Fury said. "Just can-it and learn to work with each other."

"Yes, sir," they mumbled in sync, however reluctantly.

"I gave you this detail so you can keep a closer eye on things," Fury said to Clint. Clint wrinkled his nose in disgust, and looked over at his new partner.

Zoe glanced around her surroundings at the different technology that was tracing the energy levels of the Teseract. She didn't think it was a good idea to be working on the Tesseract, but she wasn't about to question her boss's orders.

"Well, I see better from a distance," Clint replied.

"Have you seen anything that might set this thing off?" Fury asked.

"Doctor, it's spiking!" one of the blonde scientists announced worriedly.

Zoe's eyes darted toward the scientist, and glanced at the cub uneasily.

"That could set it off," Zoe said slowly, glancing at Dr. Selvig as he quickly joined the scientist to read the cube's spike levels. He was an interesting looking guy, who looked no more like he was in his mid-fifties? He seemed charming enough wearing plaid, and a badge tacked to his pocket. She didn't feel any threat coming from this guy.

Clint glanced at her, as she stepped wearily beside the machine in the middle of the room that was harnessing the blue cube inside.

"No one's come or gone, and Selvig's clean," Clint said. "No contacts, no IM's. If there's any tampering, sir, it wasn't at this end."

"At this end?" Fury asked.

"Yeah the cube is a door way to the other end of space, right? Doors open up both sides," Clint said.

"Sawyer, what can you tell me about-" But Fury didn't have time to finish.

A sudden pressure shuttered the room, causing everyone to slow down in their trek, and a portal began to tear its way through the fabric of reality. The sudden movement of the cube had shaken the facility, nearly causing Zoe to stumble on her feet.

This was nothing like she'd ever seen before in her life. She peered through the portal, in awe, watching space tear into the room, making a portal, getting bigger and bigger until it suddenly swooshed.

Zoe, Fury, and Barton took cover until the energy swirls fazed out. Smoke filled within the room, and the agents tentatively stepped toward it with guns in their hands.

Zoe couldn't help but stare at the man? Was he a man? She glanced at him, taking in every detail of what he looked like…black long hair, straight back, he wore a green and black cloak, and he was holding some kind of scepter. He seemed like a man, alright, but there was something very very off about him.

Zoe's hand lingered in the air for her gun, beside her holster's hip, ready to take action, unsure what this guy might do.

"Sir, put down the spear!" Fury said.

He lifted the scepter, and studied the essence of it. Inside the scepter, Zoe noticed the same type of glowing energy in between the hooks like it was harnessing on its own or something.

He suddenly shot his scepter at him, which emitted a blue light of energy hurtling toward Fury.

Zoe took this moment to run. She whipped out her gun, and aimed it at the hostile target, running forward. The hostile target flew in the air and landed on top of her, shoving her down hard against the ground that had caused her gun to fly out from underneath her.

He used his scepter to try and change her, but Zoe blocked the scepter with her arm, and smacked him in the face with the butt of her free hand. A low growl emitted from his throat, and shot his hand toward her neck, gripping onto it, to lower her energy.

Zoe coughed, and tried to gasp for air, as he smiled, watching her suffer. Zoe needed to do something fast. She winced as he brought down his scepter toward her heart, while she kicked and tried to squirm out from underneath him. She reached out for her own knife from her boot and flipped it outwards into a longer spear.

Taking one last gulp of air, she went to smack him against his head with her own spear, but within a swift movement he used his scepter to block her. Zoe scrambled out from underneath him, now that he was distracted by her own weapon. He got off of her, and she scrambled back onto her feet, ready to take on the hostile target.

Zoe stood wearily as the hostile target smiled with amusement. She moved to attack him, lunging forward, but he blocked her spear with his own scepter, and raised both of their spears in the air. He pushed hard onto her shoulder, gripping it into a tight crunch. She cried out in pain, and he butt-headed her causing her to stumble backwards. And with her distraction, he shoved an energy ball toward her that caused her to fly down on the ground, and loose her weapon.

She groaned, feeling the effects of the forcible impact this hostile creature had given her. Two more agents tried to shoot at him, but then he flew down on them, and stabbed them with his scepter.

Barton darted and rolled on the ground toward Zoe. Zoe winced. She looked at him as he helped her up. "I'm fine," she said. "Just give me another weapon." She said, and he nodded, holding out his extra weapon toward her. She winced, using his shoulder, she pushed herself up. The fight wasn't over until the hostile target was dead.

Another set of agents fired at him, but the hostile target was much too fast for their weapons, for he threw his own weapons at them, hitting them squarely in the chest.

He shoved another ball of energy toward the blonde scientist, and then with a sharp spear he whacked it across another agents face as he also tried to hold him down.

Barton and Sawyer continued to shoot at him, aiming for his face. Barton hit him square in the face, while Sawyer tried to aim for the scepter. The hostile target growled in bitterness as he shoved another blue energy source toward them. Barton and Sawyer dodged out of the way, rolling onto the ground to get away from the blue energy source flying toward them. It hit the machine, and sparks exploded in the room, causing the other agents to jump out of the way.

The hostile target glanced at his destroyed surroundings, and smirked. He glanced around for potential survivors that he could possible use.

Silence echoed in Zoe's ears. She was hurt, and she was tired, and she didn't know how many survivors were around. But she couldn't think about that right now. She was still alive, and still breathing, which meant she still had a job to do. This hostile target meant mean business, she could see that. He had such a forcible impact on her that she didn't have time to think about his weaknesses like she usually did with her past opponents.

"Barton?" she whispered.

"Yeah," he said.

She army-crawled over to the railing and used the bar to push herself up and onto her feet. She staggered over to Barton, and helped him up, but then she suddenly felt pushed backwards, and her body slid across the floor.

"Damn it, Barton, stop shoving me-" Zoe began to speak as she brushed her hair out of her eyes, in search for Agent Barton. But she stopped talking when the hostile target spoke to her partner.

"You have heart," the hostile target said.

 _Shoot, shoot, shoot,_ Zoe thought frantically. She had to do something fast.

Zoe turned her head to find any kind of weapon. She spotted a dead agent, and crawled over to that agent. She grabbed the gun out of the agent's hand, and went to aim at the hostile target, but stopped when the scepter had already reached Barton's heart, and she felt a hand on her arm. She looked at Fury and then at the target.

Barton put his gun back in its hostler, now fully under control of this hostile target. Fury reached for the machine and grabbed the blue cube, and put it in the silver case. She was about to shoot the target again but Fury stopped her, shaking his head. "We need time, Sawyer," he said in a whisper. "You're with me."

"But-" she was about to protest until the hostile target spoke again.

"Please don't," he said. "I still need that."

Zoe aimed her gun at his forehead. "Yeah, what for?" she demanded.

"Wanna join me and find out?" Loki asked, showing her his scepter.

She glanced at the glowing gem inside the scepter, and stepped back wearily, not wanting to take a chance.

"This doesn't have to get any messier," Fury said.

"Of course it does," the target replied. "I've come too far for anything else."

Zoe squinted her eyes, eyeing him curiously, wondering what this guy's deal was.

"I am Loki of Asguard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose," Loki said.

"Loki," Dr. Selvig said, standing up from the fallen woman on the ground. Zoe turned her attention to Selvig, and then at Loki. "Brother of Thor."

"We have no quarrel with your people," Fury said, holding his hand in the air.

"An ant has no quarrel with a boot," Loki said.

"Now, can I shoot him?" Zoe asked, standing beside Fury.

"You planning to step on us?" Fury asked.

Barton turned to face Fury and Zoe with curiosity in his blue hazy eyes.

"I come with _glad_ tidings," Loki said as he walked slowly. "Of a world made free."

"Free from what?" Fury asked.

"Freedom," Loki said, eyeing Zoe. She shifted uneasily, slightly lowering her weapon. What?

"Freedom is life's great lie," Loki continued, smiling at her. "Once you've accept that, in your heart," he began and then suddenly pointed the scepter into Dr. Selvig's heart, turning the scientist also against them.

Zoe wasn't sure what Fury's plan was here, but she was ready to kick this guy's ass. No one tried to tear apart S.H.I.E.L.D, and no one turned her family against her. And no one spread lies about freedom either. This guy was definitely crazy.

"Sir," Zoe said, clenching her teeth together, keeping her gun fixated on Loki.

"You will no peace," Loki whispered to Dr. Selvig.

Barton glanced warily at the swirling blue energy above Zoe and Fury.

"Yeah, you say peace," Fury said, glancing at Zoe. "I kinda think you mean the other thing."

"Sir, Director Fury is stalling," Barton said, walking over to Loki. "This place is about to blow. Drop a hundred feet of rock on us," Barton stepped next to Loki and looked up at the swirling blue energy field above them.

Zoe looked up as well, and widened her eyes. Her heart dropped to the floor. What on Earth was Fury thinking? She glanced at her director worriedly.

"He means to bury us," Barton said, glancing at Fury. Zoe looked down at Barton's cold voice and felt her heart twinge.

"Like the pharaoh's of old," Fury said.

"He's right," Selvig said, reading the portal's energy levels on the computer screen. "The portal is collapsing in on itself. We got maybe two minutes before this goes critical."

"Well then," Loki said, turning his head toward Barton.

Barton took out his gun and suddenly shot at Fury. Zoe shoved Fury down, taking his place, and felt the shrapnel hit her chest, knocking her out and on top of Fury. Barton then took the moment to take the brief case that carried the Tesseract, and walked out of the room, following Selvig and Loki.

"Hill," Fury said, taking out the shrapnel out of Zoe's chest. She cried out, and buried her face within his warm chest. Blood spilled out, causing her to breathe heavier and go into shock. She was shaking in his arms. "Do you copy?" he asked. "Barton has been turned."

She shook against him, as he ran out of there, taking to Hill on the radio. "They have the Tesseract, shut them down!" he said.

"And get Barton out of there," Zoe whispered, looking into Fury's one-eye. Fury looked down at her, as he held onto the threshold to steady them while the swirling blue energy force field continued to explode.

Fury took Sawyer in his arms and ran through the maze of the tunnel, weaving in and out of the falling structure.

"We're almost free, Sawyer," Fury said, glancing down at her. "Stay with me."

Zoe nodded slowly, "I'm okay, sir," she said in a drifting daze. "Just keep me alive enough so I can shoot the bastard next time."

He chuckled warmly at her as he dodged out of another couple of sparks flying toward them.

"We're clear upstairs sir," she heard Agent Coulson on the radio. The voices on the radio seemed to keep her awake. "We're good to go."

She closed her eyes just to save her energy, as Fury ran out of the doors and hurtled toward the helicopter.

Fury shoved Zoe in an empty seat inside the helicopter, and jumped inside, sitting next to her. The helicopter started to fly up in the air just in time before the ground could crumble below them.

Zoe pressed her face against the window, glancing down as she watched her second home get destroyed. Any facility of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s was considered her home, and it made her sad to see it crumble.

She peered out the window, glancing down and saw the jeep. "Sir!" she shouted, pointing toward them.

"Move," Fury ordered the pilot. The pilot turned around, and Fury started to shoot at the jeep.

Fury aimed for the jeep's window. Glass shattered around Barton and Selvig as they swerved along the grass. Loki aimed his scepter at the helicopter and hit a blue energy force at the helicopter that caught on fire, causing the helicopter to stall in the air and shrivel within the fire.

Fury grabbed onto Zoe, and jumped out of the helicopter before it could crash onto the ground, exploding into pieces.

He laid Zoe on the ground, and continued to aim at the jeep, regaining its trek back on the main high way, loosing Fury's bullets.

"Director," Coulson said on the radio. "Director Fury do you copy?"

Fury sighed, lowering his weapon. He knelt down beside Zoe, and brushed a hand over her forehead, brushing her hair out of the way. She was still alive, and she could probably make it. He needed her to. After all, she took a bullet for him.

He took out his radio to respond. "The Tesseract is with a hostile force," Fury replied, glancing at Zoe and then back at the helicopter. "I have men down. Hill?"

"A lot of men still under," Hill replied over the radio. "Don't know how many survivors."

"Sal the general called," Fury said. "I want every living soul not working rescue looking for that brief case."

"Roger that," Hill replied.

"Coulson, get back to base," Fury ordered.

"This is a level seven," Fury said with a deep sigh.

"As of right now," Fury continued into the radio. "We are at war."

" _What do we do?"_


	2. Chapter 2: Captain America

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers, or anything related. The Avengers belong to its respective owners. Just own my OC. Writing for fun, and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 2: Captain America**

Steve punched multiple punches against the punching bag that hung in a chain from the ceiling.

He should be sleeping, but he couldn't.

He kept thinking about the last time he was alive…

And every memory that brushed over his mind, he punched the bag hard. Dust flew around him, but he didn't care. The anger burned inside of him like none other.

It was like he was trying to punch his memories away.

 _Fire and smoke hurtled around him as he raced through the forest with men on his side. Captain America led the battalion soldiers into enemy lines._

He threw another punch and a double punch, opening his eyes to relieve him away from the past that had haunted him.

 _An enemy of Hydra shot a blue energy source toward Captain America, but he used his shield to block it._

More heavy punches.

" _There's not enough time!" Steve said. "I gotta put her in the water."_

" _You won't be alone," Peggy whispered._

Steve gripped onto his wrapped hands tight and punched the bag in bitter remembrance. His heart swelled at the memory of Peggy Carter so strong in his soul.

 _Closed within a capsule of ice, the scientists surrounded him was in awe. "Oh my God, this guy is still alive!"_

Steve threw one last hard punch across the punching bag that made it tore away from the ceiling, and broke the bag of sand apart.

He was out of breath, trying to calm his anger down. He brushed the sweat away from his forehead and went to pick up another sandbag by the chains. He started to hook it up on the ceiling. He took a deep breath and started to punch again.

"Trouble sleeping?" Director Fury asked, standing in front of the threshold.

He paused slightly, glancing at Fury. "Slept for seventy years, sir, I think I've had my fill."

"Then you should be out, celebrating," Fury said, walking further into the gym. "Seeing the world."

"I went under," Steve said, unraveling the tape off of his hand. "There was a war. I wake up they say we won. They didn't say how many we lost."

"We've made some mistakes along the way," Fury said, slowly. "Some very recently." He said, holding a folder for Steve.

"You're here with a mission, sir?" Steve asked, unraveling his second hand.

"I am," Fury said.

"Trying to get me back into the world?" Steve said.

"Trying to save it," Fury said, and handed Steve the folder toward him. Steve finished unraveling the bandage wraps on his hand, and took the folder from him. He opened it up and stared down at the image of the Tesseract.

Steve sat down, and grimaced. "Hydra's secret weapon," Steve said.

"Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you," Fury said as Steve turned the page to look at the Hydra info, and Hydra's seal.

"He thought what we think the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy," Fury said as Steve looked at him curiously. "That's something the world sorely needs."

"Who took it from you?" Steve asked.

"He's called Loki," Fury said. "He's not from around here."

"There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed if you're in," Fury continued, taking the folder from Steve. "The world has gotten even stranger than you already know."

"At this point I doubt anything would surprise me," Steve said, getting up from his seat.

"Ten bucks says you're wrong," Fury said, watching Steve as he grabbed his bag and set it down on the floor. He picked up another sandbag and put it over his shoulder.

"There's a debriefing package waiting for you back in your apartment. Is there anything about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?" Fury inquired.

"You should've left it in the ocean."

~*A*~

Steve Rogers walked back to his apartment, and opened the door only to find that his record player was turning slowly to the sound of _In the Mood_ by Glenn Miller. His brown eyes moved from the record player to someone rummaging through his modern day fridge that came with the apartment. She hummed lightly to the music, and bobbed her head to the music, like she seemed to have a decent beat to the song, and was actually enjoying herself to the tune playing inside his apartment.

He faced the kitchen, and saw that an array of cold cut meats was strewn along the counter top. His bread was open, and so was his jar of mayonnaise and pickles. His eyes glazed over his old-fashioned Coke bottles, two of them set out on the counter next to empty plates, with sandwiches ready to be piled on full of good food that made his stomach gurgle. When was the last time he'd eaten?

"Mustard, mustard, mus…" she paused, searching high and low between the two shelves lit up in his fridge. "Tard."

"Up top," Steve said. "Hidden behind the ketchup and the A1 sauce."

She'd gotten caught up within the old forties music that she lost track of what she was doing. She turned at the sound of his voice, accidentally smacking her head against the top of the fridge's freezer edge and she spotted the yellow cap that belonged to the mustard. "Oh," she said, taking it out from behind the tall ketchup bottle. "Oops," she blushed.

"Well, it's a tiny bottle. It can happen to anyone," he said.

"You're out of soda pop by the way. I put it on the list. And laundry detergent," she motioned a quick nod and closed the fridge with the tip of her boot. Steve looked at his fridge with only a few old washed out colored photos from the forties, and a grocery list she had started for him.

She popped the mustard top open, and set it down next to the mayonnaise.

Steve arched an eyebrow at her, and frowned slightly. How long had this woman been in his apartment and making herself right at home? She looked up at his confused facial expression and sighed, glancing down at her outfit.

"I accidentally got pickle juice splattered on my leather jacket, and it goes with these pants," she indicated her white slacks. Steve noticed the navy blue V-neck t-shirt she wore, and smiled a bit. Was she dressing for the occasion or just because she liked white and blue?

She started to spread light mayo on the sandwich, and dipped the knife in the jar. She squirted the mustard on both pieces of flat bread and then spread it together with the knife. Then she took out three pieces of sliced meat and put them on top of one another, turkey, salami, and roast beef.

"I like your record collection, Mr. Rogers," she said. "Always been a fan of jazz. My mom would actually play some for me when I was little. We didn't have a cool record player like yours, but I always wanted one."

"Who are you?" Steve asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Agent Zoe Sawyer," Zoe replied. "Although most people at S.H.I.E.L.D. just call me Zoe," she smiled.

"Fury told me there was a debriefing package in my apartment," Steve said. "Did you steal that too?" he asked, glancing around his living room in search for the packet. He walked out of the area for a brief moment to check his bedroom, but didn't find anything on his bed or on his inn-table.

He frowned, and heard her voice echo inside his apartment as the song changed on the record player.

"Oh, I don't steal, Mr. Rogers, I borrow," Zoe said, but then twisted her lips into a frown when she placed the romaine crispy lettuce on top followed by two gorgeously cut up red tomatoes for the finishing touch. "I think I'll just call you Steve. Mr. Rogers makes me think of an old T.V. show back in the day that used to be called Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. It was a show I used to watch as a kid," she said, wrinkling her nose.

"Missed that one," Steve said, walking back into his apartment.

"You missed a lot of things, Mr.-I-sleep-for-seventy-years," she said. "But it's okay. No one will hold it against you. I mean you _saved_ a lot of lives during World War 2! That's amazing!" she said, smiling up at him sincerely. She really did admire his heroism. "I wish I could be like that."

Steve grimaced at the bitter memory fleeting across his mind. Did she? He wouldn't wish what he'd gone through on anyone. He'd been through enough, loosing his best friend, sacrificing himself to save the world.

He sighed, and walked over to the kitchen counter. He watched her work, topping the sandwich with the bread. She looked up at him with her knife in her hand. "Fours or half?"

He shrugged. It didn't matter.

She started to cut them in four-squares but then paused and cut the sandwich in half instead.

"While this hasn't been fun and all," Steve said slowly with his eyes wandering around the apartment. "Where's my debriefing package?"

Zoe smiled, and put the knife down. She brushed her hands together to get the crumbs off the palms of her hands, and grabbed the back of Ruffle chips off the counter top.

"I _am_ the debriefing package, Cap," she said, trying to think if she liked the nickname rolling off her tongue or not. Maybe she just had to get used to it. "Steve, yeah I'll call you Steve for now."

"You're my debriefing package?" Steve asked with a small frown on his face.

She ripped open the bag, and smelled the fresh airy potato smell and grinned. She pulled out a couple of handfuls on his plate, and then handed the plate to him. Steve looked at it.

"It's a little early for a sandwich isn't it?" he said, tilting his head slightly at her.

She smiled, glancing into his soft brown eyes. She liked his smile, and his kindness riveting off of him. It was a nice change of pace in her life. He set the sandwich on surface of the countertop.

"I can't cook for the life of me, so breakfast is out," Zoe said with a small frown on her oval-shaped face. "It's almost lunchtime, and I do _know_ how to make one hell of a mean sandwich though, so," she cleared her throat, and walked over to hand him a soda pop bottle. "Don't suppose you happen to have a bottle cap opener?" she asked, holding it out for him.

Steve smiled, and reached for it out of her hand, as their knuckles accidentally brushed against each other that sent her a strange slight shiver over her body like a warm tingling sensation. They shared a weird look at one another before Steve broke the awkward moment with the sound of the bottle cap popping in the air. The cap fell to the floor.

"Heh," she said. "Right. The whole super soldier thing."

"Forgot about that?" Steve asked in disbelief.

She shook her head. "No," she scowled. "Just amazed, I guess." She cleared her throat and walked around the counter to finish her sandwich in silence, trying to rid the pink from her pale and plump cheeks.

Steve watched her work, putting her own sandwich together, and took a seat at the stools facing the counter.

"So, why are you here?" Steve asked.

"Well," she began as she started to make her turkey sandwich. "After one of our agents got turned, and tried to shoot Fury down, he shot me instead. I pushed him out of the way, taking his place."

Steve raised an eyebrow. "You did what?"

"It's kind of a long story," she said with a small shrug of her shoulders. She squirted the mustard on the piece of bread and put her sandwich together. Then she sliced it in four-squares with her knife, and took out a handful of ruffle chips to put on the side of her plate.

"And not really a whole lot of time, but um, I was supposed to be Agent Barton's partner to train for this sort of thing," she said tentatively. "I just didn't expect my training to get cut so short. Agent Barton kind of saved my life. It could've been me put under his spell, but I'm not and now I want to help."

Steve listened to her explanation spewing out of her mouth. He furrowed his brow at her. It seemed vague that she just wanted to help, but she also was seemingly genuine when she spoke so candidly about it as well. He wasn't quite sure what to make of her yet.

" I try to be a good agent," she said, glancing up from her sandwich. Steve stared into her eyes. "Fury said that I could bring you up to date, and I was more than honored to break into your apartment, and raid your fridge for food. I'm sorry," she winced. "I got a little carried away, I guess."

Steve chuckled lightly at her sheepishness. "It's alright. As long, as you're a friend of Fury's and loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D." he said slowly.

"What?" she asked. "Oh yeah," she shook her head. "I'm totally with S.H.I.E.L.D. I mean after all, Fury gave me a home. He gave me a family, and I owe that to him."

Silence seeped in between the two, and all that was heard was light crunching noises from their mouths, munching on their sandwiches, and chips. The record had stopped, time to change it out, but neither moved.

"Okay, debriefing package," Steve said, breaking the silence before it turned awkward. "Debrief me. Who is this guy you call Loki, and what does he want with the Tesseract?"

Zoe shrugged. "I suppose that's what we're trying to find out. Fury said it had unsustainable energy,"

Steve nodded. "Yeah I heard that part." He grimaced.

"Well, in my past research, I found out that Loki is a God of Mischief. Now that's Norse mythology. Dr. Selvig, who's an astrophysicist, or whatever, never been good with scientist-y stuff. He said he was brother of Thor, so I'm kind of guessing it's the whole Cain and Abel deal except with magic and stuff."

"Magic?" Steve asked.

"Could be," she shrugged. "That scepter of his had a lot of it. Hit me pretty good when I tried to shoot him. Guns don't work on this guy. I noticed it was the same blue energy coming from the cube SHIELD was trying to, well, Fury never really told me what they were trying to do. He just told me to report to Barton."

Steve swallowed another bite hard, and took a sip of soda to wash it down. "The last thing I remember before Stark fished it out of the ocean was Hydra planned to weaponize it. And they accomplished quite a bit of damage with it," he said.

Zoe's eyes darted toward Steve. "That's not funny," she said seriously.

"No," Steve said with a sigh. "No, it's not."

They looked at each other before Steve spoke again.

"So this Loki creature," Steve began.

"God, he's a God, more like a legend actually," Zoe said with a wave of her hand, and took a bite out of her sandwich. She chewed slowly, and looked at Steve.

Steve frowned. "I thought I was a legend."

Zoe looked up at him at his crest-fallen face and couldn't help but giggle. She covered her mouth with the palm of her hand, trying to cease her giggles.

"Awe, you are a legend, Steve. I mean there's this agent, named Phil, and he's kind of like one of my go-to bosses. Anyway, Coulson can't stop talking about you. That's where I learned about you. He's kind of cute when he gushes about how awesome you are…were…are. Are. He was a little sad that he didn't get to debrief you, but he's busy. So, I volunteered. He accepted." She beamed at him with a shrug.

Steve shook his head at her animated-self.

"Sorry," she said, trying to contain her laughter down.

Steve shrugged. "It's no big deal. I suppose the world's big enough for both."

"Not for Loki," Zoe said. "No one tries to tear my family apart and get's away with it."

"Is S.H.I.E.L.D. your only family?" Steve asked, unable to help it. He was curious and interested in this mysterious agent that had raided his fridge, and taken over his apartment.

She nodded. Hill and Coulson were almost killed back in the facility. Fury was almost shot hadn't it been for her stepping in at the right time. Three people she trusted most with her life. She would do anything for them because they gave her a home, and trained her.

She cleared her throat, clearing away the heavy silence that had surrounded his apartment. "I think we drifted off topic," she said just as the laundry machine dinged in her ears.

"Jacket's ready," Steve said.

She smiled grimly, and walked over to the small laundry room, adjacent to the kitchen. At the same time, his door knocked behind him, which made Steve stop eating. He sighed, and wiped his mouth with his napkin before he answered the door.

She opened the dryer's drawer and pulled out her white leather jacket. It was so nice and warm to her fingers, the smell of fresh cotton filtered her nose, and she smiled. She hugged her jacket tightly against her.

"Have you been briefed?" she heard Agent Coulson's voice, and that brought her out of her reverie.

She quickly reached for her red messenger bag off the top of the laundry machine, and slammed the door shut. She walked inside the living room, stringing her jacket through her arms.

"Yeah," she said.

"Very briefly," Steve said, glancing at her. "Agent Coulson?" he asked.

She nodded. She strung her messenger bag, cross-body style, and flipped her hair out of her jacket's collar before she took out a strange looking new tablet in Steve's virgin eyes of technology.

"Sorry," she said, glancing at Coulson's light glare. "I was totally getting to that part, that's the best part," she leaned into him conspicuously, as Agent Coulson eyed her carefully. She held her hands up in defense. "I swear, I was getting there."

Steve frowned at the tablet, and looked at her. She pushed the on button on the side and a few moving images popped up on the clear screen before him. "I'll teach you on the way," she promised.

"What's the best part?" Steve asked.

"The Avenger's Initiative," she said with a smile on her face. She closed the door behind them, and followed Coulson out the door. They headed up the staircase toward the roof, where a quinjet waited for their arrival.


	3. Chapter 3: Old Fashioned

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to its respective owners. I just own my OC. Writing for fun, and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 3: Old Fashion**

The sleek quinjet flew across the Atlantic Ocean. It was one of the many things Zoe loved about S.H.I.E.L.D. The technology they used was stunning, and she was easily adaptable to learning the technology and its touch-screen capabilities. Howard Stark may be a lot of things, but he was brilliant when it came to technology.

Zoe looked away from the window to Coulson who was staring at her with a warning glare, as she watched Steve handle the clear tablet in his hands. He was looking at a few pictures of the Avengers Initiative and the events that had happened recently around the globe, particularly in New Mexico. She frowned, noticing a small box next to one of the moving pictures that featured the Hulk tearing apart Harlem.

She gripped onto the bottom tablet lightly with her fingers, and furrowed her brows at the picture.

Steve arched a brow, watching her with mild interest, and peeked down at the screen's box in the corner of the tablet. It was her. It was her when she was younger, staging the robbery with her friends in Soho. She was only seventeen back then. At the time she was going through her punk phase, dressing in dark colors, plaid, and black nails.

She had tried to block that out of her life for so long; she forgot what went on during the robbery that turned very badly in such a few seconds. She was sworn to secrecy not to tell a soul. She wouldn't get blamed for it because she didn't kill anyone, but was seen as a dirty accomplice, and well, a dead-beat punk with no future ahead of her. It was all flooding back to her like a hurricane, and she hit another button but an image of her father popped up. He was dressed in a white lab coat, and wore a Hydra tattoo on the side of his neck that appeared fresh and new. This was in his younger days.

He had a clipboard in his hand and a pen as if he was reporting on something, but the image was vague. "If there is something here, sir, we'll find it, and report it to you," she heard her father say to one of the Hydra men within the moving picture next to Thor's hammer, crashing the big chunk of metal called the Destroyer in New Mexico.

She pushed her finger on the x button on the screen, and leaned against her seat with a scowl creasing her face.

She didn't say a word to Steve, and Steve didn't say a word to her. She pushed herself up off the seat and walked over toward Coulson, sitting at the dock station.

"We're about forty minutes away from base, sir." A shield pilot announced. Coulson took off his headset and looked up at a sudden shadow that loomed over him. He turned and placed his hands on his knees, waiting for her to speak.

"I know," she said quietly, crossing her arms over her chest. She glanced at Steve and then back at Coulson. "I should have told him about the Avengers," she continued. "And me. My life was a mess," she sighed, looking down. It was still a mess.

Coulson nodded. His eyes gazed at her, as if he was studying her frowning features.

"We all have our moments," Coulson said in the same quiet tone of voice she gave him. "Some better than others I suppose."

"I agreed to join S.H.I.E.L.D, so I could find out my family history," she said.

"And get a clear record," Coulson added in a slight sing-song tone of voice.

She gave him a look. "That too. Why did Fury pull me away from my assignment? Why am I on the list to join the Avengers Initiative?"

"Fury told me that you were _only_ here to train and learn about level seven. Not exactly join them per say," Coulson said. "You'd get to train with Barton, and then go back to your assignment that'll give you clearance to finish that assignment."

Zoe frowned. "Now what?" she asked.

"Now, you'll train with Romanoff," Coulson said.

She widened her eyes. "Oh come on. You want me to train with the Black Widow? I mean _the_ Black Widow?!"

"Admire her?" Coulson asked. Zoe scowled. "Don't like her?"

"I don't know what to make of her," she admitted quietly to Coulson. "She's the only one I don't have figured out."

Coulson glanced Zoe up and down, taking in her mannerisms and shook his head. He trusted Romanoff and so should she. "Not all of us are perfect, Zo," Agent Coulson said, sending her a small smile. She smiled in return.

"She's earned her rights." Coulson said. "She knows level seven better than anyone, besides Barton. And it'll get you closer to the truth."

Zoe looked up at him and into his light brown eyes. "You know, don't you?"

"I can't tell you," he said.

He sighed, glancing at her crest-fallen face. "Look, I know you work hard, and I love that you love Shield. I love that you want to learn everything about what we do. I promise, I'll tell you a little bit of what we know about your family, but right now we have a distress call to answer. There is a war here. A war that you're not quite prepared for so listen to Romanoff carefully."

Zoe nodded, listening to Coulson's words. "I'll hold you to that promise," she said, and looked over at Steve. "So, did you ask him about your cards yet?"

"I'm waiting for the right moment," Coulson said, smiling sheepishly.

"Now is a good moment," she said, smiling at him. He chuckled. If it was one thing about Zoe Sawyer that Coulson actually liked was that she would listen, and actually want to be involved with his trading collection cards of Captain America. She was the only agent, besides Romanoff who would participate in finding them all.

"So this Doctor Banner was trying to replicate the serum that was used on me?" Steve asked as Coulson and Zoe joined Steve.

"Missed your moment," Zoe mumbled. Coulson glanced at her and then back at Steve, holding onto one of the straps so he didn't fall. Zoe sat down on the other side of Steve.

"A lot of people were," Coulson said. "You were the world's first superhero."

"Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Earth's intuitional formula," Coulson explained.

Zoe glanced over at the screen, hearing the angry growl from the Hulk. He was green, and huge, and Zoe wasn't sure if she'd want to cross paths with the big guy.

"Didn't really go his way, did it?" Steve asked.

"Not so much," Coulson said at the same time, Zoe shook her head no. "But he's got that thing though. Guy's like a Steven Hawking."

Steve looked up at Coulson with a confused arched eyebrow. Coulson looked back at him and blushed. "He's like a, smart person."

"Like Albert Einstein," she whispered at him. Steve looked down at her and smiled. That one he knew.

"I gotta say it," Coulson continued. "It's an honor to meet you, officially."

The corner of Steve's lips turned into a smile.

"I sort of met you, I mean I watched you while you were sleeping," Coulson said and then winced at how that sounded. "I mean I was, present, while you were unconscious from the ice."

Zoe tilted her head to the side at Coulson's flustered words coming out of his mouth.

"You know really it's just a huge honor to have you on board," Coulson said.

Steve handed Zoe the tablet, and she turned it off, placing it back into her messenger bag. Steve walked slowly around the quinjet, walking toward the cockpit. He leaned against the rim of the cockpit while Coulson mirrored his action, trying to act cool, only leaving Zoe to smile.

"Well, I hope I'm the man for the job," Steve said.

"Oh you are," Coulson said. "Absolutely. Uh, we've made some modifications to the uniform. I had a little design input."

"Uniform?" Steve asked with a small frown. "Aren't the stars and strips a little…old fashioned?"

Coulson glanced at Zoe, and then back at Steve. "Everything that's happening, things that are about to come to light. I think people just might need a little old fashioned."


	4. Chapter 4: Hellicarrier

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to its respective owners. I just own my OC. Writing for fun, and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 4: The Hellicarrier**

"Welcome to the airstrip, Captain," Agent Coulson said, as they stepped off the quinjet. "Agent Romanoff? Agent Sawyer, and Captain Rogers," Coulson greeted the woman with short red curly hair.

Standing on the other side of Coulson, Zoe gazed at the Black Widow warily. She's heard the stories rumored around Shield. She was aware of what she could do.

"Ma'am," Captain Rogers nodded at her.

"Hi," she said dryly, and looked over at Coulson, not even batting an eyelash toward Zoe. "We need you on the bridge, they're starting the phase trace."

Coulson nodded. "Romanoff, this is your new partner," he motioned a quick nod to Zoe.

Zoe looked at Romanoff and gulped. "Hello," she said, waving a tentative small hand at Romanoff.

Romanoff's eyes darted up her small frame and into Zoe's cautious, and yet fearful eyes.

"You want me to baby-sit?" Romanoff questioned Coulson before he headed toward the bridge.

"No," Coulson said. "I want you to train her for level seven. It's part of her job. Barton was supposed to do it, but things went horribly wrong. You understand."

Coulson said, and without another word to Romanoff, he left Zoe with her newest partner.

Zoe glanced around her surroundings on the airstrip of the Hellicarrier and held her hands behind her back, nervously.

Romanoff let out a sigh. "I don't bite," she said.

Zoe turned to face the woman with the striking red hair flying in the wind.

Steve glanced between the two women awkwardly, hands folded in front of him. He glanced around his surroundings, staring at the huge air jets and men who jogged in two lines. This all seemed familiar to Steve, like he was back at home, training for the war.

"Okay," Romanoff drawled. "Whatever you heard, fine. I'm mysterious. Let's go with that. But I do know that we both have something in common here, and that we can work together, and work towards Barton"

Zoe arched an eyebrow at her, and she couldn't help but blush. She definitely wasn't expecting to hear that from Romanoff.

"As far as I know," Romanoff said. "He's endgame for you, right?"

Zoe chewed her bottom lip. "He saved my life if that's what you mean."

"And you have a crush on him," she said.

Zoe widened her eyes, totally mortified at her.

"It's okay, you're secret is safe with me," Romanoff said, noticing her cheeks grow crimson of embarrassment.

"Um," Zoe pointed twice toward Steve.

"I won't tell," Steve said, zipping his lips with an invisible key.

"Great," Romanoff said. "We're all in favor of keeping secrets. Awesome. So, now that _that_ is settled." Romanoff said, leading the way.

Steve and Zoe eyed one another and followed Romanoff down the airstrip.

"You're quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. Thought Coulson was going to swim," Romanoff commented lightly to Steve. "Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?"

"He missed the moment," Zoe said, glancing at her.

Romanoff nodded and looked at Steve's confused look. "Trading cards?"

"They're vintage," Romanoff said. "He's very proud."

The three of them stopped toward a man wearing a gray suit, who seemed to be in awe of the jet in front of him.

"Dr. Banner!" Steve greeted, offering his hand to shake.

"Oh yeah, hi," Dr. Banner said, shaking Steve's hand. "They told me you would be coming,"

Steve smiled, and nodded his head toward Zoe. "She told me you were coming."

Dr. Banner looked over at Zoe, who stepped up and shook his hand. "Agent Zoe Sawyer," she said. "It's nice to meet you, doctor."

"Bruce works too you know," he said, glancing at her with a small smile.

"I like Agent Sawyer," Zoe said, smiling at him.

Bruce chuckled. "I'll make a note of that."

She smiled and stepped back, folding her hands in front of her, as she tried to be formal like Romanoff even though she didn't think she'd ever pull off formal like her.

"Word is you can find the cube," Steve said.

"Is that the only word on me?" Bruce asked, glancing around cautiously, as he wrung his hands together.

"Only word I care about," Steve said.

"Must be strange for you, all of this," Bruce said.

"Well," Steve said, glancing at the men marching in order to their leader. "This is actually kind of familiar."

"So," Bruce said, glancing at Agent Sawyer. "What can you do?"

Zoe grinned. "I'm a trainee actually," she said. "But I do have my own set of skills yet to be revealed in due time."

"You like theatrics don't you?" Bruce asked, noticing her mysterious and playful tone of voice.

Zoe smiled. "I am an information specialist, among other things. I keep it all in here," she tapped the side of her temple.

"And it's about to get blown off the airstrip if you don't go back to your room where I've already put a level seven package for you waiting to read," Romanoff said, pulling her back away from Steve and Bruce to her side.

Zoe gawked at her. "Seriously? Reading material?"

"Do you want to finish your assignment?" Romanoff asked seriously. "Or do you want to get killed?"

Zoe frowned at the idea of getting killed on her assignment. No, she didn't want to get killed, and she definitely wanted to finish her assignment. She needed answers.

"Gentlemen, you might want to step inside for a minute," Romanoff said. "It's gunna get a little hard to breathe."

Steve and Bruce watched at the sudden movement of the ship they were on, or thought they were on.

It started to move beneath her feet, and she gripped onto Romanoff's shoulder, which made the woman glare at her. Zoe gulped and dusted her shoulder off, smiling at her nervously as the ship started to climb out of the water and rise into the air.

"Is this a submarine?" Steve asked.

"Really? They want me in a submerged pressurized container?" Bruce asked, as the two gentlemen walked further toward the edge.

Zoe smiled, relishing in the feel and the power of the Hellicarrier as it lifted out of the water. She inhaled the salty air and smiled, glancing at Romanoff. "It never get's old, does it?" she asked, loving every minute of it. Romanoff gave her a very subtle smile.

"Oh, no, no, this is much worse!" Bruce said.

The four of them walked from the top of the airstrip to inside the Hellicarrier as Zoe animatedly started to explain in detail to Steve and Bruce as they walked downstairs, leading them toward the bridge.

Steve and Bruce followed the two women inside the window glass-cased bridge.

It was incredible and huge, and every time Zoe entered she felt right at home. Desk filled computers in which everyone took part in to make the Hellicarrier afloat. It was really quite something how Fury could operate something so amazing in Zoe's eyes that she couldn't help but love.

"All engines operating," Hill announced. "S.H.I.E.L.D. emergency call 193.6 in effect. We're at level sir," Hill turned to Director Fury who stood at his post.

"Good," Director Fury said. "Let's vanish."

Zoe walked down into the middle of the bridge and couldn't help herself. She threw her arms around Hill, catching her by surprise. Hill chuckled. "Hi," she said, pulling the woman off of her. "It's nice to see you in one piece," she said, eyeing Zoe up and down. "There's a uniform waiting for you back in your room."

"It's good to be home," Zoe said, smiling, and taking everything in.

Agent Maria Hill smiled at the young agent, and handed her a badge to clear her in for the Hellicarrier. Zoe took it in her hands, grinning happily. Maria admired her and how much she loved S.H.I.E.L.D. It was home to a lot of people, but she seemed to take it truly to the bottom of her heart, and Maria often worried if she should have trained her a bit better on emotional attachments. But Zoe told her she was fine, and that she could handle it, so Maria never pried and just continued to train her.

"Why can't you train me level seven?" Zoe frowned, leaning against the clear screen.

"You know my priorities are here," Hill said, motioning a quick nod to the bridge. "Besides, she's very good at her job. Did she tell you about the debriefing package?"

"Yes," Zoe sighed. "Level seven is waiting for me in my room. I got it, yadayada."

"Good, she'll get you up to speed, I promise," Hill said, and glanced over at Steve and Director Fury, as Steve handed the director a ten dollar bill.

Zoe's curious eyes traveled to Steve, as he walked by the middle of the bridge, and stared in awe the Hellicarrier's sleek interior design that wrapped around them. She couldn't help but smile. She stepped by him.

"This is your home?" Steve asked.

Zoe nodded. "For now," she said, tacking her badge to the front of her pocket. It read trainee for level seven.

"Doctor, thank you for coming," Fury said, shaking Bruce's hand.

"Thank you for asking nicely, so, uh," Bruce glanced down at the floor cautiously before he looked up at him. "How long am I staying?"

"Once we get our hands on the Teseeract," Fury shrugged.

"Where are you with that?" Bruce asked.

Fury turned to point downstairs as Coulson joined them, crossing his arms over his chest. "We're sweeping every wireless camera on the planet, cell phones, laptops, if it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."

"Still not going to find them in time," Romanoff said.

Zoe looked at her with wide eyes. "What do you mean we won't find them in time?" she asked.

Romanoff looked back at her trainee and motioned a quick nod toward the glass doors that would lead her out of the main deck. "Go," she said.

"Okay, okay, I'm going, but I still want in," Zoe sighed. She glanced at Fury, then the others before she left for her room on the Hellicarrier.

"Oh you'll be in," Romanoff said. "And maybe if you're lucky, I'll teach you how to fly the quinjet. _If_ you've read the entire package."

Zoe glanced at her with questionable eyes. "If?"

"Didn't say I was going to make this easy on you did I?" Romanoff asked.

Zoe shook her head.

"Agent Romanoff?" Fury asked, breaking the conversation between her and Zoe. Romanoff looked up at Fury. "Would you show Doctor Banner to his laboratory please?"

"You'd love it doc," Romanoff said, walking up the stairs, and over towards Dr. Banner. "We got all the toys." Romanoff said, walking toward the doors with Bruce and Zoe following after her.


	5. Chapter 5: Therapy Session

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belongs to its respective owners. I just own my OC. I'm just writing for fun, and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 5: Therapy Session**

Zoe Sawyer slammed the door shut to her small room as anger riveted in her system. She walked over to her bed, noticing the uniform was waiting for her like Agent Hill said, and smiled a bit.

Too bad she'd be all dressed up and no place to go. The package as it turned out was a lot longer than Zoe anticipated. It was advanced reading. Agent Natasha Romanoff failed to mention that.

She took off her messenger bag, and tossed it on her bed, and sat down on the edge with a sigh.

" _Did you finish all of the reading?" Romanoff asked._

" _Yes," Zoe said without a beat._

" _What page are you on?" Romanoff said, sending her a knowing smile that Zoe was definitely lying and trying to cheat her way to venture after Loki in Stuttgart, Germany._

" _Fifty," Zoe said truthfully._

" _I'm sorry," Romanoff said. "As soon as you've read every word out of that thing, you're stuck on the Hellicarrier until I say otherwise."_

" _I bet Barton would've let me come," Zoe scowled, as she was about to stomp off the bridge._

 _"Barton would've made you wipe away brain matter," Romanoff said._

 _Zoe turned her head, shooting a glare toward Romanoff, who was standing beside Captain Rogers dressed in his stars and stripes costume, strapping his shield behind his back ready for battle._

It wasn't fair.

Romanoff was treating her like a child, and in return it sort of made her act like a child in which she'd worked so hard not to feel like in the passed few years she'd been with S.H.I.E.L.D.

Since she's been here, she's felt more like an adult. She respected and admired Agent Hill, a lot, and Agent Hill actually told her how she became apart of S.H.I.E.L.D. and ever since, Zoe's wanted to try to be like her. Hill was her role model.

" _Hit me, agent, come on is that the best you can do?" Agent Hill asked in the training circle._

 _Zoe was struggling on the floor matt, holding onto Agent Hill's hands who had tried to choke the newest agent in S.H.I.E.L.D._

 _Agent Hill was on top of Zoe, and had her trapped and locked in between her legs, gaining the upper hand._

 _A group of agents passed by them, and Zoe couldn't help but look up at the sound of a familiar voice._

" _It wasn't my fault…I had it handled."_

" _Sure you did, Barton," Romanoff chuckled, shaking her head._

 _Zoe tried to strain and turn her neck so she can catch a glimpse of the familiar voice that she'd missed._

" _I'm never going to Budapest again, that's for sure," Barton scowled._

 _There she heard him, and saw only bits and parts of him, but he was there. When did he join S.H.I.E.L.D.?_

" _Hey, eyes off the man-candy, and focus, Agent Sawyer," Agent Hill said. "You want to die in the field?"_

" _No," she stammered, glancing back at Agent Hill._

" _Do you want him to die too because I can easily snap your neck, like this," Agent Hill suddenly tore her hands away from Zoe's and grabbed onto her neck, while she twisted Zoe in a pretzel twirl, ready to "decapitate" Zoe's neck, as Agent Hill grabbed her from behind, now that she was on her knees. Both women now watched the agents head toward the main quarters of S.H.I.E.L.D._

 _"You'll be dead in ten seconds flat, and then I'll kill him, or," Agent Hill said, letting her slip to the matt. "I could kill him first, while you're tied up with another enemy of mine and watch, and then kill you. It's up to you and how you want to play it. Either way, you're both dead."_

 _Zoe grimaced, as she tried to struggle out of Hill's tight grip, but she was struck with fear at Hill's sudden movement on her that she wasn't prepared for._

" _Why?" Zoe asked breathlessly._

 _Agent Hill stood up on her feet, and wiped the sweat away from her brow with the back of her hand. "Because it's in the villain's playbook, and that's how they like to play, very evilly. It's important to stay focused, no matter what's going on around you. Always keep an eye on your target."_

 _Zoe sighed, letting the fear release her. A wave of relief washed over her and she felt her stomach gurgle in hunger. She was starved. Was it lunch time yet?_

Zoe never saw Agent Clint Barton again, or Agent Romanoff for that matter only in passing when she talked to Agent Coulson about the Avengers Initiative. She merrily continued to learn from Agent Hill, and try her best to learn how to fight better and learn how to focus her emotions and try to drown them down. She got better over time, but every now and then she'd slip. She wasn't perfect, and she never intended to be.

Zoe finished putting on the S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform, strapping into the very tight leather that was a little bit tough to get into, but she'd managed to zip it up. She stepped into her boots, and smoothed out her brown hair, putting it into a ponytail, staring at her floor-length mirror, looking back at her was a stoic face. She let out a deep sigh, trying to relax her anger, and control herself.

She walked over to her hope chest at the end of her bed, and opened it up. An array of items strewn about some from her past, and some items were in the form of knives, and weapons. She took out a couple of the knives hanging from their pouches attached to the pink felt of her trunk, and stuck two of them, one in each boot. She never left without them. She closed her trunk, and looked at the tablet that contained her information about level seven. If she wanted to be apart of this, she had to read fast.

She walked through the halls of the Hellicarrier that went around in a semi-circle, and down toward the laboratory area, passing by agents and workers, too immersed within the data in her hands that she accidentally bumped into something totally solid, which had caused the tablet to fall out of her hands and crash to the floor.

She cringed, slapping her hands against her legs, a bit annoyed at herself, not so toward Bruce because he was just a walking bystander. "Great," Zoe said. "There goes homework."

"Sorry," Bruce said.

"It's not your fault," Zoe said, leaning down to pick up the pieces of the shattered glass. Bruce knelt down too and helped her to clean it up. "I wasn't looking."

"There's not a dust pan anywhere is there?" Bruce asked.

Zoe chuckled, "I'll have someone come sweep it up," she said and turned into her ear-comm. "Hey guys, um, clean up on floor three. Sorry. Accidental mishap," she said.

"I take it you didn't finish the package?" Bruce asked, picking up the big pieces with his hands so that she wouldn't get cut herself as she scooped up the little pieces, which probably would hurt worse.

"How'd you guess?" Zoe asked.

"You're still here," Bruce said.

"Yep," she said sheepishly.

Zoe and Bruce cleaned up the remaining shards of glass, and the outside frames that had fallen apart of the tablet. They walked into his lab and over to the trashcan tossing the items inside.

"Can you tap into it in here?" Bruce asked, pointing to the computer screens that hung from the lab's ceiling.

Zoe glanced at the advanced computer screens, and she nodded. "Yeah. Actually, I can. Do you mind?"

"Not at all," Bruce shook his head. "Just working, you know, trying to find the cube."

"What were you doing outside?" Zoe asked curiously as she set up one of the computers beside his work station where Loki's scepter was resting on the lab table, glowing with pure energy in the middle of the scepter.

"Stepping out for a breather?" Bruce asked.

"Get a little hungry?" she asked, smiling at him.

Bruce looked at her sheepishly.

"There's a vending machine around the corner," Zoe nodded. "I saw."

"Guilty as charged," Bruce said, returning to his work.

"I come prepared," Zoe pulled off her red messenger bag and set it carefully on the table. She pulled out two packets of fruit, one had pineapple in it and the other had blueberries in it. "Blueberries or pineapples?"

"Either one sounds good," Bruce shrugged, putting his glasses back on the bridge of his nose.

Zoe smiled. "I used to wear glasses," she said. "Braces…the whole enchilada!"

"Yeah?" Bruce said idly as he went back to work. She tossed him the bag of blueberries and he caught it against his chest. He set it down, and opened it up. The smell of blueberries hit his nose, and he took a couple in his hands, popping one into his mouth. He chewed silently as he listened to her placid voice in his ears.

"I was a geeky kid, and then turned punk because I was too cool to be a four-eyes," Zoe said, "No offense."

Bruce shrugged. "Whatever floats your boat I guess, no pun intended, I swear," Bruce said, glancing around his surroundings.

That just made Zoe giggle before she turned back to her uploaded file on Level 7 on the screen. She scanned the pages to get back to her spot, and hopped up on the table, where she pulled up her legs so she could sit Indian-style.

Bruce watched her read with curiosity as his own findings of the cube, continued to trace the energy source from Loki's scepter. She plopped a pineapple in her mouth and chewed slowly, while scanning the screen pretty quickly. He raised his eyebrows at how fast she could read.

He noticed that her holster strap on the side of her calf didn't have a gun, and he furrowed his brows. "Huh…" he said out loud without even meaning to.

Zoe turned, wiping her head toward Bruce. "What?" she said.

"Just noticed that you don't have a gun like Agent Romanoff does," Bruce said.

Zoe glanced down at the holster strap on her leg and chewed her bottom lip. "Well," she drawled. "Guns don't work on Loki, so I figured why should I bother carrying the extra weight around?"

Bruce raised his eyebrow at her before he curled his lips into a smile. "Or, you forgot it."

Zoe blushed. Technically she did forget it and left it back in her room, but she didn't want to admit her faults in front of the big guy, now did she? She was a little bit distracted, and she really needed to focus.

"Guns aren't the only weapons out there we can use, you know," she said, flashing a grin at him over her shoulder.

"So," Bruce said, turning back to his work at hand. Zoe turned back to her screen, reading the information at hand. "You're a Sawyer."

"Heard of me, huh?" Zoe asked.

"They told me a little bit about you, and your father who was a brilliant scientist for S.H.I.E.L.D.," Bruce said. "He majored in astrophysics and minored in psychology. He was working on trying to put two and two together. I read his dissertation before he went crazy."

Zoe swallowed hard, and nodded. He wasn't wrong.

"Sorry," Bruce said softly as the silence filled the air between them.

Zoe shrugged. "It's not a big deal."

"But it's what drove you to Soho, right?" Bruce asked.

"You don't know anything about Soho," Zoe said a little bit snappishly.

"Why'd you do it?" Bruce asked. Zoe didn't say anything. "You were a daughter of a brilliant scientist, and an artist. You didn't have to-"

"I had no choice," she snapped, glaring back at him. She hopped off the table, and turned to face Bruce.

"I didn't know what my father did when I was growing up. No one told me anything," Zoe said in a low whisper. "All I knew is that he was a workaholic and ventured as an entrepreneur. He'd come home crazy like he was high or something. He would try to tear me apart," she said just as her throat tightened at the bitter memory brushing against her mind.

She swallowed hard, gripping tightly onto the edges of the table until her knuckles turned white. She stared into the open bag of her pineapple fruit, yellow and juicy before she lost her appetite at that moment. She closed her eyes tight and shut.

"Zoe," Bruce said softly.

Zoe tried to mask the pain that bubbled up inside her.

Bruce could see the confusion in her eyes. No one should have to go through what Zoe was going through right now. No one should not know who they were, or who their family was.

"They're just not telling me _why_ ," she whispered. "They're not telling me why he would go through that much trouble just to get some Intel on their arch-nemesis. And for what? Did they forget that he had a daughter? Did they forget that he had a family to look after too? Or was I just..." she let out a frustrated sigh. "Someone else's punching bag."

Bruce's eyes danced along her small frame and frowned. He didn't know how deep it went, but by the looks of things, it looked bad. "I'm sorry that he did that to you. All I'm saying is that," he drew in a deep breath. "If you ever need to talk to someone, you can talk to me."

Zoe looked up at Bruce and into his warm and inviting eyes. It was ironic. He was so gentle to her, and kind, yet he could turn into the Hulk at any time if something went awry. At that moment she could have hugged him, but instead she saw a row of men dressed in black armor with weapons in hand through Dr. Banner's glass window.

A cool wave of fear washed over Zoe's face, as she looked behind Bruce's shoulder. Bruce turned to stare at what she was looking at, so distracted all of a sudden, and noticed Loki turn to stare at them, smiling as he walked by in prisoner chains.

Bruce winced, and took off his glasses. He pinched the bridge of his nose, and Zoe tore her eyes away from the God of Mischief, glancing at Bruce. "You okay?" she asked quietly, and a little bit fearfully, not sure what Bruce was capable of. Yeah, she was definitely going to keep her gun with her at all times, just to be on the safe side.

Bruce nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I'm fine." _Maybe, I'm just tired_ , he thought.

"Zoe?" she heard Agent Romanoff on the other end of her ear-comm. "Bring Dr. Banner to the bridge."

Zoe turned to her ear-comm, and nodded. "Copy that, boss," she said, and looked at Bruce. "Duty calls."

Bruce sighed, and together they headed out of the lab, locking the lab shut behind them.


	6. Chapter 6: Lost Creatures

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to its respective owners. I just own my OC. I'm writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 6: Lost Creatures**

"In case it's unclear," Director Fury said after he'd locked Loki into a thick and circular encaged glass box. He walked down the steps and down the pathway to the operation screen. Loki glanced around his surroundings, watching the director closely as he stepped back into the middle of the caged glass. "You try to escape, you so much as smash that glass," Fury continued. All of a sudden the floor beneath him opened up and a gush of air sputtered upward. Loki glanced down at it curiously yet warily.

"Thirty thousand feet, straight down in a steel trap!" Fury explained. "You get how that works?" he tapped his finger on the clear screen. "Ant," he pointed to Loki then the operation device in front of him. "Boot."

Loki let out an amused soft chuckle, holding out his hands in the air as if he demonstrated how "impressed" he was with it. "It's an impressive cage, not built I think for me," Loki said, walking backwards.

"Built for something a lot _stronger_ than you," Fury said.

"Oh, I've _heard_ ," Loki smirked, glancing up at the camera in his room, knowing that his enemies would be watching.

Indeed they were watching, sitting at a round table, and istening to the conversation between the two men downstairs below them.

Zoe sat next to Romanoff with her tablet resting beside her elbows. She was supposed to be reading, but she couldn't help but listen to the sound of his smooth voice tracing back to her ears. It sent shivers down her spine and not in a good way. He rubbed her the wrong way especially with his black hair slicked back, pasty white facial features, and skinny body that was dressed in what she could only describe as Asguardian clothing? The only thing she really liked about him was his green eyes. Eyes on a man were a particular weakness of hers, she'd never tell anyone. That was it. He killed honored people back in the facility and almost killed Director Fury. She would never forget that. She glared vehemently at the small screen before her eyes.

"A mindless beast, makes play he's still a man," Loki continued.

Zoe watched silently, listening to the sour words spewing from this creature's mouth.

Romanoff looked up at Bruce who stood behind his chair next to Steve.

"How _desperate_ are you?" Loki taunted. "You call on such lost creatures to defend you."

"How _desperate_ am I?" Fury demanded. "You threaten my world with war, you steal a force you can't hope to control, you talk about peace, and you kill because it's _fun_. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did."

"Oooh," Loki said. "It burns you to have come so close, to have the Tesseract, to have power, _unlimited_ power, and for what?" he smiled, and turned to stare at them through the camera gain. "A warm light for all mankind to share?"

Maria and Zoe glanced at one another curiously at Loki's taunts teasing the air that had suddenly become heavy around them.

"And then to be reminded what real power is," Loki turned back to face Fury.

Fury glared at him, not saying another word. He'd had enough. He turned to walk around and head back to the bridge. "Well, let me know if real power wants a magazine or something."

The image on the table in front of her disappeared. Zoe looked at the new tablet one of her people provided for her, and leaned against her seat, still spooked by Loki's words.

"He really grows on you doesn't he?" Bruce asked, trying to lighten the mood.

Zoe looked up at the doctor and smiled. It's nice to see he still had a sense of humor throughout this.

"He's going to drag this out," Steve said, already in planning mode. "So, Thor, what's his play?"

Thor had been very silent, probably thinking about Loki and what his plan was. Zoe had to admit that when she saw Thor in person, she was in complete awe especially with his muscles and that suit of armor and red cape. She was quite impressed and it made her even curious as to how he could be related to someone like Loki. He was so different from Loki, especially from what she's read in the mythology aspect of it.

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asugard, or any world known," Thor explained, turning to face the table. Agent Hill joined them not too long ago. "He's to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth, in return I suspect for the Tesseract."

"An army," Steve said, glancing at Romanoff and Zoe. "From outer space."

Romanoff glanced down at the table, and Zoe glanced warily at her.

"So he's building another portal," Bruce concluded, taking off his glasses and into his hands. Zoe frowned. Another portal? "That's what he needs Eric Selvig for."

"Selvig?" Thor asked, glancing at Bruce.

"He's an astrophysist," Bruce said.

"He's a friend," Thor said.

Zoe looked up at Thor when he said that and smiled. "We'll get him back," she said. Thor looked at the young woman in his eyes, and smiled lightly at her candid and hopeful beliefs.

"Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours," Romanoff said, sharing a look with Zoe.

"I want to know why he let us take him," Steve cut in. "He's not leading an army from here."

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki," Bruce shook his head. "That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you can smell crazy on him."

"Have care how you speak," Thor said. "Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asguard, and he is my brother."

"He's killed eighty people in two days," Romanoff said.

"He's adopted," Thor said.

Zoe smiled at Thor, and sucked in her lips, leaning against the table, as she tried to think what Loki was really up to.

"I think it's about the mechanics," Bruce said. "Iridium? What do they need Iridium for?" he asked, glancing around the table in hopes that someone had an answer. He even looked to Zoe, but she didn't know. She was angling toward the magic side of it rather than the science part of it.

"It's a stabilizing agent," Tony said suddenly that caused the group to turn heads at Tony and Agent Coulson walking down the hallway toward them. Tony lowered his voice to Coulson, "I'm just saying, take a weekend off, fly out to Portland…"

Zoe arched a curious brow at them as Coulson headed downstairs to the main floor of the bridge where he could keep a close eye on things.

"Needs," Tony said. "So the portal won't collapse itself like it did at S.H.I.E.L.D.," Tony explained. "No hard feelings Point Break, you got a mean swing," he patted Thor's arm.

"Also needs the portal as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants," Tony made his way to the computer station, and glanced at them curiously.

"Uh, raise ship's mass," Tony said, glancing at the rest of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents at their stations. They turned to stare at them questionably.

"That man is playing Galaga!" Tony pointed to one of Zoe's co-workers, who was indeed playing the computer game. Zoe raised an eyebrow at him. "Thought we wouldn't notice, but we did."

"How does Fury see these?" Tony held up one hand to his eye demonstrating Fury's eye patch.

"He turns," Agent Hill said.

So this was Tony Stark, Zoe thought curiously, the son of Howard Stark, and also Iron Man. She only saw bits and pieces of the footage on Steve's tablet and of course she'd seen him all over the news. He'd definitely made a name for himself.

"Sounds exhausting," Tony commented lightly. He started to touch one of the screens in front of him. "The rest of the raw materials and Barton can get his hands on pretty easily, only major component he needs is a power source," he swerved the image to the other screen and continued working. "A high energy density," he pressed something small onto the side of the computers, which made Zoe frown. She was going to say something but then stopped because Tony was too fast for her or anyone to cut into what he was explaining, which didn't sound English to her. She looked over at Steve's poor facial expression. She was right there with him, confused.

"Something to, uh," Tony snapped his fingers. "Kick start the cube."

"When did you become a nuclear expert in astrophysics?" Agent Hill asked, arms crossed, as she looked at Tony with curiosity.

"Last night," Tony said. "The packet. Selvig's notes. The extraction theory papers? Am I the only one who did the reading?" he asked everyone, looking around them.

"It was a little hard to decipher," Zoe mumbled.

Tony arched a curious brow at the agent sitting by Romanoff.

Zoe cleared her throat, "Science was never my strong suit."

"Does Loki need any particular _kind_ of power source?" Steve demanded.

"He'd have to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break the cooling barrier," Bruce said, as he paced slowly back and forth.

"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum power effect," Tony said proudly, walking over toward Bruce.

"Well, if he could do that than he could achieve heavy Ion fusion and any reactor on the planet," Bruce said.

"Finally," Tony pointed to Bruce. "Someone who speaks English."

"Is that what just happened?" Steve inquired curiously.

Zoe shrugged. "Apparently," she said.

"It's good to meet ya, Dr. Banner," Tony said as the two scientists shook hands. "Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled, and I'm a huge fan of the way you loose control and turn green."

Bruce glanced nervously at the others and then at Tony. "Thanks," he murmured.

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube," Director Fury said, joining them on the bridge. "I was hoping you might join them."

"Let's start with that stick of his," Steve said. "It may be magical but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon."

Zoe nodded in agreement with Steve. That was her first thought and she was glad at least she wasn't alone with her thought process.

"I don't know about that," Director Fury said. "But it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkey's."

Thor frowned, and his eyebrows creased with confusion. "I do not understand…"

"I do!" Steve cried happily, nearly jumping out of his seat. Zoe couldn't help but grin at that. Wizard of Oz. "I understood that reference."

"The Wizard of Oz!" Zoe said, glancing at the God of Thunder. "It's a classic," she turned to Steve. "I was in the play you know," Zoe said, leaning across the table so she could talk to Steve. "At school, I was a talking tree, and it was so much fun. I liked throwing the apples at Dorothy and Scarecrow, making them run away the most," she chuckled at the fun memory fleeting across her mind. "It was,well, you had to be there."

Thor arched a curious brow at her while Steve just smiled. Romanoff scooted the tablet closer to Zoe. A frown appeared on her face, as the rest of her reading material appeared on screen and sighed, feeling her shoulders slump. Right. Back to work.

The team looked at each other in silence before Tony turned to Bruce. "Shall we play doctor?"

Bruce showed him the way. "This way, sir," Bruce said, and the two scientists left to head back to the lab.


	7. Chapter 7: Chemical Mixture

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belongs to its respective owners. I just own my OC. Not writing for profit, writing for fun.**

 **Chapter 7: Chemical Mixture**

Zoe sighed, and leaned her head against her pillow, as she worked on finishing her reading material. Bruce and Tony were working on tracking the cube, and Romanoff sent her to her room to study. Zoe frowned, and looked up from her tablet, staring off into space, as her thoughts started to run off in a tangent. She would've tried to get some sleep, but she really wanted to get this done before sunrise.

She was almost done with a few pages left to read. She couldn't wait to be done so that she could actually be involved with the Avengers Initiative at least that's what she hoped she would be involved with…unless Romanoff tells her otherwise. She sighed, rolling her eyes. Will she ever get to do something? The one thing she did learn in her reading material that was quite intriguing to her was the sole fact that every agent on the Hellicarrier was a level seven agent, or higher like Agent Hill and Director Fury. So it was interesting that Fury even let her on board in the first place. Information Specialist or not, she could've just stayed at S.H.E.I.L.D. headquarters.

Why did Fury allow her here in the first place?

She heard her door slide open slightly ajar. Dropping her tablet to the side of her on the bed, she reached for her gun hidden underneath her pillow. She pointed it at Steve as he cleared his throat, "Sorry," he said. "Um, you got a minute?" he asked.

She lowered her weapon down, and put it on safety lock. She sighed. "Thought you knew how to knock first?"

Steve smiled sheepishly. "It's not that kind of door," he said.

"True," Zoe said, rubbing her tired eyes with her fingers. She glanced up at him, and placed her hands in her lap. "Suppose I could use a break. What's up?" she asked, smiling at him.

Steve cringed. "I need to know where the archives room is."

Zoe raised an eyebrow, and slid her legs off of her bed. She shoved her gun within her side-holster and crossed her arms over her chest. "That's a restricted area, Captain Rogers."

"I know," he said with a cringe then smirked when she saw her intrigued expression upon her face. "I'm feeling dangerous today."

"Really?" she asked, letting out a small chuckle. "Got the Fonze vibe going on there?"

Steve tilted his head at her, brows furrowed to confusion.

She blushed, "Just kidding. It's another culture reference. You should really start a list on what you missed in life."

"I'll think about it," Steve nodded.

Zoe tilted her head from side to side, waiting to see what he was up to. Snooping around her second home didn't seem like a good idea in her book, but she was curious as to _why_ he'd want to snoop the Hellicarrier's backup files. There was a computer for that, but Steve's knowledge on today's computers was probably lackluster.

Steve smiled at her, noticing her questionable look. "Look, I promise it'll be our little secret."

"Oh good, more secrets to add on to my list of my ever growing secrets," Zoe said in a teasing manner, even though it was secretly true. "Okay, I'll bite. Why?"

"Well, you are the information specialist, and I figured you'd know where the secret room is on board, and everything," Steve noticed her eyebrows raised and he sighed. "Plus, Bruce and Tony have this ridiculous theory that Fury is hiding something," Steve said.

"That's a serious offense," Zoe said, crossing her arms over her chest. She narrowed her eyes at the First Avenger.

"Uh-huh," Steve nodded. "Want to help me prove them wrong?"

Zoe grinned. "Thought you'd never ask."

"Lead the way," Steve said, offering her the lead.

Steve followed Zoe through the curving hallways that eventually lead them to the restricted area. She didn't like this one bit. She didn't like to think that Fury was keeping something from her or anyone for that matter. Bruce and Tony had to be wrong. Zoe didn't want to believe it. After what happened in her home in New York, she was a new person, and she felt like herself again. She could wipe out her past, and focus on helping other people instead, and put all that past behind her. She didn't want to find out anything bad about Fury.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Zoe asked in a whisper, glancing behind her to keep an eye for wandering eyes. She never once thought about her home being bugged. She just thought they all worked together as a team.

"No," Steve said.

"Ah-ha, bingo, there you are," she said. Zoe finally found the door and glanced warily around her as Steve pushed it open with all of his strength.

They walked inside down the hallway, lines of yellow leading them into caution. She felt her nerves prick her skin, usually she felt them when she was doing something wrong, or something she shouldn't be doing like _snooping_ against her boss.

"I don't like this," Zoe whispered.

There were strange metal case boxes in rows on either side of them as they walked further inside. A cool chill went down her spine.

"You think I do?" Steve said, looking up above them. He looked up at the second floor curiously and then turned to Zoe. "Stay here, keep a look out."

Zoe frowned. "What am I supposed to do? Fire my own co-workers?"

Steve winced. "Just holler!" he yelled, as he stepped up in a quick movement to get to the balcony.

She sighed, placing her hands on her hips, watching after him. "Show off," she muttered.

She started to pace back and forth as Steve combed through the boxes on top of the balcony.

"We're gunna get in trouble, and I'll get another lecture, or I'll get fired, and this isn't gunna be fun at all, no, no, we're gunna get in trouble," Zoe sing-songed lightly to herself. She bobbed her head to her own crappy lyrics, as she fretted about being caught.

She stopped singing when she didn't hear any more footsteps upstairs. She searched for the stairs, and in the corner she headed upstairs. "Steve?" she whispered, searching for him in the weave of boxes piled up on the second floor. He was staring into one with a deep look of remorse on his face. "Steve?" she asked.

Steve looked up at Zoe. She found him with a box torn open. His face had a grave expression written upon it and she took a deep breath. She walked closer to the box and looked inside.

She peered inside the box, and ran a hand along the cool black pieces of metal that belonged to weapons of mass destruction. She shivered at the ill thought of S.H.I.E.L.D. building such things.

 **~*A*~**

"No muss, no fuss…what is phase two?" Tony asked as the screen showed Jarvis's trace of hidden information from S.H.I.E.L.D. on screen.

Steve dropped the heavy weapon onto the table, catching Director Fury, Bruce, and Tony's attentions. "Phase two is that S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the cube to make weapons."

Zoe stepped up closer to Director Fury, crossing her arms over her chest, and glared at her boss with questionable eyes. Fury looked from Zoe to Steve.

"Sorry the computer was moving a little slow for me," Steve said, glancing at Tony.

"Rogers, Sawyer, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not _mean_ that we're-"

Steve and Zoe listened to Fury, or at least tried to because Tony opened his big mouth again.

"I'm sorry _Nick_ ," Tony said, moving the computer screen closer toward them that had the weapons on screen. "What, were you lying?"

"I was wrong, Director, the world hasn't changed a bit," Steve said.

Zoe frowned, as an unsettling feeling started to burn a hole her heart. She glanced out at the open door, as Thor and Agent Romanoff joined them inside the lab.

"Did you know about this?" Bruce asked Agent Romanoff, pointing to the screen.

"I sure as hell didn't," Zoe snapped, glaring at Agent Romanoff. "Is that why I'm still a level six agent?" she crossed her arms over her chest, staring vehemently. She'd been a level six agent far too long.

"You want to think removing yourself from this facility, doctor?" Agent Romanoff said, glancing at Zoe, but keeping her focus on Bruce.

"I was in Calcutta," Bruce chuckled dryly. "I was pretty well removed."

"Loki's manipulating you," Agent Romanoff said, stepping closer toward him.

"And you'd been doing what exactly?" Bruce asked.

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you," Agent Romanoff said.

"Yes," Bruce said, stepping closer towards her. "And I'm not leaving because you suddenly get a little twitchy," he pulled the computer screen in his hands. "I'd like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

All eyes were on Director Fury until he suddenly pointed toward Thor. "Because of him," he said.

"Me?" Thor asked, pointing to himself.

Everyone glanced at Thor questionably.

"Last year, Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town," Director Fury explained. "We learned that we are not only alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned."

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet," Thor said.

"But you're not the only people out there, are you?" Director Fury turned to face the God of Thunder. "And you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people and can't be matched. They can't be controlled."

"Like you control the cube?" Steve asked.

Zoe chewed her lip, listening to her boss as it settled uneasily with her.

"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki it, and his allies," Thor explained. "It is a signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a form of war."

"A higher form?" Steve asked.

"Now I get why I'm a level six," Zoe muttered under her breath.

"You _forced_ our hand. We had to come up with something-" Director Fury began.

"Nuclear deterrent," Tony cut him off. "Cause that always calms everything right down."

Director Fury turned to face Tony. "Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?"

"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep in it," Steve said stepping closer.

"Wait, wait," Tony held his hands in defense. "Hold on, how is this now about me?"

"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Steve asked.

"Steve," Zoe whispered, shaking her head. Steve and Tony looked at her.

"I thought humans were more involved than this," Thor said.

"Excuse me!" Director Fury turned to Thor. "Did we come to your planet and blow things up?"

Steve and Tony started bickering at each other over Thor's response to Director Fury, and Zoe stepped in between Steve and Tony, trying to get them to stop snapping at each other.

"Are you boys really that naive? S.H.I.E.L.D. monitors potential threats," Agent Romanoff said, catching Zoe's attention.

"Captain America is on a threat watch?" Bruce asked, glancing at Agent Romanoff.

Agent Romanoff turned to face him. "We all are," she said.

"Is that how you found me before the police could raid my house?" Zoe asked Director Fury, crossing her arms over her chest. She narrowed her eyes at him, staring at his one eye. The eye patch never scared her, underneath it though, she didn't want to know what happened.

"For good reason, Agent Sawyer," Fury said, turning toward her in the midst of the fight that was brewing between the lost creatures. "You're a wanted murderer."

Zoe swallowed hard, her throat tightened, and she tightened her fists underneath her arms as the memory hit her hard. A memory she'd worked so hard to wipe out, to wipe away, but it came back hurtling at her like a mean tidal wave.

"I swear Stark, one more wisecrack out of you!" Steve said.

"Verbal threat, I feel threatened!" Tony shouted, pointing at Steve. "I feel threatened!"

"Will you two cut it out already?" Zoe asked.

"It's not going to work, trainee. They're men. They don't listen to little girls like you. And you're not even supposed to be here. Did you finish that package?" Agent Romanoff asked.

Zoe stepped closer to Agent Romanoff, and away from Steve and Tony as they continued to bicker. Voices in the background she didn't care. She stepped right up to Romanoff.

"I don't like being treated like a child," Zoe said.

"Then stop acting like one, and I won't," Agent Romanoff said. "You really need to work on your emotional work. Maybe that's why you're a level six. You can't think clearly like the rest of us."

"Did you ever think that not all of us are perfect like you?" Zoe demanded as the two ladies stepped in front of each other nose to nose.

"You think _I'm_ perfect?" Agent Romanoff asked with a slight chuckle. "You don't know anything about me."

"And you don't know anything about me and what I'm capable of," Zoe said dangerously, as her dark eyes glowered with warning at Agent Romanoff, who didn't bat an eyelash at her. "Yeah, I figured it out. I'm your _prisoner_ on this boat. You're not even training me like you're supposed to."

"We could go a few rounds if you want, get a little kitty action," Agent Romanoff said, smiling at this girl's challenge.

"Your boyfriend doctor won't mind?" Zoe asked, motioning a quick nod over to Bruce. "I thought you and Barton were like this," she wrapped her two fingers together in a lock.

Agent Romanoff smirked, shaking her head. "Oh you have no idea what you're stepping into."

"Then tell me because I'd like to know who I'm dealing with," Zoe said.

"How 'bout I show you," Agent Romanoff said, advancing on her.

"You speak of control," Thor said. His voice boomed around the room, causing everyone to look at him, and stepped away from their headed arguments. "Yet, you cause chaos!"

"Well, that's his M.O. isn't it? What are we, a team? No, no, no, we're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're…we're a time bomb," Bruce said.

"You need to step away," Director Fury warned.

Zoe peered over Agent Romanoff's shoulder. Romanoff noticed the worried look in Zoe's eyes and turned around to step closer towards Bruce. The gem inside the middle of the scepter was glowing blue, as if it was spiking again.

Fury and Romanoff were prepared to grab their firearms. Zoe stepped backwards towards Thor cautiously, as she tried to come up with another tactic that might calm this thing down before it blows up in everyone's face, all arguments aside.

"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Tony asked, slapping his hand along Steve's shoulder.

Steve ripped it away. "You know _damn_ well why," Steve said angrily, standing in front of Tony.

"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me," Tony taunted.

"Yeah, big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?" Steve said, glaring at Tony.

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist," Tony grinned.

"I know guys worth none of that are worth ten of you," Steve said.

Tony was silent. In fact, the whole room was silent, and Zoe literally felt like her world was caving in and she was helpless to stop it.

"Yeah, I've seen the footage," Steve said. "The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the kind of man to make the sacrificial play to lay down the wire, and let the other guy crawl through over you?"

Tony swallowed hard, listening to Steve's words sting in his ear. He regained his composure and shrugged. "I think I would just cut the wire," he said.

"Always a way out," Steve said. "You may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

Tony stepped closer to the first Avenger. "A hero, like you? You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle."

 **~*A*~**

Meanwhile outside the Hellicarrier, Agent Barton pulled out an arrow from his quiver and attached it to his bow. Standing inside the quinjet he'd stolen, he scanned the perimeter exterior and found his target. He aimed and shot a perfect shot along the side of the lab.

 **~*A*~**

"Put on a suit," Steve smirked. "Let's go a few rounds."

Thor let out a hearty chuckle. "You people are so petty, and tiny," Thor said.

"Yeah," Bruce said dryly. "This is a team."

"Agent Romanoff, would you please escort Dr. Banner to his-" Director Fury turned to Agent Romanoff, but Bruce cut him off.

"Where?" You rented my room," Bruce said, pointing out the door.

Director Fury sighed, "That was just in case you-"

"Need to kill me?" Bruce said. "You can't! I tried!"

Everyone stopped talking, and now all eyes were on Bruce.

"I got low," Bruce said quietly. "I didn't see an end so I put a bullet in my mouth and the Other Guy spit it out. So, I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good till you dragged me back into this freak show," he glared at Agent Romanoff. She shifted uneasily on her feet, staring back at him. "And put everyone at risk. You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?"

Director Fury and Agent Romanoff's hands lingered toward their side-arms, watching warily at Bruce, fixated on the scepter that he was now holding in his hands.

"Dr. Banner," Steve warned. "Put down the scepter."

Zoe took a tentative step closer. "Bruce," she said. "It's okay. We all have our demons," she said. "Even me."

Bruce frowned at her.

"Director Fury?" Zoe asked quietly.

Director Fury turned to face his trainee. "Sawyer?" he asked.

"What would happen to me if…I did…kill my father?" she asked. "I mean, you're a spy too, right? So, you should've known all along that I had something to do with it. I mean, after all I helped stage that robbery in Soho, who's to say I wouldn't stage a murder too? You know…to cover my tracks?" she whispered. She glanced from the floor cautiously to everyone else in the room that was now staring at her. She felt the wave of shock around the room and wince. It wasn't like how it sounded…

"You did say I was an excellent actress," she continued.

Director Fury widened his eye at her. "Zoe," he began, but she cut him off. Damn it, Fury thought. He was never going to be able to explain to them anything if it kept going like this.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. never intended to offer me a job or a home…you didn't want to waste my potential behind bars," Zoe said. "You wanted to use my skills in the field. You saw what I was capable of and found me on that nifty little radar of yours. Right? I mean that's how you got this "team". I wondered why you brought me here, the thought wouldn't leave my mind. I finally came to the conclusion that it was to keep an eye on me, right?"

Director Fury frowned at her words, hanging in the air like they were on strings.

Zoe drew in a deep breath, and let it out. "You asked me once if I could talk?" she asked, turning toward Bruce.

Bruce nodded slowly, still holding onto the glowing scepter.

"Just listen, and I'll talk," she said. "I did it, I killed my father," she said, looking down at the floor, avoiding everyone's gazes on her. She worked so hard to block it out. "Sometimes he would come home and he wouldn't be himself. I didn't know at the time that he worked for this mysterious company called S.H.I.E.L.D. and that he was trying to get out. I just assumed it was the life of a workaholic, stressful, needed to get well, whatever he was on, and he ended up crazy because of it. One night, he attacked me right when I was doing homework for college. He used a knife on me and tried to cut open into my stomach. He kept yelling Ava, why won't you let me see your abilities, I need to know. He didn't stop there. He would try to rip open other unseen places, but he never got close. I was able to try to get away, barely each time, and I'd run." she let out a shaky breath, and hugged one arm across her chest.

"Who's Ava?" Romanoff whispered.

Zoe shrugged. She'd never figured that one out. "One night, I came home from school only to find my mother dead. I was about to call 911 until my father attacked me out of nowhere. He shoved me again on the sofa. It felt like he was going to do it again, but this time it was different. He thought _I_ killed my mother. But, I swear I had _nothing_ to do with my mother's death. I _swear_!" she stressed to the point where she emitted a low stressed growl from her throat. Her throat constricted and she let out a small cry of pain at the painful memory. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

Director Fury listened to her, and the room grew thicker. He kept his eye on Bruce just in case, but Bruce seemed too intent in Zoe's story.

"During the struggle, I grabbed the nearest weapon I could find, clocked him in the head, and he never woke up," she whispered. "I panicked, and I freaked out in the worst way."

"Why didn't you just call the police?" Steve asked in a low whisper.

Zoe sniffed, and shook her head, rubbing the tears that had fallen from her eyes off of her plump cheeks. "Look at me! I look like I'm twelve-years-old, but I'm older now. No one ever takes me seriously because of my baby face," she whispered. She looked at Bruce.

She let out a sigh. "Like Dr. Banner, I didn't see any other option out of this, so I staged it to make it look like a suicide. I went to the circus that night, trying to figure out what to do…I was offered a chance to flee the state, but something in me made me come back. I was going to turn myself in, but then I noticed someone broke into my house, so I decided to play the victim. Fury recruited me and that was that."

Suddenly a hit on the Tesseract read an energy signature match of ninety-five percent, gaining everyone's attention.

"Got it," Director Fury said.

Bruce glanced down at the scepter, suddenly realizing that he had it in his hands and looked at the sounds beeping and spluttering to life in the room, going haywire.

"Sorry kids, you don't get to see my party trick after all," Bruce muttered, placing the scepter down. His computer suddenly went haywire.

"I'll get it!" Tony said, making a mad dash to the door.

"Right there with you!" Zoe said, jumping at the chance to help Tony. Tony looked at her warily.

"You located the Tesseract?" Thor asked. "The Tesseract belongs on Asguard. No human is a match for it."

"Not gunna kill me?" Tony joked, trying to ease off the nervousness he got when she walked up to him.

Zoe glared at him, tightening her fists at her sides.

"Too soon?" Tony said.

Zoe nodded.

"You're not going alone," Steve said, and slapped Steve's hand away from his arm.

"You gonna stop me?" Tony asked.

"Put on a suit, let's find out!" Steve challenged.

"I'm not afraid of you, old man," Tony said, getting into his face, leaving Zoe behind.

"Put on the suit," Steve said through clenched teeth.

"Oh my God." Bruce whispered, staring at the computer screen.

Suddenly the Hellicarrier exploded from the inside of the ship, causing parts of the engine side of the floating fortress to fall apart.

Everyone flew to the floor in different directions.

Tony and Steve flew toward the door of the laboratory with Zoe not too far behind them. Fury and Thor had fallen in other directions still inside the lab, while Bruce and Agent Romanoff flew backwards out of the glass laboratory, falling a few feet below the lab, landing unconscious.


	8. Chapter 8: Falling Fortress

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to its respective owners. I merely own my OC. Just writing for fun, and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 8: Falling Fortress**

Steve and Tony looked up at each other.

"Put on the suit," Steve said.

"Yup," Tony scrambled up off the floor.

"Zoe?" Steve asked, glancing behind him. He walked over to her, and helped her up off the floor. He leaned her against the threshold side of the door. He glanced down at the petite woman to see if she was hurt. She had a deep red cut on her forehead, but nothing else major.

"I'm okay," she caught her breath, and motioned her chin out the door to follow Tony. "Go."

Steve nodded, and he followed Tony out the door.

 **~*A*~**

On the bridge, the agents scrambled to keep their home afloat the best they could. Everyone reached for their weapons, prepared to take on the uninvited invasion.

 **~*A*~**

Zoe let out a small groan, as she felt a cloth dab her forehead. She looked up to see Thor, trying to clean the wound on her forehead with his handkerchief. "You are not well, Daughter of Sawyer, you need medical attention."

She shook her head, and winced at the painful touch. "No," she said. "We need to help them. Everyone's scattered. Where's Director Fury?"

"I'm here," Fury said, getting up from the floor. Zoe ducked underneath Thor, and he frowned. He folded up the handkerchief and stuck it within his belt. She grabbed onto his shoulder and pulled him up to his feet, as he used the edge of the table to pull himself up at the same time. "Hill!" he said, trying to call for his second in command, who was currently shouting orders at the other agents on the bridge to get this Hellicarrier back in the air.

" _Somebody's gotta get outside and patch that engine!"_ Hill said in her earpiece.

"Stark you copy that?" Fury asked through his earpiece.

" _I'm on it_ ," Tony replied through Fury's earpiece.

"What do you want us to do?" Zoe asked.

"If you can help tame Banner with Romanoff downstairs," Fury said, placing an earpiece into the palm of her hand.

Zoe looked at it with wide eyes and looked into his.

"I'll clear you for a level seven agent," Fury said, glancing at Thor, who nodded in return.

Fury headed out the lab. "Coulson initiate lockdown in the detention section," Fury ordered. "And head to the armory. Romanoff!"

Zoe attached her earpiece to the curved shell of her ear, and hit the on button so she could hear the rest of her teammates and what was going on.

 **~*A*~**

"We're okay, right?" Romanoff said before she glanced at Bruce, who'd fallen flat on his stomach and seemed like he was trying to fight the monster that was inside of him.

 **~*A*~**

Meanwhile Agent Barton led the turned agents behind him onto the main deck of the Hellicarrier. He ordered an agent to break into a level inside. A metal piece fell down, and the agent jumped in. They lowered the cable and Agent Barton jumped in, twirling down the cable to join his recruits.

"Keep that engine down!" Barton ordered, pointing to engine one.

"Yes sir," the agent replied.

"Detention, wait for my orders, going dark," Barton said to another.

The agent nodded. "Yes sir," he said, making the move towards the detention area of the Hellicarrier. Barton turned to the remaining two agents. "Stay close," he said and headed downstairs toward the bridge.

 **~*A*~**

"Engine three, I'll meet you there," Tony said. Steve nodded, and jogged toward his destination while Tony walked into the storage room. He took out his cell device to activate his Iron Man suit, hidden behind the iron doors.

 **~*A*~**

Zoe stood in the middle of the lab frozen in place once she heard the loud roar ripple in her earpiece. She winced, nearly taking out her earpiece at the growl coming from the Hulk. She looked into Thor's concerned eyes with fear.

"I can't," she whispered, shaking her head. She stepped back into the table, cowering with a sudden fear washing over her. "I can't do this."

"Daughter of Sawyer," Thor said, stepping closer to her. She was staring at the ground, shaking as she heard The Hulk rippling in anger downstairs.

She looked up at Thor's voice. "Call me Zoe, please," she said.

Thor smiled slightly at her. "Zoe, your director would not have chosen this task for you if he did not think you could handle it. Right?"

Zoe swallowed hard, and looked up into his kind eyes. "But Loki isn't the only prisoner on this boat."

"Your past is done. Your past does not make you who you are. What you do after is what makes you, you," Thor said, placing his hands on her shoulders tenderly. He gave her a gentle squeeze of encouragement. "Now, will you help me? Or will you swallow in the depths of sorrow and despair?"

Zoe took a deep breath, and wiped the dry tears away from her eyes.

 **~*A*~**

"Bring the carrier to zero eight one south!" Fury said as he climbed up on the bridge. "Fly us to the water!" He ordered his pilot.

"We're flying blind," the pilot said. "Navigation recalibrating after engine failure!"

"Is the sun coming up?" Fury demanded, stepping forward.

The pilot turned to stare at the window, and the sun's rays poured through. He winced. "Yes?" he asked.

"Then put it on the left," Fury pointed in that direction. "Get us over water. One more turbine goes down and we drop!"

The pilot quickly pressed the screen in front of him, getting to work as fast as he can.

 **~*A*~**

"Stark! Stark, I'm here!" Steve said, standing in the midst of engine three that was falling apart right before his very own eyes. Iron Man flew over one of the engines, trying to cool it down.

"Gotta get the super-conducting cooling system back online," Tony said, reading Jarvis's readings through the inside of his helmet. "Before I can access the routers, and work on dislodging the debris."

He pushed the heavy engine fan and locked it place. "I need you to get to that engine control panel and tell me which relays are not intact and overload it in the right position."

Steve jumped up and across to the router, and pried it open. He glanced at the wires and the lights that appeared to be in a confusing maze to the soldier's eyes.

"How's it look in there?" Tony asked

"It seems to on some form of electricity!" Steve shouted over the noise.

"Well, you're not wrong," Tony said.

 **~*A*~**

At the other side of the Hellicarrier, Agent Romanoff ducked underneath metal pipes, and climbed down the metal catwalk, in search for the Hulk. With her gun in her hands she crept through the dark inside the engine room, and looked up in search for the green guy.

Suddenly the Hulk appeared out of nowhere, growling at her. She gulped, and froze, until she saw an engine pipe ahead of her. She shot two bullets into the steam pipe effectively. The steam broke loose in the Hulk's eyes, and he backed away from it.

She ran in the other direction. "Sawyer? Thor?" Romanoff called on her earpiece. "Where the hell are you?"

 **~*A*~**

Zoe listened to his words fill her ear with warmth and kindness like a hug that she desperately needed. She took them to heart. She looked into his eyes.

"I will help," Zoe said, smiling back at him.

Thor grinned and the two headed off, running down to the level four engine room. "We're heading to you, Romanoff, stay put, or don't stay put…um, just hide?" Zoe asked.

They ran down the stairs to the different weaving levels, heading for the Hulk.

"Romanoff, we're on our way, where are you?" Zoe asked, glancing warily at Thor.

"Coulson's going to the detention center, alone," Romanoff replied shakily on the other end of her earpiece.

Zoe stopped, frozen and looked to Thor, and then pressed the button on her earpiece to return Romanoff's call. "I can handle Loki," she said. "I'm sending Thor to you."

"Copy," Romanoff said.

"You try to bring Banner back to us," Zoe said, facing Thor on the catwalk.

"Are you sure?" Thor asked, turning toward Zoe. "Loki is not like you. You know this. He turned one of your men-"

"I know," Zoe said. "I know. I've tried to fight him before." Zoe said, taking out one of her knives out from the small pocket of the inside in her boot.

She pressed a tiny button on the side of the hilt of her knife. It turned into a double spear on each end of the hilt that rested in the middle of her hands. She gripped onto it tight, and pressed another button. Blue electricity spluttered to life from both ends. "Handcrafted specifically within S.H.I.E.L.D's weapon design input. And I know just how to stop him."

Thor raised an eyebrow at the interesting instrument in front of him that glowed blue and silver in his eyes. "Okay then. Just be careful."

"I promise," Zoe smiled, and ran in the other direction to go find Coulson.

 **~*A*~**

The Hulk was about to charge after Agent Romanoff who was cornered into a set of metal pipes, until Thor suddenly crashed into the Hulk, and crashed into the wall and into another room, rolling onto the ground.

Thor looked up from his fall, and into the green monster's eyes as he slowly got up. The engine workers ran out of there as fast as they could.

Thor stood on his feet, trying to match up against the Hulk as the Hulk completely towered over the God of Thunder. Thor bravely threw a punch in his face, which only angered the Hulk. The Hulk brought down his hand to crush Thor, but Thor held his own weight against the Hulk as strong as he could.

"We are _not_ your enemies, Banner," Thor grunted, as he tried to hold off the Hulk's fist off of him. "Try to think!"

But the Hulk had gripped onto Thor's fist, hanging the God of Thunder in the air. The Hulk didn't listen to Thor's please and tossed him into heavy metal cases.

 **~*A*~**

Zoe ran down into the detention center, and saw that Loki was nowhere in sight. She froze in her trek, glancing around her surroundings. "Loki," she called out. "Come out, come out wherever you are," she sing-songed. "This baby won't hurt much. It'll just hurt you a lot."

A dark chuckle filled the room that sent shivers down her spine. "Daughter of Sawyer. I know you."

Zoe turned around in circles, trying to figure out where he was. She stopped when Loki appeared in front of her with an agent tight against his chest, as his arm wrapped around the agent's throat.

The agent had fear in his eyes. Zoe swallowed hard, eyeing the agent struggling against Loki's hold on him.

"You don't know me," she said quietly, keeping her weapon close by her side. "But if you want, you can get to know me, if you'd just let him go first, and we'll talk."

Loki smiled. "Okay," he said, and letting the agent go. "Attack," he whispered in the agent's ear.

The agent took out his gun and aimed it at Zoe. Zoe ducked and rolled onto the ground. She raised her spear and whacked it against the agent's ankles, causing him to fall on his feet. The agent rolled over onto his stomach and glared at her. She stood up onto her feet, warily, and was about to advance on the agent, but Loki gripped her neck and shoved her hard against the glass cell, and kicked the spear out of her hand. It rolled onto the ground. She winced.

"Agent Barton told me about you too," he said with a chuckle.

" _We got perimeter breach, hostiles are in motion,"_ Zoe heard the voice on her earpiece and tried to get out from Loki's grip on her.

Zoe glared into his eyes as she struggled to get out from underneath his chokehold on her. "Can't be anything too exciting," she coughed, trying to pry his hands away from her neck.

He inhaled her scent deeply, and she shivered, not liking this guy at all. He totally rubbed her the wrong way and she had to get out of this very fast. She tried to knee him in the groin, but Loki locked her legs together to keep from struggling so much.

She looked over her shoulder and saw that the agent dressed in black got to his feet. He was holding his gun, aimed at her.

"How you like to stall, how you like to pretend to be a hero, when you're not," Loki said. "Did you really think saving your director was going to make everything better?" Loki chuckled at her facial expression of mixed painful feelings running through her. He must admit. This was one interesting human before his very own eyes.

"I must say, it is adorable, the courage you have to try and stop this fortress of yours to keep from falling apart when you have no real ability," Loki said. His taunting words stung her ears and down to her heart. She tried to ignore him the best she could, but his words slithered towards her heart in the worst way that made her feel so helpless. Zoe pushed down her tears the best she could but she know it would be no use against him.

"You're a lost soul too lost that will never find her true place in this world. No one loves you. Not even your own father. I know what that's like," he continued.

" _Engine one is now on shut down_ ,"

" _It's Barton, he's heading for the detention level, does anybody copy?_ " Zoe wanted to talk back into her earpiece, but Loki ripped her earpiece out and tossed it away from her.

She whimpered as she tried to break free but he shoved her hard against the glass. She choked out a sob at the burning pain running through her body. "To not have a father," he said softly. She looked into his cold green eyes that sadden for a brief moment. "To not have that sentiment of a parent that should be sentimental and warm, and caring. We're the same you and me."

Zoe felt her eyes start to water again. No. She shook her head. "I'm not like you," she whispered.

"Keep living like this, trying to save everyone you care about, and only _just_ trying?" he asked, sensing her fears. "And you will be," Loki said. Loki pressed the button on the other side of the door and the glass door opened. She fell backwards inside, and he kicked the side of her stomach hard with his boot. She rolled inside and onto her stomach, groaning in pain, and moping in sorrow at Loki's definitive words.

Loki pressed the button, and the glass doors closed, leaving her inside, leaving her broken.

Loki grinned as Agent Barton walked into the room, handing Loki his scepter.

"Everything's secure, sir." Barton said.

Zoe turned her head to the side of the glass, and frowned in horror. Loki smiled at her as he gripped onto the scepter. "Good. Now finish them off…starting with Agent Romanoff," he said.

"It would be my pleasure, sir," Agent Barton pulled out his bow and arrow ready to fight.

Zoe tried to scream out but everything just came out in a hoarse whisper as Agent Barton ran off to put an end to Agent Romanoff.


	9. Chapter 9: Scattered Heroes

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to its respective owners. I just own my OC and I'm writing for fun, not for profit.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 9: Scattered Heroes**

Loki chuckled at her expense, as he advanced closer to her. She looked at him with confusion. It was a trap?

"You humans think you are so righteous!" Loki said, stepping into the cell door with her. "So engaging!"

Zoe scooted back underneath the bench, cowering in fear. "We still have the t-he Hulk. He'll come after you."

"The poor beast wondered off this flying fortress you call home. He's not coming back to rescue you," Loki said.

"Why don't you just kill me then?" Zoe whispered.

"Because I like this," Loki said.

His cool words sent shivers down Zoe's spine. "Yeah, that whole vanishing trick thing, pretty damn nifty, I must say," Zoe said, trying to find her voice. She hoped if she could keep Loki here long enough that someone would find her and put an end to Loki once and for all.

"Thank you," Loki bowed his head lightly toward her. She stared into his green eyes, and winced. "If it hadn't been for your impeccable timing, Thor wouldn't be coming to the rescue."

"Pretty sure he would've just-" she tried to speak her wit in return, but Loki knocked her out unconscious.

"What?" Loki tilted his ear toward her but she said nothing and he smiled. "Time to play the victim again," Loki whispered. With a hand he waved an illusion spell over her body to make her disappear. He used his power to imitate her unconscious body in front of the cell for Thor to see.

Thor ran inside the detention center. Thor glanced at Zoe's unconscious body and his eyes went wide. Then he saw Loki's cell door opening for Loki to escape. "No!" Thor yelled, running toward him with Mjölnir in his hand ready to strike, but he tripped over the real body of Zoe, and stumbled inside the cell, falling face first.

Thor whirled around and knelt down beside her, offering her his arm. "Zoe, I thought you gone."

"No," she shook her head, holding onto Thor's forearms. "It was a trap. All along." She said, glaring at Loki who chuckled. He stood perfectly outside their cell with the possessed agent controlling the device.

"Are you ever _not_ going to fall for that?" Loki asked.

Thor took Zoe's arms and gently lifted her up off the ground and onto her feet. He glared at Loki through the glass separation.

 **~*A*~**

Agent Barton headed down the catwalk inside the engine room, carrying his weapon by his side. He was determined to find her once and for all. He would tear them all apart, every last one.

He'd done his job well, and Romanoff was the prize, who as it turned out was behind him. He was prepared for her sudden appearance, as he whipped his arrow at her face.

But she moved quickly and pulled his bow so that the arrow hit passed her head. She took his bow and twisted it upside down, twisting it within her arms and his arms, as they both struggled for the weapon.

He whirled around and smacked her shoulder with his elbow. She backed away and he advanced, aiming to hit her with his bow, but she ducked, and held onto one of the pipes so she could throw a round-kick at Barton's stomach. He doubled backwards enough for her to escape through and in between the engine pipes. She grabbed onto the pole and whipped her body around to try and smack him down with her two feet, catching him off balance as he'd tried to look for her.

He pulled out another arrow from his quiver as she landed on all fours, glaring at him.

He shot the arrow at her just as she was running toward the pole. She grabbed onto it and twirled down to the second level of another catwalk. He jumped down on his feet the two engaged into another round of fighting.

Barton tried to hit her with the side of his arrow, but she ducked. He tried to hit her again and she ducked the other way, red hair flying in her face. She threw her hands in the air to protect her face when he turned the bow upside down and trapped her wrists inside. She grabbed the string attached to the bow, and he yanked her back with the handle, tightly gripped in his hands. He tried to smack her in the face, but she smacked him right back. He shoved her against the railing, trying to trap her inside the bow. He yanked the bow closer to him so she was against him and he kicked her in the shins against the railing. She grunted in response, but threw a punch in his face enough to disengage from him. She whirled around, taking the bow away from him, wrapped around her neck.

Barton took that as another challenge so he took out his knife, ready to end this.

 **~*A*~**

Thor tried to break the glass with his hammer, but only a sliver of a crack broke loose within the glass. Zoe even tried to shoot her way out, but after five rounds, she figured she was wasting bullets, as they just ricocheted against the glass.

The cell shook within the last hit of Thor's hammer, causing Zoe to grip onto Thor's arm for support to keep falling onto her feet. She'd had enough of that.

Thor stepped back, along with Zoe tentatively beside him. "The humans think us immortal," Loki said.

Loki let out an amused chuckle, and looked to Zoe's feared eyes. He smiled and walked over to the computer device that would toss them only God knew where. Zoe felt her throat tighten with fear. Nope. Nope. She was not going to fall down out of the sky. Nope. She was not going for a ride.

"Should we test that?" Loki asked.

"Nope, I am not, immortal, not immortal, let's not test this," Zoe muttered frantically underneath her breath.

"Loki, your quarrel is with me, let Zoe go now."

Loki smiled, ready to push the button. He really wanted to see what Thor could do if he could save her and himself flying out of a falling fortress thirty-thousand feet in the air. It seemed like a challenge well matched for the God of Thunder.

Suddenly, the agent fell to his feet, causing Loki's fingers to linger along the screen, hovering over the button that would evacuate the cell and into the waiting skies.

"Move away please," Agent Coulson said, holding one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s in his arms. It looked heavy and a lot of fun for Zoe to play with, but she was stupidly trapped in the cell door with Thor.

Thor glanced warily at Loki and Coulson.

"You like this?" Coulson said, advancing further toward Loki.

"Coulson be careful," Zoe pleaded, pressing her fingers lightly on the glass, and watched with nervous eyes.

Loki held his hands and arms in front of him cautiously, stepping away from the computer. He looked at the weapon in Coulson's arms.

"I started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer on Earth," Coulson explained. He shrugged, "Even I don't know what it does," he pressed the button on the weapon in his arms on, and a fiery glow emitted from the end of the weapon in Zoe's eyes.

Suddenly Coulson cringed and yelled in sharp pain, as Loki's sharp scepter drew into Coulson's back and straight through his chest. Deep red blood dripped onto the tip of his scepter. Coulson dropped to the floor, and glanced up at Thor's agonizing scream, mixed in with Zoe's.

Zoe tried to get out of the glass to get to Coulson, but it was no use. Tears fell down her cheeks as she tried to get to him.

Zoe slammed her hand against the glass. She could feel the riveting anger pulsing through Thor's veins as they watched helpless to help Coulson as Loki glamoured back into his golden armor and held his glowing scepter beside him.

"Zoe," Thor whispered, gently bringing her arms toward him as he watched with shaky eyes at his brother. They stared at each other for a brief moment as Loki opened the doors to the outside world. A gush of wind penetrated the room, and Loki's hand drifted along the screen.

"Zoe," Thor said, as Zoe's tears fell against her cheeks. She didn't want to move away from the glass door. She just wanted to get to Coulson.

Loki pressed the button and Thor tore her away from the glass as the circular box fell heavily from the sky and through the clouds. Thor wrapped his arms around Zoe to protect her from getting hurt against the metal, and tried to keep himself on his feet from crashing too much against the pressure as they fell. He winced at Zoe's chortling screams as they fell thirty-feet down below. She gripped tighter onto Thor as she felt her stomach drop in the worst way.

 **~*A*~**

Clint aimed his right fist at Natasha, but she grabbed his fist with the palm of her hand, and shoved it down until she threw her leg into his groin. He groaned at the impact, and she advanced on him again. She hit him again. That only made him angrier so he attacked her. She backed away from him, hitting him in the side.

He raised his fist in the air again to hit her, but she grabbed it and stretched it out, twisting his arm back. He screamed in pain, until he could nick her in the face with his knife in his other hand, but she ducked, doubling back. She reached for the knife, and grabbed his hand and arm, twisting it back, but he shoved her against the railing, and used his body to implement pain, blocking her against the pillar behind her back, as the two struggled in a tight grip hold.

She moved forward, but he grabbed a handful of her hair before she could get to him. He shoved his knife forward toward her face, and she tried to lean her face away as far back as she could within the tight grip hold they were both in. Trying to think on how to get herself out of this, she bit down on Clint's arm, until it hurt him enough so she could flip herself out of his arms and shoved him hard against the railing.

Clint slid to the floor, gripping onto the small wires as he tried to get up. He winced, groaning, as parts of him started to return. He crawled back onto his hands and knees, and turned to look up a familiar face that was anything but happy to see him. He blinked, shaking his head. "Natasha," he whispered curiously.

Natasha eyed him with caution, but knew she had the real Clint back. It was silent between them, but the tension seemed to have calmed a bit. And before he could utter another word, she whacked him in the face, totally unconscious.

 **~*A*~**

Meanwhile Zoe tried to keep her grip onto Thor as they twirled around inside their metal box that continued to fall out of the sky. His hammer fell out of his hands and Zoe went to reach for it, but Thor grabbed it first before she could, in fear that would only make matters worse. She was still screaming until her voice became hoarse and could no longer scream.

"Just," Thor tried to speak. "Hold, on!"

Zoe wasn't letting go of him, as he reached for his hammer still in his hand. He tried to regain balance on his feet as he landed on the glass with Zoe clinging to him. He held onto the edge to keep them from falling again.

She looked up at what he was going to do and widened her eyes.

"Ready?" Thor asked her. She shook her head. She was so not ready, but she didn't have a choice because he used his mighty strength to push themselves out of their cell box, and used his hammer to break through the glass so they could escape into the sky. Glass flew everywhere, catching in Zoe's hair and face.

Instead of flying, Thor's hammer dragged them into the grass and dirt that flew up all around them and in Zoe's mouth that seemed to have shut her up.

Thor and Zoe were left unconscious in the grass.

 **~*A*~**

As Loki felt satisfied his plan was in motion, he walked away from the device, taking his scepter with him.

He was about to leave the detention center, until Coulson opened his mouth to speak, "You're going to loose."

Loki turned around to face him. "Am I?" he asked, looking down at his slain agent.

"It's in your nature," Coulson said.

"Your heroes are scattered. Your floating fortress falls from the sky, where is my disadvantage?" Loki asked.

"You lack conviction," Coulson replied.

"I don't think I-"

But Loki didn't get to finish because he flew backwards hurtling into the next room from the fireball created from the weapon Coulson had brought with him. Smoke and fire filtered the air as Loki rolled over on the ground.

"So that's what it does," Coulson said.

 **~*A*~**

Iron Man worked outside the Hellicarrier trying to bring it up in the air to speed, as he pushed the blades as fast as he could.

"Cap, push the lever," Tony said.

"I need a minute here!" Steve said, hanging from a loose cable in the sky.

"Lever!" Tony said. "Now!"

Steve managed to pull himself up and into the crook of the engine space until all of a sudden gunshots fired from down below, aiming at him. He looked down and tried to crawl up.

As Tony was about done, the magnetic force field took Iron Man suddenly flew back within the metal blades. "Uh-oh," Tony said, as he flew backwards, hitting against the blades until he managed to get out and fly underneath the Hellicarrier to hold it together.

Steve pulled the lever and was about to go after the shooter until Tony flew in and whacked him down, out and unconscious.

 **~*A*~**

With the Hellicarrier now level, it flew back into the skies, as Loki stole one of the qunjets to disappear.

 **~*A*~**

Director Fury ran toward the detention room only to find his good man slain against the wall. He knelt down beside Coulson, and pulled the weapon away.

"I'm sorry, boss, the God rabbited."

"Just stay awake," Fury pleaded. "Eyes on me."

Coulson's eyes tried to stay awake, but he was loosing light.

"No," he said. "I'm clocked out here."

"Not an option," Fury said, gripping onto his neck to keep him from sleeping. "You know that little one would kill me."

Coulson chuckled dryly, "You have to tell Zoe for me," Coulson said in a raspy voice. Director Fury frowned as he watched him slowly pass away right in front of him. "It's okay boss, this was never going to work, if they didn't have something to…to…"

Agent Coulson didn't finish. He couldn't finish. He was gone.

"Agent Coulson is down," Fury alerted everyone who was left on earpiece.

"The medical team is on the way to your location," an agent in formed Agent Fury over the earpiece.

"They're here," Fury said. "They called it."


	10. Chapter 10: Thunder God

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to its respective owners. I just own my OC. Writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 10: Thunder and Lightning**

It was not fair.

Everything was gone.

Everything she has ever worked for, everything she hoped to gain for the betterment of others was gone. She couldn't contact the Hellicarrier. Loki took out her earpiece, and her weapons were gone.

She could barely breathe. She was alive, no doubt, but everything hurt in her heart and soul.

All she wanted to do was to help. She wanted to help bring the Avengers together. The minute she was pulled away from her assignment and heard she was going to train and work her way up to a level seven agent, she could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, like she really did matter, like she really could be somebody at S.H.I.E.L.D. and not just an agent who worked in the background. She wanted to be apart of something great. She didn't know why she felt that way. She just did. Maybe it was her mother's wishes of her to become something extraordinary? Her mother always had high hopes for her daughter's potential success in the world. Maybe not in the way she thought with S.H.I.E.L.D. but something amazing. Zoe just had this inkling for as long as she could remember that she was born to do something great. It sounded silly, but Zoe always believed in it.

When S.H.I.E.L.D. first offered her the job, a place where she didn't have to feel so lost anymore, she fell in love with the technology, the people, and asked so many questions because she was genuinely interested to protect her world, her home, from strange creatures. When she found her mother dead, it wasn't like anything she'd ever seen before in her life. It wasn't a natural murder. And when she learned that her father worked as a double agent, and actually wanted to get better before she accidentally killed him. Zoe frowned at the thought as the feeling of guilt penetrated her heart. She still hadn't gotten over that. She wanted to be like him, well, not exactly like him, but she wanted to be a good agent at S.H.I.E.L.D.

She let out a defeated sigh.

Now here she was, lying in the grass and dirt, covered in sweat, grime, and tiny incisions dotted along her face no thanks to the glass shards that she crashed into. Her head hurt like an anvil hit on her head and she was seriously wishing for some painkillers right now.

All thanks to Loki. All this pain, this wave of exhaustion riding through her, as if she was loosing the will to fight, to feel…was this what it felt like to loose? Zoe frowned. She didn't like it. And it made her think about what Loki said to her about being a burden to her family at S.H.I.E.L.D. maybe she was. She tried to help but trying just didn't seem like enough.

It made her question why Director Fury even asked her to be apart of S.H.I.E.L.D. The only thing she was good at was acting. She couldn't stop Loki. She might have saved Fury's life, but that could've ended a lot worse because she knew Barton was one of the top shooters, so how on Earth could he miss her heart?

Did that mean he was still in there somewhere? A small slither of hope started to crawl its way into Zoe's heart the more she thought about it. Or did he mean just to injure him so that he could take the Tesseract and get away?

She chewed her bottom lip.

She remembered the exact moment she got the call from Agent Coulson to come in and help him put together a remarkable team of people with incredible abilities to help the world fight things that normal people like her could not do.

She didn't have super strength, she couldn't smash things into smithereens, she couldn't fly, and she couldn't have enhanced abilities like the Black Widow. She was just human with the strange craving to help save the world, to stop Hydra once and for all. And now to stop Loki and his army of aliens from getting through.

But how were they going to do that when they were stuck out here?

Zoe let out a groan, and coughed, feeling the heavy weight of defeat weigh in on her shoulders. Loki had arrived through that portal with rage and fire in his eyes, like he was ready to kill. He killed good men she worked with. She tried to stop him from further damage like taking Agent Barton and Dr. Selvig. And he divided the team.

All for what?

What was Loki trying to prove? Or did he just want rage over the world? Did he really mean to rule it?

Zoe shivered at the crazy thought as it drifted across her tired and hazy mind. She would rather die than to have someone like Loki, God of Mischief rule her. Over her dead body for sure. And others would despair. God of Mischief was an understatement.

And she let him escape with the Tesseract. Maybe she should've let Fury get shot? Then maybe she could've stopped Agent Barton from taking the Tesseract. Zoe tried to think of a million different scenarios as to what could and could've happened but every time one would cross her mind, she would see Loki taking the blue cube away from S.H.I.E.L.D.

Zoe frowned. "This is my fault," she realized out loud, now resting her body half-way up from the ground on her forearms. Her brown waterfall of hair covered her face. "This is all my fault," she repeated frantically. "Barton turning against us, a-and Loki taking everything from us. I'm so stupid," she whispered. "For thinking that this could ever work, if I hadn't pushed Coulson with the idea that this was awesome. That he could meet Captain America and things would be better," she fretted, worry creasing her brows. She whipped the sweat off her forehead and winced at the burning feelings in her soul.

"Do not blame yourself for Son of Coul's passing," Thor said gently.

Zoe suddenly looked up, and pushed her hair out of her eyes to see the God of Thunder, kneeling beside her. When she looked up into his kind eyes, they were suddenly filled with sorrow, and that made her frown. Even though the sun's glowing rays made his dirty blonde hair look like a halo around his kind features, he still had a barrier of sadness wrapped around him. "That rests on Loki's shoulders. Not yours."

She turned to sit up, and sit cross-legged in the grass, staring at him. They stared at one another in silence. She looked around her beautiful surroundings, an empty field with the skies still blue.

"But you do," Zoe said, noting the dull tone of voice he bared. Thor may be there to try to win her heart over heroism, but she had one thing going about her. She could usually play off emotions of other people quite well, and Thor simply wasn't. "Why?"

She looked at him curiously. Thor looked up at the skies, thoughts drifting across his mind back to his brother and everything they'd done together in the past.

She only remembered the brief summary of how Thor got caught up with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s business. They tried to keep him at bay, but he escaped and met up with a woman named Jane Foster, who was a scientist, studying space and all that scientific-y stuff that Zoe was not well equipped in.

Thor came to Earth last year in New Mexico. It was probably S.H.I.E.L.D's kick-start to the whole mass destruction thing because Loki had sent the Destroyer to destroy Earth. This rage of Loki's was a long time coming, but how could Zoe have known he was going to come back?

She didn't. But S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted to be prepared for something in case he did or something else did. She was eager to help Agent Coulson start the Avengers Initiative and gather all information about upcoming creatures such as Iron Man. Captain America, the first avenger. She would gather the info, he and other agents like Romanoff would see if they held potential to join the team. Zoe was pretty bummed that Iron Man ruled out when she read his evaluation packet taken by Romanoff. Still, she wanted to find them, and create this team with Coulson and S.H.I.E.L.D. because she believed in heroes. That was something she and Coulson always had in common. Agent Hill wanted to help her become a good agent so that she could be apart of something great. Hill was the only one who really believed in her, and helped her get this far…

Now it was torn apart.

"He was a friend," Thor replied. He stood up from the ground and walked over to the hammer resting upward with the handle in the air. Thor's hand lingered toward the handle, and Zoe watched with apprehension, but nothing happened. "Perhaps Gods like me have no luxury of friends."

Zoe's frown deepened. _Well, we couldn't have that now could we_? She thought, and pulled herself up from the ground. She dusted herself off, and straightened her tight uniform up so it wasn't askew anymore.

"Everyone has the luxury of friends," she said. "Even Gods."

"Then why do I feel this way, Zoe?" Thor looked at her with tired sadness in his eyes, and her heart twinged. She furrowed her brows at him and all she wanted to do was give him a much needed hug.

True. He was God of Thunder for crying out loud! He was strong just as he was mighty, and fierce, and he seriously kicked ass with Mjolner. She saw the footage when he defeated the Destroyer in New Mexico and only wished she could be apart of it. That was when she decided it would be so cool to work with creatures like Thor. She worked hard to get to where she was today.

But the loss of Agent Phil Coulson still rested within their souls and Loki was still out there. Thor was going to have to face him at some point in time. Perhaps Thor was having trouble weighing that down on his shoulders to balance the scales of goodness that he wished was still in Loki's heart, but Zoe remembered those emerald eyes filled with fiery rage.

There was no hope in his soul.

"That just means you have a heart," Zoe said, as a smile found its way on her face. She walked closer to him, tentatively, and cleared her throat. Thor watched her with the utmost curiosity as she took her two index fingers to outline a heart across his silver armor on his chest. "Something Loki lacks. You are God of Thunder, Protector of Earth, and you have a good soul. And if I know Coulson like I used to, he wouldn't want to you to think this way, right?" she swallowed hard as if she was talking about him like he was still here.

Thor looked down at her slender and tiny frame of an hourglass shape physique. Where did she find the courage to keep going? Even though she'd gone through a rickety past, she still had a big heart, more than what she pretends to show. She obviously had something going for her. Hope? Faith? Whatever it was, he liked it on her, it looked good.

She looked up at him. "I know it isn't going to be easy," she said. "Fighting your brother, but Loki isn't your brother anymore, Thor. When I saw no love in my father's eyes, and he came after me, I knew he was over." Zoe gulped. "I didn't mean to kill him, but he just wasn't," she sighed. "He wasn't…"

"Your father," Thor finished for her.

She licked her lips and nodded slowly.

They both felt it then. The sense of familiarity. She could understand how he felt right now, and now he realized what he had to do, not that he wanted to do it, but she was right, Loki needed some common sense knocked into him. Thor was going to give it his last shot to try and bring his brother back, and to try to stop his army from taking over Earth.

"Will you fight with me, Daughter of Sawyer?" Thor asked. "Will you avenge Son of Coul and put an end to Loki's madness?"

Zoe smiled up at him thoughtfully and shrugged. "I'm not an avenger."

"Perhaps not, but I am sure Son of Coul wouldn't mind if you helped a little," Thor said, as a roguish grin appeared on his face.

"Well," she said, crossing her arms over her chest, as she stood in front of him with a determined glint in her eyes. If they were going down, might as well go down swinging together. "Loki does owe me a weapon."

Thor's grin widened at her and he reached for Mjolner, wrapped his hand around the handle and suddenly felt the magic and power splutter to life within his soul and strength returning back to life.

He raised his hammer high in the sky. Zoe ducked a bit, covering her head with her hands as the sky filled with lightning and thunder. Her heart sparked at the same time, and she felt even more determined to go after Loki.

The God of Thunder was back.


	11. Chapter 11: Chitauri Chaos

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers, or anything related to the Avengers. The Avengers belong to its respective owners. I just own my OC. I am writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **~*A*~**

 **Chapter 11: Chitauri Chaos**

Stark Tower glistened within the sunlight hovering over New York City. Tony meandered his way in and out of the weaving skyscrapers in different sizes from short to tall. A smile graced upon his determined features as his baby came into view.

"There she is old friend," Tony muttered to himself. He couldn't believe it. The discovery of Loki wanting an audience at his tower was just unreal, well it was real, but it was insanity. No one messed with his tower.

Dr. Selvig was at his computer, activating the device that surrounded the Tesseract. Blue energy filled around the cube and the attached silver metals, harnessing the energy to grow bigger just so that he could open the portal for Loki's army.

"Sir, I took off the arc reactor," Jarvis announced. "The device is self-sustained."

"Shut it down, Dr. Selvig," Tony warned, thrusting his hands out in front of him, ready to fire.

"It's to late!" Dr. Selvig cried with giddiness in his hazy blue eyes. "It can't stop now. He wants to show us something! A new universe!"

"Okay," Tony said, having enough of this crazy-talk already. He thrusted his hands toward the device and fired two beams at it. But the energy from his thrusters suddenly caused a ripple in the air, forcing both Dr. Selvig and Tony to fly in different directions. Dr. Selvig flew to the ground and Tony flew in the sky backwards until he and Jarvis took control of his suit, and steadied himself in the sky, watching the blue energy strike the sky high above them.

"The barrier is pure energy. It's unbreachable," Jarvis said. "The mark-seven is not ready to be deployed."

"Then skip the spinning rims, we're on the clock," Tony countered, as he stepped into the gauntlet, where his suit dissembled inside the spinning rims and hid inside the platform.

Loki watched with pure amusement as Tony headed inside to his penthouse. Loki walked inside to meet his first match. He'd only suspect Tony would be the first avenger to arrive.

"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity," Loki said with a smile on his face, switching the scepter in his hands as he walked into Tony's living room. Tony made his way around the bar.

"Um, actually, I'm planning to threaten you," Tony said.

"You should have left your armor on for that," Loki pointed out as he stood in the middle of the room.

"Yeah, it's seen a bit of mileage. You've got the blue stick of destiny," Tony said. As Loki glanced down at his scepter, Tony took one of his wristbands on the countertop and attached it to his wrist. "Would you like a drink?" he offered.

Loki chuckled, "Stalling me won't change anything."

Tony shook his head. "No, no, no, no! Threatening! No drink? I'm having one," Tony grinned smugly, taking a bottle from his stash. He reached for a whisky glass and poured himself some amber liquid.

"The Chitauri are coming. Nothing will change that," Loki promised vehemently. "What have I to fear?"

"The Avengers," Tony said casually.

Loki furrowed his brows in confusion.

Tony shrugged at Loki's facial expression. "It's what we call ourselves, sort of like a team. Earth's Mightiest Heroes' type thing," Tony said.

"Yes, I've met them," Loki said.

Tony grinned. "It takes awhile to get any traction I'll give you that one," he said. "But, let's do a head count here. Your brother, the demi-God," Loki grimaced at the thought of his brother, which only made Tony go on, further with his plan. "A super-soldier, who kind of lives up to the legend, a man with _breath-_ taking anger management issues, a couple of master assassins, a trainee with killer instincts, and _you_ big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them."

Loki smiled. "That was the plan."

"Not a great plan," Tony said after taking a sip of his drink, and reached for the other wristband and placed it on his other wrist. "When they come, and they will..."

"I have an army," Loki said, cutting Tony off.

Tony slammed his drink down on the countertop. "We have a Hulk."

Loki glanced out the window, "I thought the beast had wandered off," he said.

"You're missing the point! There's no throne," Tony said, walking down the steps that lead to his living room. "There is no version of this, where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes, and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on _you_. Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damned well sure we'll avenge it."

Loki gripped tightly onto his scepter. He'd heard enough of Tony's righteous words spewing out of the metal man's mouth. He walked right up to Tony and pointed his scepter at his heart. "How will your friends have time for me, when they're so busy fighting you?" he lowered the scepter's tip toward Tony's heart, but it hit something hard and solid that Loki wasn't quite expecting. He frowned and lowered his scepter toward Tony's heart again. "This usually works," he said.

"Well, performance issues, not uncommon. One out of five," Tony teased until Loki gripped Tony's throat with his bare hand, hauling him up off the ground. Loki tossed Tony in the air that had him crashing against the ground, nearly hitting his head on the glass window. "Jarvis! Any time now!" Tony tried to scramble away from Loki. "Deploy!"

Loki picked Tony up by the throat and tossed him out the glass window with burning anger in his soul. Tony yelled as he fell through the sky, hoping that Jarvis would get the mark-seven suit to him in time before he plummeted to his death.

Tony glanced at the beeping sound of his wristband and grinned on instant when the maroon colored mark-seven suit attached to his wristbands on his wrists and wrapped around Tony's body that would prevent him from falling. Tony thrusted fiery beams to hold him up, mere inches from the ground. The locales of New York watched in awe as Tony flew back up to Stark Tower so he could take on Loki with his new suit.

"And there's one other person you pissed off!" Tony said, angrily. He raised his hands in air and thrusted fire balls at Loki before Loki could even touch Iron Man. "His name is Phil!"

Suddenly a hole ripped open in the sky, the portal that Dr. Selvig was trying to create had suddenly found its way rippling through the Earth's skies, allowing the Chitauri army to fly through.

"Right," Tony said, glancing up at the open portal as the aliens raged down. "Army."

He zoomed up and started firing at them.

~*A*~

Zoe and Thor finally landed on Stark's balcony, and spotted Loki on top of the second platform. Zoe's eyes gazed upon the God of Mischief, standing before the befallen city. Loki was dressed in his gold suit of armor, and probably thinking that he was already King of her home planet, of _her_ Earth. His eyes gazed down across the city, and watched the Chitarui tear apart buildings, brick by brick. Citizens ran for their lives in hiding or burn at the Chitauri's hands when they wouldn't beg for mercy, when they wouldn't rule under Loki's kingdom.

Zoe tried to ignore the screams coming from the citizens below, but she couldn't help it. Her heart twisted in pain as she watched this burning madness before her own eyes. They pierced her ears and every bit of her wanted to help them so much. They had to stop Loki somehow. She glanced around her surroundings. Flames exploded within every direction, and every silver skyscraper around her shook within the Chitauri's invasion. The Chitarui aliens ran along the buildings, piercing their weapons through windows. Glass flew everywhere. People screamed in the midst of chaos. Debris and smoke fell everywhere.

She couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was insane. She looked up as more Chitauri headed straight down from the portal ripped in the beautiful blue skies around them that now showed an inside look to outer space.

"We have to stop this," Zoe said next to Thor. "If you can distract Loki, I can get inside and head to the Tesseract, and try to turn it off."

Thor nodded, "Try as you might, young one," he said, and turned to face his brother. "Loki!" Thor demanded, facing his brother. "Turn off the Tesseract, or I'll destroy it!"

"You can't! There is no stopping it. There is only the war!" Loki replied in a bitter growl.

"The so be it," Thor whispered beside Zoe. Zoe glanced at Thor, as he twirled his hammer in front of him just as Loki flew downwards toward his brother with pure driven rage in his soul. His scepter hit the end of the hammer that caused a ripple in the air.

Zoe stepped back warily, and stretched out her arms balanced herself in the air so she didn't fall.

"Go! Turn off the Tesseract!" Thor said, turning his head slightly towards Zoe as he fought off Loki's strength. Zoe saw that Thor had Loki engaged into the fight. She took that as her cue to run into Stark's penthouse so she could get up top of the building.

Loki glanced over his shoulder at the human girl, as she tried to make a mad dash for Tony's door. Loki thrusted his knee into Thor's chest, and pushed him down on the ground. He flew toward her and yanked her backwards, grabbing a fistful of her hair. She yelled an involuntary scream at the sharp pain against her head and he shoved her in the middle of the balcony, and kicked her toward the balcony's edge. Zoe turned on her side to face him, and tried to pull herself up, but he thrusted the tip of boot toward into her stomach that caused her to tumble over the balcony's edge. She groaned and winced at the forcible impact his boot had on her stomach, and let out a spiteful of coughs. She tried to ignore the pains wrecking through her body so she could try to pull herself up and over back onto the balcony.

Zoe gripped onto it tightly and looked up into his hateful eyes. Loki raised the scepter in the air to finish her off, and her eyes widened with fear. The scepter's tip gleamed in the sunlight, making her gulp. She closed her eyes, half excepting to feel the force of death against her, but she didn't feel anything. Instead, Zoe glanced over at Thor just in time to see him crashing into the God of Mischief before Loki could finish her off completely. Thor charged him into the ground and threw a punch across Loki's half-covered face with his helmet. Zoe tried with all her might to pull herself up and back onto the balcony. Loki and Thor's weapons clashed against each other, and a strong energy force had suddenly caused a ripple through the air that surrounded around Stark Tower. She suddenly lost her grip and fell through the skies towards her impending death. She let out a chortling scream, trying to grab onto anything, but all she could reach for was air.

"Sir, there's an Agent Sawyer, falling to her death," Jarvis said to Tony. Tony's readings caught the image of Zoe falling from the sky with her arms and legs in the air, back toward the impending ground. Her hair had fallen out and covered her face.

"On it," Tony weaved through the skyscrapers as a dozen Chitauri followed his tail. He spun around and shot two and three more fire balls at them, making them fall to pieces. More Chitauri followed the Iron Man in pure anger for he killed their comrades within the skies of battle.

Tony zoomed over to the tower and zoomed faster as Zoe cried out in fear. Her life was flashing before her eyes once again until suddenly two metal arms wrapped around her body, catching her before she plummeted to the ground. She gasped the moment she felt the cool metal against her cheek as Iron Man carried her back to safety.

"Tony?" she asked, trying to find her voice, hoarse from screaming. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and Tony couldn't help but smile.

"In the flesh, so to speak. Hey there, Killer," Tony greeted. "Did you miss me?"

Zoe winced at the nickname, _Killer_ , and the fact that her wound hit the metal plate of Tony's suit that gave her a painful sting at her side. "Please tell me that's _not_ going to stick?" she pleaded desperately. Tony grinned at her. She frowned, as she glanced around her surroundings. They were flying away from Stark Tower.

"What are you doing?" she asked, looking up at Tony's lit-up eyes within his gold and maroon metal mask. "We have to get up there and close that portal."

"Sure, but I'm pretty sure that Loki would just try to kill you again," Tony said. "And I doubt either once of us want that to happen, right?"

"Um, Tony?" Zoe asked, glancing behind her as the dozen Chitauri followed them in the sky. She widened her eyes and gripped tightly onto Iron Man's neck.

"Yep, I know, kiddo," Tony said.

Zoe winced. She didn't like that nickname either.

"Not a good one either?" Tony asked, noticing her facial expression. Zoe shook her head.

Zoe looked down to see Thor and Loki still engaged in their fight as the Chitauri followed her and Tony around his tower.

"Stark, we're heading North East," Romanoff said through Tony's earpiece.

"What did you stop through drive-thru? Swing up Park, I'm gunna lay 'em out for you, and bring Agent Sawyer to you," Tony replied. As soon as Tony leveled out the playing field for Romanoff and Barton, the Chitarui faced a heavy feet of ranging bullets in the sky, and broke apart in smoke and flames, falling into bits of metal pieces.

Meanwhile, Tony swung in the back of the quinjet, and lowered Zoe to the qunjet's open slant. Zoe gently dropped to her hands and knees, glancing up at Steve, who was holding onto one of the straps, trying not to fall. Tony swung up and around, and fired the remaining Chitauri. The Chitauri fell apart instantly at Tony's disposal.

"She's in," Steve said to Clint. Steve let go of the leather strap, and reached for her arm to help her off the ground. Zoe staggered over to Steve, and latched onto a leather strap attached to the quinjet's ceiling.

The ramp closed tight, and Clint turned the quinjet, heading toward Stark Tower.

"Nat," Clint said, glancing through the window, lowering the quinjet beside Loki and Thor, still engaged in their fight on Stark's balcony.

"I see him," Romanoff said, eyeing her partner, as she steadied the gun that was ready to fire at Loki.

Meanwhile upon the balcony of Stark Tower, Loki pushed Thor to the ground, kicking him so that Thor rolled over.

Romanoff took her chance and fired the quinjet's gun at Loki, but unfortunately Loki was too fast. With his scepter, Loki tossed a blue fiery ball of energy, that hit the side of the quinjet's wing. Clint suddenly lost control for a brief moment, as he tried to swing the quinjet around, but they were loosing momentum fast.

The quinjet spun backwards, falling to the ground just as Clint tried to keep the quinjet from smashing into any of New York's finest buildings and with the people in it to the best of his abilities.

Inside the quinjet, Zoe lost her grip on the leather strap, and clung onto Steve. He reached for her side, and tried to pull her up, but her legs slid out from underneath her. A cry left her lips as she held onto him tightly, desperately not wanting to let go, and get another bruise.

Clint tried to find a safe clearing and pushed the controls forward, cringing, as he and Nat shifted the quinjet in between the tight buildings that flanked the streets. The quinjet skidded to a tight halt, landing quite abruptly on the ground.


	12. Chapter 12: New War

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to its respective owners. I just own my OC. I am writing for educational fun, and not for profit.**

 **~*S*~**

 **Chapter 12: New War**

"You can let go now," Steve whispered in the silent quinjet, glancing down at her. Zoe swallowed hard and looked up into his eyes with her arms still hugging his torso. Oops, she thought within a blush.

She smiled sheepishly. "Heh, right," she said, and disentangled her arms from his torso. Zoe cleared her throat, and stepped back, a little bit dizzily, as if the room was spinning. "Whoa…" she said.

"You okay?" Steve asked cautiously, as he grabbed his shield, and strapped it to his gloved hand. "If your not…"

"I'm fine, Cap," she breathed out. "Please don't pull me out of this." She placed her hand gently to massage the side of her sore stomach. Loki had hit her hard, close to her father's empty wounds she used to endure as a teenager, but it wasn't enough to make her want to quit. She tried to keep from feeling the dizzy spells that threatened to overwhelm her from the spinning and crashing quinjet. She was avoiding Steve's concerned eyes. She took a deep breath and let it out.

"Finished the package?" Natasha asked Zoe. Zoe looked up from the ground and blinked into focus, focusing on Natasha's red short hair just so she could stop the room from spinning around her. She glanced from Natasha to Clint to Natasha again.

"Every last word," Zoe said. This time she was sincere.

Natasha handed Zoe one of her guns, and an earpiece, while Clint strapped on his bow of arrows against his back.

"Thought you could use a defender of sorts," Natasha said.

"Thanks," Zoe took the gun from Natasha and shoved it inside her holster strapped to her leg. It wasn't her favorite of defenders, but it was better than nothing. Zoe fixed her earpiece within the small alcove of her ear, as she followed Steve, Natasha, and Clint out of the ramp door, and onto the streets. As Zoe glanced around her, she frowned. Yellow taxi cabs were overturned all across the street, and cars stopped in the middle with steam and smoke pouring in the skies.

People ran and screamed to get out of harm's way, while Zoe, Steve, Natasha, and Clint ran into the firefight.

"We gotta get back up there," Steve said.

Zoe was right behind Clint and Natasha, and would've run further until they heard some strange noise in the distance. They glanced up at the swirling shades of blue energy forcing a hole in the sky for something to arrive.

Zoe could see the pewter and silver Chitauri aliens zoom out of the space-filled hole and into New York City, but what made her mouth drop was something even more incredible than mythology heroes fighting on top of a balcony, living up to the legends.

An eerie growl roared through the skies, making Zoe wince and look up to see where the noise was coming from. It sounded like an awful lot like a freight train screeching to a halt. She could see the mouth and the head of an eel-like creature heading straight for the city. It's sharp scales glinted in the sunlight, and waved back and forth like a tail as it slithered right over them. Its side tails whacked the side of buildings, not worried in the slightest that cement blocks crumbled to pieces. Lights glowed inside the eel-creature as it swerved through the city.

A dreadful feeling crossed over Zoe's features, and she couldn't believe what she was witnessing. This was seriously crazy for her mouth was agape. And she thought what she did was bad? This was much worse, ten fold. This eel-like monster was going to hurt a lot of people if they didn't somehow destroy it. How? She wondered. They were outnumbered, and what else was going to come out of that portal?

More Chitauri suddenly jumped off the eel's back and inside the office buildings, shooting their weapons at hard working people. These Chitauri aliens seemed even more dangerous, and Zoe wasn't even sure how she was going to fight them. She gulped. Maybe she shouldn't be here after all? What could she possibly bring to the team? She was just human. She glanced sideways at Clint, who was also human, but at least he had his bow and trick-set of arrows she'd once admired a long time ago. What did she have? She had lousy fighting skills, and a gun. Her special knives-set was lost on the Hellicarrier. She may have one or two combat fights left in her, but Loki's hit really took a toll on her, and the war was just beginning.

Fear crept inside of her the more she thought about the aliens spreading wild all over New York City.

She drew in a deep breath, lowering her eyes to the ground, as she worked on trying to calm her nerves down. She was going to have to be creative here because it could get messy real fast. She'd never been in a jam like this before, and Natasha and Clint were both so much more skilled than her. She wasn't sure how she was going to fair in this.

"Stark, are you seeing this?" Steve asked on ear-comm.

" _Seeing, still working on believing_ ," Tony replied. Zoe glanced up at the skies in search for Tony, but all she could see were Chitauri aliens flying about and raising havoc. " _Where's Banner has he shown up yet?"_

"Banner?" Steve asked with a small frown.

" _Just keep me posted,"_ Tony said. " _Jarvis. Find me a soft spot."_ Tony was following the scaly eel-monster floating over the streets of New York City, and in between the flanked skyscrapers. The eel-like monster didn't care what it hit so long as it caused a ripple of chaos throughout the city.

~*A*~

"Look at this," Thor demanded, pressing the hilt of his hammer against his throat. He tried to keep Loki still, as Loki stared at the destruction of the city. Fire and flames exploded from within the buildings as the Chitauri tore them apart piece by piece. "Look around you. Do you think this madness will rule at your end?

Loki glared at his brother. "It's too late," he rasped. "It's too late to stop this."

"No," Thor said with his voice still filled with hope. "No we can together."

Loki looked into Thor's eyes, searching for a true reprieve, but Loki could do nothing. He'd made his deal, and there was no end to it. With a very subtle yet slight cringe, he stabbed Thor in the side with a sharp tipped weapon that caused Thor to drop Mjolnir on the ground, and back slightly away from Loki. "Sentiment," Loki whispered.

But with all of Thor's might, he ran for Loki, grabbed him by the shoulders, and kicked him through the window, as glass shards broke everywhere. He picked Loki up from the ground, and threw him down hard on the ground, face first. Realizing Loki no longer had his scepter, and his odds were not what they once were, he rolled over the balcony's edge, landing on a Chitarui's chariot vehicle, fleeing from the scene.

Thor let out a deep breath, and took out the sharp tip from his side, tossing it onto the ground.

~*A*~

Clint, Natasha, and Zoe had taken cover beside a taxi-cab, waiting for the Cap's orders. From what Zoe could witness, it was a bloody mess, and she was praying that they could get through this all in one piece. She just had to remember what she learned in the training room at S.H.I.E.L.D. She had to remember what she learned from Agent Hill, and keep her focus on keeping civilians safe. She looked thoughtfully on the ground, as her mind started to twist into unpleasant thoughts at what might happen to people who would have to rule under Loki's kingship if they did loose...

Zoe felt a bump on her shoulder, and she glanced at Natasha who looked at her with a slight glare. "Hey, keep your head in the game," she said. "Can't loose my best trainee."

Zoe couldn't help but smile. "I'm your only trainee."

"That she stole from me," Clint said under his breath, glancing at the chaos ahead of him.

"I didn't _steal_ ," Natasha said, eyeing Clint ruefully underneath her eyelashes. "I borrowed. That's different."

"Besides, you were under Loki's spell," Zoe pointed out. "And I wasn't about to be put out because of a little mishap in the plan."

Clint let out a hearty chuckle, and glanced at her. "A _little_ mishap?"

"Hey," Steve said, joining Zoe, Natasha, and Clint beside them. "We got civilians trapped-" but he was rudely cut off by firing blue energy beams toward citizens, as they ran out of harm's way. Zoe glanced up at the skies, seeing Loki ahead of the crew of Chitauri following fast behind him. "Loki," Steve said, glancing down the chaotic streets of Manhattan. Cops and civilians, hard working people, and families of all kinds ran for cover as best as they could to get away from the firefight above them, as more chariots flew across the sky, following Loki, their leader.

Zoe turned to face Natasha, and took in another deep breath. She studied Natasha's strong and skilled tactics, as she took out her own gun and started firing back without hesitation. Zoe followed suit, and reached for her gun inside her holster, and pulled the safety lock off, ready to fire with her index finger lingering along the trigger. She held the gun carefully in her hands, wrapping her fingers along the barrel of the gun, and held it against her. Natasha and Zoe nodded at each other before they started firing at the same time, aiming for the Chitauri, so the civilians could get to safety.

"They're barreled down there," Steve said, glancing over the bridge. Clint crept over towards the taxi cab across from them, glancing at the Chitauri creatures heading straight for them. Steve looked over at Zoe and Natasha.

Natasha looked from Zoe, who was eyeing at one of the Chitauri on top of an upside down car. Zoe swallowed hard, and aimed her gun at him, ready to fire.

"We got this, go," Natasha said, giving Steve a nod of affirmation.

"Think you can hold them off?" Steve asked Clint.

Clint turned over his shoulder, "Captain?" He pushed a button on his bow, and red lights lit up, stirring the bow, and his quiver of arrows awake and ready to fire. "It would be my genuine pleasure." Clint spun around, and raised his bow and arrow at the oncoming Chitauri in the streets with continuous firing on their end. The arrow landed squarely in the head of a Chitauri alien. Two arrows appeared hitting more Chitauri down on the ground, falling to their screamful deaths.

That allowed Natasha and Zoe to fire at the remaining few Chitauri aliens, bullets hitting them in the squared scaly chests.

Steve took his moment while Clint, Natasha, and Zoe covered for him so he could jump off the bridge and land on top of a bus, trapped in the streets. The Chitauri aliens who rode on their chariots fired at random, and attempted to fire the alien, as Steve rolled on the bus. Fire and smoke exploded behind him as he jumped off the bus, landed on top of a car that suddenly got hit by a blue beam of light, and landed onto the ground below him. He stumbled forward, but caught himself before he could fall, gripped onto his shield tightly, and continued racing towards his destination.

Meanwhile Zoe and Natasha continued their fire at the oncoming Chitauri aliens, wrecking havoc on the civilians who ran for their lives. Zoe pulled the trigger, wincing as she did, but missed. "Damn it," she hissed under her breath. She held the gun close to her chest, glancing down at the dirt on the ground with a frown.

"Zoe," Clint motioned a quick nod of his head toward the bus that was trapped full of people. Zoe glanced from Clint to Natasha, who continued to fire back at the Chitauri. Blue beams of light aimed in random directions above their heads. She looked over at Clint, noticing he needed her help. Zoe looked over at Natasha who Natasha smiled at Zoe and nodded for her to go help him. Zoe tossed Natasha her gun, and Natasha caught it. She started firing back, keeping the Chitauri at bay and from coming closer to the civilians trapped inside the bus.

Zoe jogged over to help Clint. She reached out for the arms of a young woman with dark Caucasian skin, trying to climb out of the window. Her dark hair covered her face as she reached down for Zoe's shoulders. "It's okay," Zoe said. "I gotchya." She pulled her down, nearly stumbling backwards as they both landed on their feet. Clint finished helping a young boy climb out the window and ran over toward the doors that were stuck, and wouldn't budge open. Clint and Zoe pulled the doors open so that the rest of the civilians could escape and head to safety, while Natasha covered for them. Clint pulled out another arrow and shot at the Chitauri, killing them instantly.

Zoe made her way next to Natasha, and she took her gun back into her hand. Zoe whirled around Natasha, while Natasha and Clint stood together, firing at the same time, and took a deep breath. She pulled out from behind Black Widow and aimed her gun at the Chitauri, in hopes that she'd hit at least one of them.

"This is just like Budapest all over again!" Natasha said over the screams of people, running for their dear lives as the Chitauri fired their weapons down below, hitting at random targets. Things exploded in the air, and toppled over, creating wreckage and debris all over the streets.

"You and I remember Budapest very differently," Clint said, firing another arrow.

"So, as your trainee," Zoe said, in between pulling her own trigger of bullets toward the Chitauri. "I get to know what happened in that story right?"

"No," they replied in sync. Clint took another one of his trick bow of arrows, and aimed at a Chitauri that had jumped on top of a fallen car and jumped over toward them, far too close for Zoe's tastes. The arrow exploded as it landed in the Chitauri's forehead. Sprinkles of pewter metal, smoke, and fire exploded around them like fireworks.

Zoe smirked, lowering her gun a bit, as she looked over at Clint. "Can I at least learn how to do that?"


	13. Chapter 13: Avengers Assemble

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to its respective owners. I just own my OC. I am writing for fun, and not for profit.**

 **~*A*~**

 **Chapter 13: Avengers Assemble**

"Out," Natasha said under her breath, glancing wildly at the Chitauri aliens that had formed a V like group, advancing toward them. "You?" she glanced at Zoe who couldn't pull the trigger anymore than she could.

"Nada," Zoe said with a small frown on her face.

"Time to improvise," Natasha ran forward, and jumped up on the Chitauri leader's back, and watched in pure awe as Natasha twisted her body around the Chitauri as she attempted to kill it multiple times to ensure its death.

But the Chitauri's screams and growls echoed in Zoe's ears, which made her turn to face the remaining alien that had focused on Zoe. Clint and Natasha worked on defeating the other aliens in the group that had spread out on the streets and tried to form around the assassins.

Zoe had no time to think which one to help fight back because a Chitauri snarled beside her. She turned to face him, and made an 'ewe' face at the scary alien as he advanced closer to her. She backed slowly, and fell back against a car door.

The Chitauri alien jumped in front of her and she widened her eyes in fear at the facial expression of _kill_ in his purple glowing eyes. His teeth snarled and gritted together, creating a hissing sound that echoed in her ears, and made her wince at the sharp tone in her ears.

The alien raised his weapon in the air and aimed for her heart, but she whirled around against the car door just in time for the weapon to stab right into the window of the car. Glass shattered everywhere. She took the moment to run as the Chitauri yanked its weapon out of the broken window.

She ran as fast as she could to get away from the Chitauri alien only to find her face to face with another, this time caught in the middle between the two aliens. She gulped, and swallowed hard as they closed in on her. Natasha and Clint were busy handling their own aliens while she glanced back and forth between the two. She looked to the one on her left with its raised weapon, ready to kill. He aimed for her heart, but she quickly ducked, allowing the blue energy beam to kill his own race.

She watched with wide eyes, only to get caught up as the alien screamed at her in rage. He jumped on top of her just as she tried to run back to the car, but he caught her, and she fell to the ground in a heavy heap. Zoe let out a cry as shocked pain shuddered through her body due to the shock of falling on the ground and getting caught by the Chitauri alien. Zoe tried to squirm underneath the alien to get away but he gripped his hold on her, catching her from escaping. He raised his weapon and attempted to stab her in the shoulder, but she stopped it with her two hands, wrapping her fingers around his weapon to keep from stabbing into her heart. She shoved the weapon back at him, attempting to knock him off of her.

The Chitauri alien lowered his head toward her face and screamed with screeching noise that made her ears burn, and caused her to wince. She tried to keep the weapon from stabbing her heart with her hands to the best of her abilities but the alien was stronger than her. With the Chitauri's free hand, he raised it as though he was going to shoot another blue beam of energy. She widened her eyes at the energy beam of light forming within its hand. She used her knee to kick his hand out of the way. It sounded like an 'owe' that had come from the Chitauri's lips, but he only got madder. _Great idea, Zoe, piss him off_. He attempted to fire again, but it something stopped it permanently. She frowned as she saw the arrow stuck to its hand, and with wide eyes, she rolled out from underneath the confused Chitauri alien as he fell on his weapon and blew up to pieces thanks to Clint's tricky arrow.

Zoe rolled over a few times to get away from the billowing smoke and fire just as Zoe coughed. She pushed herself up off the ground and glared at Clint sideways as he walked beside her, aiming another arrow at more Chitauri. The Chitauri evaporated into metal pieces of smoke and fire, crashing onto the street.

"You good?" Clint asked.

"I had it _handled_ ," Zoe glared at him.

"Sure you did," Clint smirked. He didn't have to read Zoe's fear in her eyes to know that Chitauri had found their way toward them. He swung his bow underneath the alien's leg's, kicking him from underneath him, and shoved the arrow down the Chitauri's throat. The arrow's button blinked red, and blew up the remaining two Chitauri soldiers about to advance towards Zoe.

Steve ran in front of two more Chitauri and used his shield to knock them down as well.

"I miss my own weapon," Zoe frowned, as they grouped together. More and more soldiers advanced towards them as they felt crowded against one another. Zoe gulped beside Natasha. " _Really_ miss my weapon," she said, and then all of a sudden multiple strikes of lightning lit up the Chitauri and disintegrated them right before their own eyes that allowed them to escape.

Thor landed down beside Steve, as Clint, Natasha, and Zoe walked over to join them.

"What's the story upstairs?" Steve asked.

"The powers surrounding the cube is impenetrable," Thor explained.

" _Thor is right,"_ Tony said. Everyone heard him. " _We gotta deal with these guys."_

Zoe cast a glance toward Clint, and Natasha with a small frown.

"How do we do this?" Natasha asked as she flicked her eyes at Steve.

"As a team," Steve said.

"I have unfinished business with Loki," Thor said.

"Yeah? Get in line," Clint said, as he fixed himself a new set of arrows. Zoe looked sideways at Clint, and grimaced. She could only imagine what he must've gone through. She was just glad that he was back, and at least now normal. She didn't blame him for wanting beef with Loki.

"Right behind me of course," Zoe said with a grin on her face, arms crossed over her chest. Loki sent her out of the Hellicarrier to die. That's something Zoe didn't sit well with her.

"Save it," Steve said, walking in between his teammates. He turned his back around to face the city, already giving them directions. Natasha, Thor, Clint, and Zoe followed him not too far from behind the Avengers.

"Loki's gonna keep the fight on us and that's what we need. Without him, these things could run wild. We got Stark up top, he's gunna need us…" Steve said, but then stalled slowly when he heard the sound of a motor running behind him. Zoe glanced behind Steve, and saw who'd shown up.

Zoe couldn't help but smile once she saw Bruce. Bruce kicked the bike's kickstand down, and pulled himself off the bike, joining the team not a moment later. Sirens raged in the background, as Bruce glanced around his grim surroundings as though it were the end times. Natasha walked closer to Bruce and Steve, as Zoe hung back with Clint.

"So," Bruce said dryly. "This all seems…horrible."

"I've seen worse," Natasha said.

"Sorry," Bruce said a little bit sheepishly.

"No," Natasha said. "We could use a little worse."

"Stark? We got him," Steve said. "Just like you said."

"Then tell him to suit up," Tony said. "I'm bringing the party to you."

Zoe turned to face downtown Manhattan, and spotted the eel like creature as it zoomed around the corner. The mouth off the eel-creature opened up and roared loudly. She winced and fretted worriedly as the creature zoomed back and forth, hitting every single parked car down the street, heading straight towards them.

Tony flew ahead as fast as he could, bringing the eel and a dozen Chitauri aliens behind him.

Thor let out a grunted growl, as he twirled his hammer in his hand, and Zoe widened her eyes at the monstrous creature. She gulped, taking a step backwards.

"I don't see how that's a party," Natasha stammered, shaking her head.

"That's because there are no balloons anywhere, no cake either," Zoe said a little bit shakily, trying to keep the humor alive within her own fear as she tried to wash it away.

As the eel-monster drew closer, Zoe's heart hammered against her chest. She was so not ready for this. And what exactly was Bruce doing right now? Not suiting up?

"Dr. Banner," Steve said, catching Bruce's arm as Bruce was heading to face the eel-monster head first. "No would be a really good time for you to suit up."

Bruce turned to face him, "That's my secret, Captain, I'm always angry," he said, and morphed into the Hulk, bigger than any of them could imagine up close and personal. The green muscles puckered out of Bruce's shirt, and his clothes fell to the ground.

Zoe watched in complete awe, as the Hulk threw a mean and hefty punch at the top of the eel's head, forcing it down on the ground. The eel's tail ripped into the air, high above them. Bits and pieces of metal fell on top of the group as everyone took cover.

Thor used his hammer to shield the fiery pieces away, while Steve and Natasha hid underneath his shield.

Clint tugged on Zoe's shoulder. He pulled her out of harm's way, and took cover beside a taxi-cab. Clint covered his body and arm, protecting her from the burning pieces of metal that sprinkled down like molten rain, and ash.

"Hold on," Tony said, firing an army of firefly like fire balls to finish off the eel-monster.

As molten ash, and Chitauri aliens fell everywhere, landing on the sides of the buildings, some alive, and some dead, a weapon from the eel-monster fell down and clattered right in front of her eyes. She looked down on the weapon in front of her, and disentangled herself from Clint. Clint tried to reach out for her but the eel had shattered away from the group, and had fallen on top of another building, dead.

Zoe swept it up off the ground, and used it to pick herself up off the ground, while Clint walked over next to her. Zoe and Clint joined the rest of the gang around in a circle, facing their Chitauri aliens that hung from the windows of the buildings, screaming at them.

But the Hulk yelled back at them, showing them who's boss.

Tony rejoined the group, as the group formed in a circle, glaring at the Chitauri aliens who wanted nothing more than to kill.

Natasha changed her weapon, and gained a new case of bullets, ready to start this fight with a determined glint in her eyes.

Clint pulled another arrow from his quiver, and attached it to his bow, raising it in the skies above him.

Zoe found the trigger button on the Chitauri's weapon, and pressed her index finger on the button, not exactly aiming, but accidentally killing a Chitauri alien that had fallen from the building.

She glanced sideways to Thor, and whispered inconspicuously. "That's supposed to happen, right?" she glanced upwards warily as the Chitauri continued to scream at them in anger.

Thor grinned down at the little one, and twirled his hammer in his hands, ready to go to battle.

"Send the rest," Loki whispered.

Hulk or no Hulk, Loki will destroy them.


	14. Chapter 14: Four Square

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to their respective owners. I just own my OC. I am writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 14: Four Square**

Chitauri soldiers screeched loudly in everyone's ears as they flew down from the open portal in the sky on silver chariots. A couple eel-like monsters weaved through and made their way out into the sky.

Natasha looked up and widened her eyes. "Guys," Natasha said, gaining the team's attention.

Zoe looked up as well and frowned. "That's not good," Zoe agreed slowly, craning her neck to see what else was coming to them through that portal.

"Call it, Cap," Tony said.

"Alright, listen up," Steve said. "Until we can close that portal up there, we're gonna need containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything, call out patterns and strays. Stark, you go the perimeter, anything gets more than three blocks out, you it back, or you turn it to ash."

"Wanna give me a lift?" Clint asked Tony.

Tony walked over to him and wrapped his arms around Clint. "Right. Better clench up Legolas." Tony picked Clint up, and flew up in the sky away from the group.

Zoe watched them disappear, and glanced back at the remaining team members.

"Thor, you gotta try to bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. You've got the lightning, light the bastards up," Steve continued. Thor twirled his hammer and flew up in the sky, leaving Zoe, Steve, and Natasha left, remaining on the streets. "Romanoff, Sawyer? You two are with me. We stay here on the ground, keep the fighting here. And Hulk?"

The Hulk turned to Steve.

"Smash," Steve said with a pointed finger.

The Hulk grinned, and jumped up high above them in the skies, and started smashing the Chitauri aliens that had lined themselves up among the buildings. One by one the Hulk barreled down, killing them instantly, falling like dead flies.

On top of the empire state building, Thor raised his hammer in the air, channeling the lightning from the skies. Blue lightning strikes that looked like a claw came crashing down onto the scaly eel like creature trying to come out of the open portal from outer space, knocking it out cold, as well as many other Chitauri aliens who tried to touch down Earth.

Meanwhile, Director Fury stood by watching it all on screen inside the Hellicarrier. A grim look appeared on his face as he watched his team try to attempt to hold off the Chitauri soldiers from running wild. Hope seemed subtle on the bridge, and the tension grew so thick it was hard to breathe.

"Sir," Agent Hill said. "The Council is on."

Director Fury flicked his eye over toward his second-mate, as she stood beside him, waiting for his order. A light sigh left his lips.

"Do you think Sawyer can handle herself in the field, Agent Hill?" Director Fury asked.

Agent Hill gave Director Fury a fierce look. Her eyes widened, and she tightened her jaw.

"Try to be nice with the Council, sir," Agent Hill replied.

"You have the bridge, Agent Hill," Director Fury said, leaving her on deck, as he left.

Agent Hill let out a sigh, and she removed her hand from her back, hitting the screen in full view of New York City.

~*A*~

"Stark," Hawkeye said, flinging an arrow straight in the air as it hit the Chitauri's neck, and blew up in flames. "You got a lot of strings sticking to your tail." He shot another arrow, staring out at the perimeter below as he watched for on coming Chitauri that wanted to walk the streets and kill innocent civilians, but he wasn't going to let that happen. The arrow hit squarely in the Chitauri's side and exploded again.

"Just try to keep them off the streets," Tony said.

"Well," Hawkeye said, firing another arrow, hitting a Chitauri rider on one of the Chariot vehicles in the sky. He fell off and three more exploded around him. "They can't bank worth a damn. Find a tight corner."

"I will roger that," Tony said.

Meanwhile Zoe had hidden behind a parked car, and continued to fire the Chitauri soldiers that tried to escape out into the four way streets. She hit them squarely in the shoulders, knocking them out cold. Their energy sparked to death.

"Anyone else curious to the fact that Tony called Clint, Legolas?" Zoe asked, hiding behind the sword-like weapon in her hands but acted very similar to a rifle. She was getting used to it, the more she fired at the oncoming soldiers that seemed endless.

"Another cultural reference," Steve said, whacking his shield at several Chitauri soldiers in a C line ready to advance on him but had no chance. His Shield came back to him and in his hand.

"Before your time," Zoe said, grinning slightly. "I think. I mean Tolkien wrote it in the forties when you were alive..."

"Kind of fits," Tony said with a grin within his Iron Man helmet. "Barton's got the bow and arrow."

"Heh," Clint said. "This is not going to be a thing, guys. I have a name, it's called Hawkeye. I kind of dig it. Let's keep it that way."

Zoe smiled, and shot at another Chitauri who tried to run over the bridge, but it only fell apart. "I don't know," Zoe teased lightly, ducking back behind the rifle that was bigger than her. Blue beams shot randomly at her, as she tried to hide and not get hit by them. "Tony's right, though. It does fit. After all you got the whole bow and arrow thing. I guess that would make Romanoff, Arwen?"

"Pardon me?" Romanoff asked, as she strangled a Chitauri alien with her legs wrapped around its neck, strangling it to death. It screamed in agony with her strong abilities.

"Arwen has very cool abilities," Zoe said. "So that fits you. So then that'd leave Steve as Aragorn because he's the leader."

"What are we talking about?" Steve asked.

Zoe grinned and whirled around the car, and fired more blue energy beams at the aliens she heard clinking against the street. They fell down on impact. "Lord of the Rings. Fantasy. Elves. Men. Hobbits. Epic battles. Good verses evil. One ring to rule them all."

"Sounds like a page turner," Steve said. "Where can I pick one up?" He kicked his legs up in the air, whacking his feet at the alien's head. The Chitauri ducked back and he whacked his shield in a twirl, using the strength of his body to knock the aliens down.

Steve picked up his shield and charged at more Chitauri soldiers down the street.

"At a bookstore," Zoe said, firing her weapon at a Chitauri in the shoulder.

"Cute, Sawyer," Steve remarked at her sardonic reply as he punched a Chitauri in the face that tried to get into his face.

"Okay," Clint said over ear-comm. "That makes you Eowyn then."

"Why am I Eowyn?" Zoe asked with a frown.

"You like pointy things better than any other person I know, besides me of course," Clint said and fired another arrow in the air that zoomed across the skies about half a mile toward a Chitauri from the distance that was circling some innocent civilians, but the Chitauri didn't live to tell the tale because he exploded like fireworks.

"Well," Zoe said, raising the rifle over the car's trunk. She was about to shoot another Chitauri alien, but it fired at her, so she ducked, and pulled the trigger, missing it. "I do have horrible aim from time to time. I have better reflexes with swords and knives."

"So, it only fits," Clint said.

Zoe grinned at the humor in his voice the same tone she'd used back at him. "Okay. Fine then we're left with Tony, Bruce, and Thor."

"Please let me die with the knowledge that I have no place in that world," Tony said, zooming up into the skies, keeping an eye on the perimeter as he shot his thrusters at a few more that were behind him. Fire balls zoomed in a spiral in the sky and aimed at the Chitauri, keeping them off the streets. Thor took out an entire quad of Chitauri down on the street, and thrusted his hammer down the line of Chitauri soldiers ready to kill. They died instantly by Mjolnir.

"Oh please, you're totally Boromir," Zoe said.

"Thor can be Gimli." Clint said.

"Yes! I was thinking Gandalf because he's all magical, and everything," Zoe shot another fire beam of energy and hit another Chitauri from escaping the streets to the civilians down below. It dodged out of the energy beam but then she shot him again, knocking him down off the bridge. "But I like Gimli."

"I don't know what that means," Thor said, as he continued to light up the portal to keep the eel-monsters at bay from entering the portal.

"I'll explain it to you if we ever get out of this," Zoe said. "So that leaves…Dr. Banner," she said, smiling. "Hmm…Samwise?"

Clint chuckled, as he fired another arrow and hit a flying Chitauri chariot in the back of the Chitauri. It exploded in the skies, falling to pieces. "None of us are that short you know. He can be Faramir…well, you might be short."

Zoe frowned, and fired back at another Chitauri alien, knocking him down.

"I'm not that short. Fine, fine, I'll be Eowyn. I don't want to be a hobbit," Zoe said, crinkling her nose in slight disgust.

Romanoff twisted the Chitauri's neck, snapping it back and raised its own weapon, attempting to stab it. "What the hell is a hobbit?" Romanoff asked in mid-kill.

"It's a really short person. Zoe's the perfect example," Clint teased, firing another arrow, hitting more Chitauri to their death as they exploded in the skies behind him.

"Shut up," Zoe muttered, feeling her cheeks turn pink with embarrassment. Zoe turned from behind the car to see that two more Chitauri were advancing on her. Zoe ran out from behind the car and shot at the Chitauri alien that was close enough to strike Romanoff, but it fell on its feet.

She shot the remaining alien with her weapon and whacked the alien in the face for good measure. It fell on its back and blacked out.

Zoe and Steve joined Natasha as she effortlessly stabbed a Chitauri in the throat. Zoe watched it fall from her legs, as she lowered herself onto the car behind her, and leaned back, taking a deep breath. She dropped the Chitauri's weapon down on the ground, while Zoe kept hers in her hand. Zoe saw the blood dripping from her forehead and frowned. Gently, she lifted Natasha's chin up with her hand to look at the scratches and dirt on her face.

"You need to-"

"No-" Natasha began, as she shoved Zoe slightly away, but then suddenly gripped Zoe's arm and was about to shove her out of the way, until Zoe whirled around, and pointed her weapon at the sudden drop of boots hitting the ground behind her. Adrenaline and fear of getting killed still pumped within her as she slowly pulled the trigger.

Zoe and Natasha lowered them when they realized it was only Steve. Natasha sighed, and placed her gun back in its holster.

"Captain," Natasha said. "None of this is gonna mean a damn thing if we don't close that portal."

"Our biggest guns couldn't touch it," Steve said, glancing up at the blue beam of light penetrating the portal, keeping it open from the machine on Stark's rooftop.

"Well, maybe it's not about guns," Natasha said, looking up at the Chitauri's flying machines above them as Clint tried to take out the majority of them.

"You wanna get up there," Steve said. "You gotta get a ride."

"I got a ride," Natasha said, backing up slowly. "I could use a lift though."

"You're stealing one of those things?" Zoe asked. Shock covered her face as she looked up at the skies. She looked at Natasha. "You're braver than I thought."

Natasha had her eye on one and smirked at Zoe. Steve grinned and took his Shield, and propped the star side up over his knees and hands.

"You sure about this?" Steve asked.

"Yeah," Natasha said, as she backed up to give herself enough running space. "It's gunna be fun."

Zoe saw Natasha head straight for the car, which made Zoe pivot into a turn so she was out of Natasha's way. Natasha took off into a run, jumped up onto the side of the car, and onto Steve's Shield. Steve pushed his Shield up, giving her a high enough boost with his super strength and strength of the Shield so she could land on one of the Chitauri chariots.

Zoe and Steve stood back in awe. "Is it wrong to be kinda jealous of her?" Zoe asked him in a whisper.

"Can still hear you, you know," Natasha said with sarcasm in her voice.

"I know," Zoe said. "I was just testing you," she grinned.

"Someone's learning," Natasha said as she attempted to maneuver her way onto the Chitauri chariot.

"Well, I try," Zoe said.

"Try harder," Steve said, listening to the sounds of Chitauri soldiers clinking and clanking in heavy armor behind them, as he turned to face the Chitauri soldiers heading toward them. Zoe gripped her weapon in front of her and tilted it to the side. "Because here they come."


	15. Chapter 15: Defying Order

**Chapter 15: Defying Order**

Natasha attempted to pull herself up onto the silver and pewter colored Chariot as it zoomed across the skies down the city skyscrapers. As she found her way inside, she pulled out a knife tip and cut a piece of the chariot away that allowed her access to the Chitauri alien driving the chariot. She jumped on top of the alien's shoulders and stabbed him with her knife right into his back, and tossed him overboard to his impending death, taking control of the chariot so she could maneuver her way to Stark Tower.

The Chitauri gained up on her, flanking the chariot in the middle of the skies until Tony sped up and shot more fire balls at them, making them disappear so that she was in the clear.

Tony sped downwards towards the street where Zoe and Steve were fighting in the streets. She used her weapon and jumped up on the car's trunk. Using her feet, she pushed at a Chitauri alien with all her might so it wouldn't get near them, and kicked him down on the ground. She landed firmly on her feet.

At the same time Tony had landed on his feet and used his two thrusters, aiming his bright light beam at Steve's Shield to reflect the beam toward several Chitauri, frying them to death. Tony zoomed back up the building and continued to kill more Chitauri that had gotten around the perimeter.

Above on the rooftop, Clint sent down more arrows, zooming towards the remaining Chitauri aliens that seemed to come at them from all different angles as Zoe had become engaged in a sword fight with one of the Chitauri aliens, an arrow landed right in his heart, and exploded. She stepped back and ducked.

Meanwhile across the city, Thor and Hulk stood atop a moving eel monster as it raged on, pushing through to create more havoc. Together they fought the Chitauri soldiers. Hulk bit into a piece of a Chitauri's head and helmet and spit it out, tossing the remains on the side. He kicked more soldiers out of the way, and they all fell down. Thor whacked his hammer at a bunch of them that tried to climb out of the eel-monster's scales but they had no chance against the God of Thunder.

The Hulk jumped off the eel monster, raced through the office building, and grabbed its mouth before it could tear into a city building with innocent workers on a temp floor. The Hulk used his strength to pull the eel monster away from the building before it could do more damage, as the tails of the eel accidentally smashed into the windows. The people screamed and ran backwards, and hid underneath desks. Many of them scattered and ran out of the building.

The Hulk tore the eel monster down further toward the street, and it crashed into a long road of parked cars, creating a sharded mess on the street. Thor raised his hammer, channeled the lightning and electrocuted the eel monster to death as the Hulk pulled it downward to a full stop inside a history museum. The eel screeched to a dead halt. Thor and the Hulk jumped off a moment later to catch their breath from fighting a terrible feat. The Hulk looked at Thor, who nodded in silent agreement, and the Hulk punched him in the face, knocking him down. The Hulk smiled with satisfaction before he went off to fight more Chitauri soldiers still running wild in the city.

~*A*~

Up top of Stark Tower, Dr. Selvig finally awoke, blinking into focus. He looked up from his fallen state and stared down Tony's balcony where he spotted Loki's scepter on the ground. He looked at it and then looked back at the blue beam of energy penetrating the Earth's skies. He glanced back and forth as realization hit him.

~*A*~

Zoe and Steve made their way to forty-second street where chaos had brewed downtown. The army even had a tank to help calm the Chitauri from getting to civilians. Zoe was in charge of keeping everyone in line, and helping anyone who was stranded to take them inside the subways and fight off the Chitauri aliens to keep them at bay and not inside. She pulled a couple toward the subway, "Go," she called out, shoving them in to safety. Once the civilians were inside, she went in search for Steve.

Steve struggled on the ground as he'd grabbed a hold of the alien's energy rifle as the Chitauri alien tried to stab it into Steve's shoulder. He shoved the rifle upwards back toward him.

Zoe stood in the middle of the remaining chaos, as the army tried to lock the perimeter around forty-second street. She peered around, and a small panic gripped her throat as she brushed her messy hair back. She could feel the dirt and grime against her forehead from the ashes of the Chitauri soldiers, and the heat sweltered down on her back, making her feel sticky and awful, but at the moment all she cared about was Steve.

"Ma'am," An army soldier came up to her. He looked her up and down, noticing the incisions she had in various places. She looked over into his eyes and saw that he was concerned for her safety but she shook her head.

"I'm fine, I'm with…the Avengers," she said.

"The Avengers?" the army soldier asked in slight confusion.

She smiled at his furrowed look, and jogged down the street where she finally saw a Chitauri soldier attempting to try to kill someone. She ran down but was already too late to help because that person had killed it instead. That person as it turned out was Steve. Zoe smiled, and went to help him up.

"Are you okay?" she asked, grabbing his arm to help him up.

Steve put his hand on her shoulder so he could push himself up off the ground, and he nodded, as he tried to catch his breath. She caught the tingling sensation again when their bodies touched, and he used her as a support beam to relax his tensed muscles after fighting that Chitauri soldier. Once she realized that he could stand on his own, she stepped out of his way, and glanced around her horrible surroundings. Manhattan was torn up completely, and there was fire sprouts everywhere as firemen worked on trying to fuse them out, especially with the buildings. The water in the hose aimed at the tall buildings to keep the fire at a minimum. Zoe never felt more helpless than now. She wasn't a fireman or an army man. She was just a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent for very different reasons.

"Captain, the bank on forty-second past Madison, they cornered a lot of civilians there," Clint said on ear-comm.

"I'm on it," Steve said.

"I'm coming with you," Zoe said with a determined look in her eyes.

"I need you and Barton secure this area here," Steve ordered. Zoe was about to protest but Steve wasn't going to hear it as he took off running for the trapped civilians. "That's an order!"

Zoe sighed, watching her leader head off toward forty-second street. But from the looks of things on this street, she didn't see any stranded Chitauri soldiers on the ground. Steve killed the last one. She looked up top as Clint continued to fire at the ones that were in the skies, and glanced back at the army men, defending the civilians and blocking the entrance to the subways. It looked like they had it all under control. Steve was going to need more help than they would, so she took off running. Whether it was an order or not, she was going to help.

~*A*~

Inside the bank on forty-second street, many civilians were indeed trapped. Zoe tried to open the door but it was jammed. She looked up only to see Steve jump up inside the window. Glass shards flew everywhere. She glanced around for a weapon of some kind and found a Chitauri rifle on the ground. She picked it up and pointed it at the door, pressing the trigger. The blue beam of energy hit the door, and blasted it open. The civilians screamed in shock, as Zoe appeared inside and shot at two more Chitauri soldiers that had blocked the door.

"Everyone out!" she said to the frozen stiff civilians that were in awe of her and Steve fighting several Chitauri soldiers at once. Zoe looked up and spotted that one of the Chitauri soldiers had dropped a bomb on the ground. It beeped loudly into everyone's ears and Zoe glanced at the civilians.

"Everyone clear out!" Steve shouted from above the balcony as he kicked the table in front of the Chitauri soldiers, knocking them off the balcony. They landed on their feet, ready to start shooting at the civilians but Zoe jumped up in front of them and aimed at them, knocking them both dead.

Zoe looked up at the balcony as Steve as he was engaged in a tight fight with one of the Chitauri soldiers. She aimed the energy rifle, leaning it against her shoulder as the civilians stepped back so they wouldn't get hit with it, and shot two more soldiers that tried to advance on Steve. Steve looked at her in shock and pointed to the bomb on the ground. "Get it out of here!" Steve groaned, as he tried to get out of his situation with the Chitauri solider.

Zoe found the bomb on the ground and picked it up with her hands and ran up the stairs so she could toss it far away. She figured she could throw it out the window, being its highest point would be best.

"Go!" Steve yelled at her, throwing a punch in the Chitauri's face as the Chitauri soldier pulled his mask off, revealing who Steve truly was. He kicked him off of him, and he grabbed his shield off the ground, and whacked it across his face, knocking him out cold.

Zoe ran to the window with the bomb in her hand and was about to jump out until Steve wrapped his arms around her and jumped out of the bank's window and onto the cop car. Zoe fell face first, and landed on the ground, as Steve pushed her out of the way just in time for the bomb to go off underneath Steve's body as he protected the explosion from the remains of civilians' lives.

Coughing, Zoe rolled over onto her back and groaned as pain wrecked throughout her body. "Owe…" she said tentatively.

Steve jumped off the car roof and stood onto his feet, back turned toward Zoe and the civilians as one by one the cops and firemen pulled them out to safety. Zoe looked over at the civilians to see one in particular, a waitress from the looks of her uniform stare back at Steve.

Zoe let out a sigh of relief, and coughed some more unable to help it. She really got the wind knocked out of her.

Steve turned to help Zoe off the ground, pulling her arm gently close to him. He looked her up and down, noticing the hot mess her hair was in. He pulled out a shard of glass in her hair and pinched it between his index finger and thumb, while Zoe brushed his hair out of the way as an involuntary reflex.

"You know, for a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent you sure follow orders well," Steve said with a slight hint of humor edged within his voice.

Zoe beamed brightly despite what she went through, she could still hold her own humor. "Well, I do what I can, Captain," she said in a teasing manner. She brushed the palm of her hand across her forehead and noticed the blood smear on her hand and grimaced. She wipped the rest of the blood on her uniform to get it out of her hands.

"I'm surprised you still have a conscious," Steve said. "You alright?"

"I'm sure it'll disappear eventually," Zoe said, and nodded, answering his question in silence. She was okay, a little dizzy, but she'd live to fight another day.

"Well, I hope not," Steve said, tossing the glass away on to the ground. "Job's not finished."

Zoe smiled. "Then let's go finish it."

"After you," Steve said, allowing Zoe to head back out into the firefight with him trailing right behind her.

~*A*~

Director Fury stared at the screen on top of the bridge, while Agent Hill commanded the team on the Hellicarrier further away from him so he had privacy with the World Council.

"Director Fury, the Council has made a decision," one of the councilmen said, glaring down at Fury.

Director Fury arched a curios brow and shook his head. "I recognize that the Council has made a decision, but given that it's a stupid ass decision, I've elected to ignore it."

"Director, you are closer than any of oursubs, you scramble the jet…"

Director Fury cut the first Council Member off. "That is the island of Manhattan, Councilman. Until I am certain my team can't hold it, I will not order a nuclear strike against a civilian population."

"If we don't hold them in the air, we loose everything," The Council Member who sat in the first chair said.

"I send that bird out, we already have," Director Fury said, as he shut off the screen, ignoring the World Council members completely.

~*A*~

Natasha knew she was close to Stark Tower, but the rider was still apparent. She had to take control of the Chariot somehow. And she was about to find away to do so, until she suddenly got hit at her side. She turned abruptly to see who was firing at her and frowned, furrowing her brows at the God of Mischief hot on her tail.

"Oh, you," Natasha said dryly.

Loki followed her closely; as they passed Clint's building. He widened his eyes in shock as she maneuvered her way into the city. "Nat, what are you doing?"

" _Uh, a little help!"_ She cried over his ear-comm.

Clint smirked as he spotted Loki right behind her in his green and golden armor. He pulled out another arrow and slid it onto the wire attached to his bow. He pulled the arrow back and aimed, waiting for the right moment.

"I got him," Clint said. He pulled the trigger once he felt the right time and speed, and let go.

The arrow sped faster and was about to hit Loki in the face, until Loki suddenly grabbed it in his fist. Loki turned back to look at Hawkeye, sending him a smirk indicating that the archer had missed…until it exploded suddenly, catching Loki off guard.

He fell onto Stark Tower's balcony, while Natasha flipped back off the chariot and landed on the ground, almost falling off the cliff if she hadn't dug her hands into the gravel to keep her from spinning off the edge.

Meanwhile, inside the Stark Penthouse, Loki glanced around him, completely shocked at what had just happened. He slowly climbed himself up, and shook his head to regain back his strength and composure. He growled underneath his breath, and started to charge for the Black Widow, until all of a sudden the Hulk smashed into Tony's window.

"Enough!" Loki said, flipping his cloak back behind him. The Hulk stopped in pursuit of Loki's demise. "All of you are beneath me! I am a God, you dull creature! And I will not be bullied by a-"

The Hulk took him by the ankles and flipped him back and forth until the Hulk was satisfied with Loki's punishment.

Loki's thin and frail body sank to the broken bits and cement rocks of the ground around him. He let out a painful groan.

"Puny God," The Hulk said, stomping away from the motionless Loki.

~*A*~

Natasha walked closer to the machine, as the blue beam of energy swirled into the sky, keeping the portal open. She could sense the energy gaining strength. There had to be a way to close the portal and she was betting that Dr. Selvig knew how. She glanced around her surroundings and frowned when she spotted the doctor lying on the ground, hurt, and at a complete loss from Loki's spell. She looked over at Dr. Selvig.

"Doctor," she said.

"Loki's scepter, the energy, the Tesseract can't fight fight. You can't protect against yourself," Dr. Selvig explained.

"It's not your fault," Natasha said calmly, and knelt beside him. She placed a comforting hand over his wrist. "You didn't know what you were doing."

Dr. Selvig gave her a small smile, but then frowned. "Well, actually I think I did. I built in a safety to cut the power source."

"Loki's scepter," Natasha said in realization.

"It may be able to close the portal," Dr. Selvig said with a nod of his head. He glanced down at Stark's lower balcony. "And I'm looking right at it."


	16. Chapter 16: Doors Close

**Chapter 16: Doors Close**

Thor rode on top of a chariot, and aimed his hammer at several soldiers as they tried to get to him, but they were no match for a God. He hit them with his hammer, and they all fell off the chariot, falling down like raindrops. Thor grabbed onto the reins just in time to move away from a charging eel monster as it crashed through a building, out of commission.

Thor jumped off the chariot, and landed with lightning spluttering around him as the lightning fried the Chitauri soldiers that tried to close in on Steve and Zoe as they fought together, but Zoe was soon starting to loose her energy, so she was grateful for Thor's impeccable timing.

Meanwhile, Tony flew right next to the last eel-monster, trying to boost more fire balls at the monster, flying through skies.

"Sir, we will loose power before you cut through that shell," Jarvis warned.

"Jarvis. You ever hear the tale of Jonah?" Tony asked, zooming further ahead of the eel monster.

"I wouldn't consider him a role model," Jarvis replied.

Tony flew up toward the mouth of the eel monster and fired everything he had. Fire balls like fireflies aimed toward the eel monster and flew inside its body, hitting his sides effectively to slow the eel monster down.

The eel monster opened its mouth, and Tony took this moment as his cue to fly inside. He sped up, using every bit of fire within him, burning his way through the long eel monster to the other end of the tail ripping him open from the inside out.

Tony flew out of the other end, and fell out of the sky and onto the street. The eel monster collapsed on top of a building, landing on its scaly back, dead. Tony fell onto his hands and knees, breathing in and out, catching his breath. Tony then glanced up at his surroundings as blue energy beams fired at him, hitting him in the sides of his suit. "Ah," he winced at the jolt of energy from the Chitauri's rifles, as more of them surrounded him. He glanced around him, frowning. He was surrounded.

~*A*~

Upon the rooftop, Clint continued to fire his arrows at the zooming chariots that seemed to come from every direction, out of the portal, and down to New York City. Clint reached for another arrow, but all he could grab was air. His heart sank with the realization that he was done. Glancing up and around him, he was soon going to be outnumbered as they advanced further in on him.

He was about to step forward until a Chitauri solider climbed up and over the edge of the rooftop to pick a fight with Clint, but Clint took the end of his bow and whacked the soldier down off the rooftop, falling to its death. He jogged over to a dead solider on the roof's surface, and yanked the arrow out of its heart. Gripping his bow and arrow tightly, he jumped off the building and twirled around in the midst of the Chariot rider's firing blue beams at him. He missed every single one as he shot his arrow, hitting it against the side of the building. The arrow acted as a hook-line so that he could use the cable and fly into the building's window, landing harshly on his back.

Clint groaned in pain as the pain wrecked throughout his entire body.

"Clint," Zoe said worriedly. He could hear her voice strained, but all he could answer was with a grunt in reply. Perhaps he shouldn't have done that, but where else was he going to go?

~*A*~

Somewhere in the middle of a Manhattan square park, the Hulk tossed a Chitauri solider down and used the soldier as a weapon to knock out the remaining soldiers around him. More Chitauri arrived on scene, as well as a dozen Chitauri chariots. They started firing their beam of fires at the Hulk, trying to take him down.

~*A*~

Outside the Hellicarrier's airstrip rested a motionless black jet with one rider inside, ready to go forward with the Council's plan.

"Director Fury is no longer in command. Override order, 7 Alpha 11," The Councilman said over the pilot's radio.

"7 Alpha 11, confirmed. Prepare to take off," The rider started his jet and started to slowly take off on the airstrip.

Unfortunately for him, Agent Hill spotted the jet that he was in motion and ready to take off against Director Fury's orders. She frantically moved from computer to computer to try to stop the jet from taking off.

"Sir, we have a bird in motion! Anyone on deck? We have a rogue bird! We need to shut it down! Repeat! Take off, is not authorized!" Agent Hill said, trying to stop the bird from going off, but she wasn't having any luck. It seemed like someone overrided the system.

Director Fury ran out onto the Hellicarrier's deck, holding a huge gun against his shoulders. He aimed the gun at the jet that was flying in the air. The pilot ejected himself in the sky once he saw Director Fury in view with the huge gun on his shoulders and jumped up in the skies before Fury could shoot and blow up the jet that carried a nuke. The jet exploded in the air, but another pilot zoomed out, taking its chance.

Director Fury placed the gun down and took out his own handgun. He aimed, but the jet was too far away. Damn it, he thought. He ran back inside, and put his free hand to his ear.

"Stark, are you hearing me? We have a missile heading straight for the city," Fury said.

"How long?" Tony asked.

"Three minutes, at best," Fury replied. "Stay low, and wipe out the missile."

~*A*~

Tony fired more thrusters at the Chitauri fighters and he zoomed up into Manhattan's skies.

"Jarvis, put everything we've got into the thrusters!" Tony said.

"I just did," Jarvis said.

~*A*~

"Destination is in two minutes, and twenty seconds," the robotic voice said. "Thirty seconds, mark."

The pilot arrived outside the island of Manhattan, and hovered, waiting for the right moment. He pushed the button and released the missile that headed straight for the city before the pilot took off and escaped.

~*A*~

Steve, Zoe, and Thor battled side by side with Zoe in the middle. Zoe had managed to find another Chitauri weapon that had more energy power. She was getting really into it, finding herself more detached from Steve and Thor as she was firing at the Chitauri soldiers that seemed to come at them with such stronger force this time.

Another Chitauri soldier's energy beam hit Zoe's weapon out of her hand, and she grimaced.

That had caught her off guard because that same Chitauri was about to hit Steve in the side until she took her moment and dodged right in front of Steve, catching the beam of energy at her side, and landing firmly on the ground.

"Zo-" but he couldn't finish because another fire of light hit Steve in the side, knocking him down. Thor helped Steve up off the ground, "You ready for another bout?"

"Why is it getting sleepy?" Steve asked, glancing at the God of Thunder with a small smile. He was a super solider after all and could hold his own. Thor grinned in response.

"No, but, uh, I am, Cap," Zoe groaned, shakily. "I think this might be it for me this time, boys," she coughed.

Steve placed his Shield beside the car, and scooped Zoe up into his arms. Thor threw his hammer at the remaining soldiers that tried to get near them, and whirled around to kneel down beside her.

"What can I do?" Thor asked.

"Continue to kill these bastards," Zoe stammered, wincing at the pain in her side. Steve gently lowered her down against the ground, and sat her against the car. She curled up against it, leaning her back against the metal door.

"I can close it! Can anybody copy?" Natasha's voice entered their ears as Zoe felt the pain wreck inside her body like pins and needles. She looked up at Steve and nodded.

Steve sat up, and turned to face his earpiece. "Do it!" Steve said.

"No wait!" Tony said.

"Stark, these things are still coming!" Steve said, glancing down at Thor, as he tried to help level Zoe out, but she was fading.

"I got a nuke coming in," Tony explained, glancing up at that open portal. "And I know just where to put it."

Tony zoomed further outward and away from the city as he caught up with the missile, flying over the Atlantic ocean. Tony grabbed the nuke between his gloved metal hands and flew toward Stark Tower, carrying the missile.

He flew up toward the portal, carrying the heavy device in his hands using all of the strength he had left.

"Stark, you know that's a one-way trip?" Steve asked.

"Save the rest for the return, J," Tony said to Jarvis, ignoring Steve's warning.

"Sir, shall I call Miss Potts?" Jarvis asked.

"You might as well," Tony said.

Zoe could hear the sadness in Tony's voice and it broke her heart as the pain swelled within her body.

~*A*~

Inside Tony's airplane, Pepper watched with intense eyes, as she and the members of the people she worked with, sat around her, watching the news as it blared on T.V.

Beside her, her phone buzzed on the table, as Tony tried to reach her, but Pepper prayed silently for Tony to return back to her.

~*A*~

Everyone on the Hellicarrier Bridge watched with intense eyes much like the rest of New York, as Tony drew the missile inside the beam of light and into the portal. No one could breathe. Director Fury and Agent Hill glanced at one another before they glanced back at the scene on their computer screens.

~*A*~

Tony entered the portal with the rest of his momentum power that Jarvis sent him. He released the missile into space, and it headed for the huge Chitauri ship that hovered over the Earth's skies. He watched in awe as it blew up, and blew the remaining ships that were waiting to fly down to Manhattan for more chaos.

Pepper didn't answer so the call failed. Silently and ever so subtly, Tony's heart sank lower to the floor than he ever thought it could, and thus he fell, slowly drifting away from the black, and toward the open portal.

~*A*~

The agents including Agent Hill on the Hellicarrier bridge cheered with happiness as Tony took the missile away from Manhattan. Director Fury looked thoughtfully over to his second mate and sighed, glancing down at the computer screen with a knowing look on his face.

~*A*~

The Chitauri soldiers advancing in on Steve, Thor, and Zoe died, and fell to their knees on the streets. The remaining eel monsters that had seeped through the portal died on impact.

And Natasha still held Loki's scepter in her hands ready to close the portal on the Captain's orders, but waiting for Tony to come flying out of the portal. She thought maybe he would survive it… "Come on Stark…" she said. There was still a chance if she kept it open enough.

~*A*~

Thor and Steve could still see the fire raging toward the portal, and not wanting to take any more risks; Thor gave Steve a gentle nod.

"Close it," Steve said.

~*A*~

Hearing the Captain's orders, Natasha moved closer to close the portal with Loki's scepter, its tip right inside the blue energy beam of light. She pulled the scepter away from the energy beam, and with Dr. Selvig's help at the laptop, the Tesseract turned the blue energy beam off.

The portal closed just as Tony fell through the cracks of the portal, as the Earth's sky returned back to a normal blue and cloudy day.

~*A*~

Steve, Zoe, and Thor watched in awe as Steve held Zoe within his arms. They were about ready to leave until Tony fell through the portal.

"Son of a gun," Steve whispered, staring up at the sky.

Zoe turned away from Steve's chest, and looked up at the skies above in awe as Tony's body hurtled down to Earth. A feeling of hope swept through her.

"He's not slowing down," Thor said, twirling his hammer in the air, ready to go up and save him, but he was too late because the Hulk had came flying in, and crashed into the buildings, while he grabbed Tony's small body in his hand.

The Hulk landed in the middle of the street and laid Iron Man's frigid and banged up metal suit onto the ground.

Thor and Steve jogged, while carrying Zoe in his arms, over to join the rest of the team.

Thor popped off the tin metal part of Tony's helmet so that Tony's face could breathe, but he was still unconscious. A feeling of dread swept around the team, as they looked down in fear for his death that he might not have made it until…

The Hulk roared loudly in Tony's face, waking him up instantly. "What the hell…?" Tony demanded, glancing up at the Hulk, who grinned at Tony. "What happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me?"

Even Zoe had shaken out of her fading spell to darkness thanks to the Hulk's roar. She blinked and looked down at Tony with a wide smile across her face.

"We won," Steve said, glancing up and around their quiet surroundings. There were no more Chitauri soldiers or chariots coming down from outer space. And the remaining civilians were safe.

"Alright," Tony said. "Hey. Alright. Good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day. Have you ever tried Shawrama?" Tony asked, glancing up at his confused looks upon his teammates.

They all subtly grinned at each other, shaking their heads. Zoe had not heard of Shawrama and she was almost afraid to ask Tony what it was.

"There's a Shawrama joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I want to try it," Tony said.

"It doesn't sound appetizing," Zoe whispered to Steve. Steve grinned down at her, and gently raised her up a bit with his knee, so she didn't fall out of his arms. She wrapped her hands around his neck, to keep from falling herself.

"We're not finished yet," Thor said.

"Anyone seen Clint?" Zoe asked in agreement.

"Heading to you guys," Clint said. "I'm gunna get that little bastard of mischief one way or another," he said.

"We all will," Steve said. "Together."

"And then Shawrama after," Tony said defiantly, glancing at each and every one of them, including Zoe, who just groaned, and closed her eyes, ready to fall asleep at that exact moment.

~*A*~

At the base of Tony's bar floor, Loki tried to climb himself up, and tried to get away from Stark Tower. He was done for. He knew it. Now he just had to find away out and esca… a shadow ceased his transit thoughts, and he gulped. He slowly turned around to find the Avengers, all of them, staring at him with angry looks on their faces, each one different, but each one for him.

Zoe leaned herself against Steve, as she pointed her gun at Loki's face, aiming directly at his nose. He glanced at his scepter in the Widow's hands and he swallowed hard, and looked at Clint's arrow pointed directly at him, ready to shoot first if Loki so dared to move a muscle.

"If it's all the same to you," Loki said slowly, glancing warily at Tony. "I'll have that drink now."


	17. Chapter 17: Shawarma After

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to its respective owners. I just own my OC. I am writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 17: Shawarma After**

The Avengers walked closely in a line together and sat down at a single round table followed by Agent Sawyer. She had no say, no matter what the condition she was in, Tony was going to make her eat Shawarma. His excuse was that if she was a friend of Phil Coulson's, she would eat Shawarma. How Tony had put those two items two and two together, Zoe wasn't sure. But she wasn't sure about a lot of things right now.

Loki was with S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, imprisoned until Thor could get him and the Tesseract to Asguard where they belong. Their big send off would be in a a couple of weeks time after debriefing. New York City was a mess that the army and the policemen had to clean up, even the locals helped clean up their streets.

Zoe sat down at the last seat that was of course right in between Agent Barton and Steve Rogers.

She slumped down in her seat and stared at the restaurant. The outside wall was ripped to shreds thanks to the Hulk probably, not that it was his fault Chitauri soldiers ran ramped across the city's buildings and streets, trying to tear the city apart and take poor innocent lives of civilians who just wanted to live in peace with their daily lives.

Zoe ached from head to toe. Her muscles would surely hurt in the morning, and she was sure that she was going to sleep for a week straight...perhaps after she'd see Loki's send off to Asguard. She was curious what the customs were after all. She had bumps, bruises, and incisions on her forehead and chin, arms and all. She was feeling the pain and she was sure she would feel the pain tomorrow. She couldn't wait to get back to S.H.I.E.L.D. to get cleaned up and fixed up again so she'd be good as new, or at least as good as she can be, after all she was only human and she wasn't a superhero like any of these guys, minus Agent Barton. She supposed that was why she felt a small connection with Barton because he was human even with the cool trick arrows that she still wanted to learn how to shoot and use a bow in the fight at hand. But that was sort of his thing, and she had her own thing with her set of knives and trick-spears that were waiting for her back at home.

A kind, but tired waitress came over to the table and ordered everyone's food. Zoe was dead tired, she wasn't even sure she could hold her appetite but as Tony had explained it was good to have food in your system, regardless of any reason why. Food is love.

Now that the battle of New York was over, Zoe wasn't sure what was going to happen to her. Did she go back to train with Agent Barton now that he was back to normal? Or did she continue to train with Agent Romanoff? Or did this mark her end? Did this mark her end and was she able to move forward?

She met the Avengers. She knew their personalities, and it was all stuffed up in her noggin. So technically she could continue with her assignment.

Agent Coulson would've wanted her to continue the assignment, after all he was the one who cleared her for it after she tested positive and clear with all the training sessions with Agent Hill. She just needed to train for level seven in which she kind of did. The Battle of New York was level seven, and low and behold, Zoe Sawyer survived…just barely.

The room was spinning, as her head tilted back. She needed painkillers or something fast. Maybe she did need food.

The waitress returned with waters for the tired superheroes, minus Zoe because she was never supposed to be apart of it. She just helped Agent Coulson get the team together and learn their abilities so she could move on with her mission. And now that she was ready to move on, she was scared.

She'd become close with the Avengers. As dangerous as they seemed, they were kind people that she wouldn't mind spending the rest of her time with. Unfortunately for her, she didn't have that luxury. She was trying to give Thor the benefit of the doubt so he didn't feel like such a looser compared to his brother, Loki because Loki was the evil one. Thor had to come back to life and stop him. She needed to push him forward so that he could help win the battle in New York City.

She took a sip of her water, and looked at the rest of the Avengers in silence. Quiet murmurs were spoken softly around the table, but Zoe wasn't in the mood. She was starting to feel nervous and regret taking this mission, but if she wanted the truth, and if she wanted to help S.H.I.E.L.D. take down their enemy at all costs, she had to. There was no way around it; no matter how much it may hurt the Avengers… she grimaced.

She contemplated on telling one of the assassins her conspicuous plan she and Agent Coulson concocted together because it was gnawing on her skin like tiny little ants finishing off its prey for dinner.

She wrinkled her nose in disgust. Speaking of dinner, the waitress returned with a tray full of food that smelled good and made Zoe's stomach grumble.

She looked at the food on her plate and looked at everyone else's. Everyone was in silent shock as they looked at each other's food.

"I'm half-in-pain here and we're eating Shawarma…." Zoe said slowly after taking her first bite into the pita sandwich. The only person who heard her quiet tone of voice was Clint beside her and possibly Steve, but he was trying to figure out how to eat his sandwich more than anything else. She smiled and swallowed down her bite with a sip of water. It was possible that Romanoff heard her too besides her unique and enhanced abilities, but Zoe wasn't sure how far that went as far as rapid healing and fighting skills go.

"Welcome to my life, Sawyer," Clint said, as he took a bite of his pita sandwich with hummus oozing out of the bottom side.

Zoe took a bite of her gyro taco-sized sandwich, and swallowed hard. Agent Romanoff smiled at Zoe and took a bite of her onion ring straw that had fallen out of her pita bread and gobbled it down. Even Dr. Banner didn't dare say a word, but was enjoying his sandwich, slowly but surely. And Thor, being an Asguardian, wasn't quite sure what to make of Tony's food choice, but he seemed to down it with his soda.

They continued to eat their meal in awkward silence.


	18. Chapter 18: Romantic Epsom

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to its respective owners. I just own my OC. I am writing for fun and not for profit!**

 **Chapter 18: Romantic Epsom**

The smells of lavender and warm water wafted through Zoe's nose as she relaxed inside a bath full of Epsom salt. She was home. The walls of S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters was comforting enough, but she needed to soak her body after her time in the hospital, well spent, of course, but a hot bath with beautiful Epsom salt was calling her name and now she was in blissful heaven, lying in a lukewarm bath. Maria Hill suggested Epsom salt would help heal the muscles for however long she felt comforted.

She was counting the moments of every hour in the morning until Loki's release to Asgard. Director Fury and Thor had been in a heated discussion ever since. She already put her mind into a vote that Loki and the Tesseract were both better off on Asgard. That thing didn't contain science. It contained magic. Not all would agree of course, but she'd like to think she had a healthy say in what to do about both items and where they officially belonged. Loki and the Tesseract were not things of theirs to command. From her time with Thor, she could count on the God of Thunder to protect the Earth, even if some people weren't sure of the stats and what else could happen.

But Zoe wasn't just counting the days, she was also dreading them. She'd been given a direct order to move forward with her assignment. Agent Romanoff cleared her for duty once she returned from the hospital.

It was now or never.

A sigh left her lips the more she thought about her assignment, and she let her fingers drift into the water of the tub.

"Agent Sawyer?" Clint's voice echoed within the halls that entered toward the showers and baths room all set up for agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Clint's head suddenly appeared around the corner of the threshold. His eyebrows raised as soon as he saw Zoe in the tub full of Epsom salt. He caught a whiff of lavender that entered his nose, and wrinkled his nose at the strong flowery smell. He cleared his throat, and ran a nervous hand behind his neck. "Sorry…um," he couldn't help but let his eyes wander down the length of the tub to her right leg that had popped out of the water dripping wet.

Zoe quickly removed her leg, and hid it underneath the Epsom salt, feeling her cheeks burn with embarrassment.

"We're getting ready for Loki's big damn send off, just wanted to let you know. It's at eleven a.m. sharp," Clint said, clearing his throat. He felt his throat tighten and he suddenly looked away.

"Oh," Zoe squeaked, and smacked her forehead when Clint wasn't looking. The water splashed around her as she moved animatedly in the tub. "Right, sorry, um…wow, this is embarrassing, they really should put doors on these things."

"I didn't want to come find you. Romanoff was supposed to…and I told her it was a bad idea…" Clint stammered.

Zoe grinned impishly. "Clint Barton, getting a little flustered? I didn't think I'd ever live to see the day."

"N-no," he shook his head. He had a frightful look on his face, and Zoe couldn't help but giggle.

"Secret's safe with me," she sighed. "Everyone else's is. Hey Clint, can you um..." She glanced around her surroundings in search for a towel, and frowned, realizing that she'd stupidly left the towel on the hook adjacent to the shower wall, along with her robe.

"Let me guess, you want me to get the towel for you?" Clint asked when she didn't finish her sentence.

Zoe beamed brightly. "Good guess! Please?" she asked, smiling at him. "Pretty please with a cherry on top?" she clasped her hands together and leaned against the edge of the tub with her elbows, and pouted.

Clint sighed, and held his neck between his enclosed hands before he looked over at her and rolled his eyes at her adorable yet pitiful look. He tilted his head from side to side playfully, and stepped forward then back as if he was going to do it but then didn't.

"Oh come on," Zoe frowned. "It's going to be cold when I get out!"

"Your fault," Clint grinned roguishly. "You shouldn't have left the towel so far away. Too bad you don't have like a body stretch power, or something."

Zoe let out a chuckle. "Is that even a thing?"

"Eh, you hear stories on different assignments," Clint said with a shrug, as he walked over to take the towel off the hook. As Clint took the warm heated towel in his hands, (agents were very privileged in S.H.I.E.L.D. after all the shit they do, they should be anyway), and handed the towel out for her, hanging in between his fingers, Zoe climbed out of the tub. Water slightly dripped onto the floor, and onto his boots, in which she muttered a quiet sorry, feeling her cheeks grow warm as she stepped out of the tub. Clint wrapped the towel around her naked body so that she was covered up. She pulled long brown hair out from underneath the towel, and tightened the towel around her body to keep warm.

"Thank you," she whispered, feeling her throat constrict at the realization of how close they were. She turned around to face him so they were eye to eye. "Thank you for saving my life. It could've ended…"

"Badly?" Clint finished for her, and nodded. "Yeah, I know. That's why I did it."

Zoe tightened her towel closer and wiped her nose. Clint involuntarily brushed her wet strands of hair out of her eyes, pulling her hair back behind the curved shell of her ear. She shivered at his touch.

"You don't think I could've handled Loki's mind control?" Zoe asked with a small frown.

"Took me awhile to get out," Clint said softly. "You try having a God in your head for a couple days."

Zoe wrinkled her nose. She may not have a God in her head right now, but what she was about to do was going to be utterly traumatizing, not just for herself but for the rest of the team.

"Clint," she began, inhaling a small breath as she spoke. She looked down at the floor, wanting to avoid his deep blue eyes. She liked his eyes as they were back to normal and not creepy. "I'm about to go on another assignment. As soon as Loki's gone, I'm gone. And, before I go, I just wanted to tell you-"

"Don't," Clint said, putting the palm of his hand to her lips to keep them from talking much further and putting her foot in her mouth. She sucked in her lips, indicating that she wouldn't talk. "A good agent never reveals her secrets until after the big finale, no matter how hard it may be, or get. When you're undercover, you're undercover, and that is your character to play. I'm sure Romanoff filled you in that detail as a spy. Should have been in that package," he said. Zoe nodded her head, and he continued. "So why spill?" he asked.

He removed his hand and she winced. Why spill indeed? She felt that he would understand after all they had a tiny connection together, didn't they? Or was she just imagining things? Whenever she was around him, she felt like she could open up to him and talk about anything. He just seemed like that type of person. Maybe that's why he and Romanoff got along so well, or maybe he was just that type of person who could draw people in, and collect gravity by the hair.

She stepped closer at that quiet moment, feeling the butterflies swarm in the lower belly of her stomach, and took a deep breath. She leaned closer to kiss him, unsure of where the feelings for Clint had suddenly surface, maybe in the past when they first met and how she thought she would be great as acting as his assistant up stage, or just the sheer fact that he was incredibly handsome and strong and every woman's dream guy. Whatever the case, she felt dizzy and high around him. Maybe it was just a silly crush that she had to get over with. Yes! That's it. It's just a crush that perhaps if she could kiss him it would all go away. She'll go with that.

But Clint leaned back, halfway in mid-air, as she leaned forward, nearly leaning against his chest.

Zoe frowned, and leaned back up so that Clint could stand right up and tower over her. He crossed his arms over his chest, shifting uneasily between his feet.

"Too much?" Zoe asked.

"Just a little bit," Clint said and winced. "Sorry…I… can't."

Zoe looked down. "Oh," she said.

"I'll, uh," Clint ran a hand through the back of his short hair and twisted it between his fingers. "See you downstairs. We leave in a half hour."

"Okay," Zoe said and watched him walk out as quickly as he could, stumbling through the threshold, leaving her confused and if not a little hurt by his actions, but at the same time she felt…lost.

She turned around and looked down into the tub still filled with Epsom salt and let out a shaky sigh. She pulled the plug so she could let the water out and started to dry off. She wasn't exactly sure what to make of Clint's departure, but she wasn't sure what to do with her feelings either. She thought if she kissed Clint maybe it would somehow help. She wasn't sure what propelled her to just try and kiss Clint. Now things were awkward and she was going to have to try and smooth things over. She sighed frustratingly. There had to be something in those Epsom salts, right?

Clint's head suddenly popped back in the threshold. Zoe widened her eyes and grabbed her robe quickly to cover herself up. "Jesus Christ, Clint! You could knock," she hissed angrily through her teeth.

"And you can put some clothes on," Clint said, glaring at her.

Zoe quickly placed her robe on and tied the string around her waist. "What?" she asked in a crisp voice, feeling the sudden anger rise within her soul.

"I just wanted to let you know, I am just a phone call away," Clint said in a softer voice than before. "I know some missions deep undercover can be tough, and if you ever need a call, I'll be there to answer. You got it?"

Zoe swallowed back the tears. Not tears of sadness that he didn't kiss her back because that small crush of feelings had disappeared when he didn't want to kiss her, but tears of how wonderful Clint was as a person, and she was going to muck everything up. She nodded. Clint gave her a small smile before he left her in peace and with much needed privacy. Well, it was nice to know that she hadn't lost him totally, for now anyway. Zoe frowned at the thought before she decided to put some clothes on. She was not going to miss Thor and Loki's send off, not one bit, feelings for Clint aside, her job and duty came first.


	19. Chapter 19: A Promise

**Chapter 19: A Promise**

Zoe stepped out into the brilliant sunlight peeking through the cloudy skies, and joined Dr. Banner's side, dressed in her white and blue outfit she had on when she met Steve. Her hair was pulled back into a wavy brown pony-tail, and she wore sunglasses to keep the sun's rays from hurting her eyes.

"I'm gunna miss our fun talks, doctor," Zoe said to the scientist, folding her hands across her stomach, relaxing her arms.

Bruce turned his head slightly toward her as the breeze brushed curled wisps of her hair out of the way. She was healing from the Battle of New York, but the scars would remain for awhile. She was only human after all. He was surprised she survived, but glad. He liked Zoe and her interesting personality that was ever so changing in his eyes. It was a nice change of pace in his humdrum life, or not so humdrum?

He smiled bashfully, and nodded. "Sure, just don't go killing anyone else okay? Talk to me first."

"Har, har. I see Tony's sense of humor is rubbing off on you already," she said, smiling at him. "Of course you'll be the second person I call."

"Second?" Bruce asked with a small frown, as he arched an eyebrow.

"I'd call Steve in case I was ever in a major jam, like some crazy person coming after me with God knows what kind of weapons he has," she pointed a thumb toward Steve when he entered the circle on Central Park.

"Oh, I get it," Bruce said, smiling lightly as he eyed the super soldier up and down. He turned to Zoe when she spoke again.

"It's not like that," Zoe said, turning bright pink. "Just, well, I'd just…okay fine, the Other Guy gets the first call. I was just trying to be polite about you and you're wigged out thing about hurting civilians. I mean if I was a civilian and I knew that Dr. Banner was coming to the rescue I wouldn't mind it because he's genuinely sweet and handsome on the inside and outside," she beamed up at him, trying to make him feel better.

Bruce let out a light chuckle. "Thanks, that makes me feel so much better," he said.

"Thought it might," she said. "Ooh, here he comes," she whispered, pointing an index finger to her lips as Thor and Loki arrived from one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. cars. Natasha and Clint piled out of the SUV's, slamming their doors shut behind them, and joined Zoe, Steve, and Bruce with the two Gods of Asgard. Dr. Selvig followed the assassins with the silver box in his hands that contained the last remains of the blue cube.

Tony pulled up to the curb of the outside circle in his maroon sports car, and hopped out of his seat. He slammed the door shut and buttoned up his fancy gray suit. He was prim and suave in every bit of Stark that he had. He was Howard Stark's son whether he admitted it or not. The profile was very clear in Zoe's eyes.

Dr. Selvig took the case over to Tony, marking this as Bruce's cue to walk over so he could help his fellow scientists.

Zoe and Steve stood quietly, watching as Thor and Loki stood side by side. Zoe couldn't help but notice how horrible Loki appeared now that he was de-illusioned and not in his golden armor like he had on during the battle. His face was covered in an intricate mask so he couldn't speak, and his wrists were in chains.

"Gonna miss him?" Steve asked quietly beside Zoe.

"Not one bit," she replied quickly, staring at him, probably for a little too long because as Tony opened the case, and Bruce took it out only to put it in Thor's glass tube that would ensure its safe return to Asgard, Loki's eyes flicked over to Zoe. She swore she could have felt him smirk underneath that muzzle, though his eyes said it all. She shivered, and stepped a little closer to Steve, feeling uncomfortable at the way he was looking at her. She turned around to face something else that was much more appetizing than the God of Mischief. Her eyes accidentally landed on Clint, and they stared at each other through the shades of their sunglasses. She bit her bottom lip, and tugged a strand of hair over her ear. Not so much better was it? She tore her eyes away from him and stared at the glowing Tesseract instead that was encased in a glass cylinder.

Bruce closed the glass case shut, and handed it to Thor. Thor nodded his silent thanks to Bruce, Tony, and Dr. Selvig before he handed Loki the other end. He looked at it like it was the plague, and gripped onto the other end, appearing to have no choice but to oblige his brother.

Thor and Loki stepped back into the middle, once Dr. Selvig closed the case and held it into his hand. The group stood in a circle as Thor looked back at his teammates and sent a small smile to Zoe. Zoe gave Thor a slight wave. Natasha whispered something to Clint's ear that only made him grin.

With one final look around, Thor raised Mjonlir in the sky and a rainbow of beaming light surrounded them, taking them away from Earth back to Asguard, leaving friends behind.

Bruce and Zoe hugged each other and she kissed him on the cheek before Bruce moved on to say goodbye to Steve, shaking his hand, Clint and Natasha. She handed him a duffle bag while Tony hugged Zoe tightly, whispering in her ear, and made her all teary-eyed. She brushed the edge of her eye with her index finger and sighed when he and Bruce took off in his shiny maroon sports car, leaving her behind.

Last but not least, she'd say goodbye to Captain Rogers, and then she would be on her way back to S.H.I.E.L.D., back to her assignment.

Steve and Zoe looked at one another quietly in the awkward moment.

"I'll um, see you around?" Steve asked.

Zoe smiled. "Only time will tell, Captain," she said and walked up to him. She held onto his arms with delicate fingers, and stood on her tip-toes. He leaned down when he realized that she was going to kiss his cheek, the softest kiss he'd ever felt since Peggy Carter that slightly made his heart twist with contradiction.

She leaned back down, unable to shake the tingly spark she felt with just kissing him on the cheek. She cleared her throat, and pulled a nervous strand of hair behind her ear. "I hate goodbyes," she said softly, glancing around her park.

"Then maybe it's not a goodbye," Steve said.

"I'll see you around, Steve," Zoe said, and she forced herself to pull away from him so that he could get back on his motorcycle.

Steve threw his leg around and sat down on the seat. He kicked the engine into gear and looked back at the three remaining agents along with Dr. Selvig. He saluted them, and took off in a punch.

Zoe looked back at Clint, and Natasha before she, and Dr. Selvig walked back to one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. cars and headed inside while Clint and Natasha disappeared into second one behind them. She closed the door and sat silently in the car, while Dr. Selvig carefully sat the empty case on his lap.

~*A*~

Director Fury looked up at the World Council with his hands crossed and folded behind his back.

"Where are the Avengers?" The third Council member asked.

"I'm not currently tracking their whereabouts. I'd say they've earned a leave of absence," Fury replied.

"And the Tesseract?" The second Council member inquired, glaring at Director Fury through his own screen.

Fury looked right back at him, not missing a beat. "The Tesseract is where it belongs. Out of our reach."

"That's not your call," The first Council member said in a warning tone of voice.

"I didn't make it," Fury said. "I just didn't argue with a God that did."

"So," the first Council member said. "You let him and the war criminal, Loki, who should be answering for his crimes?"

"Oh, I think he will be," Fury said.

"I don't think you understand what you've started, letting the Avengers loose on this world. They're dangerous," The first Council member said.

"They surely are," Fury said with a curt nod. "And the whole world knows it. Every world knows it."

"Was that the point of all this? A statement?" The first Council member asked.

"A promise," Fury said, and walked out of the board room, and headed down the hallway of the Hellicarrier and met up with Zoe who'd been waiting patiently for him just a little ways outside the door. He stopped walking. "Sawyer," he greeted briskly.

She smiled at him. "Director," she said. She stopped pacing, and faced him professionally, or as best as she could. She was dressed in uniform and ready to go about her day, but she had to say something before she lost her mind. "I'm very honored to be working with you."

Director Fury smiled slightly and started to walk toward the bridge. They walked around the hallway and toward the glass doors. He opened it up and held it out for her so she could enter first.

"Don't think of me as a creepy old man who hides secrets?" Director Fury asked.

Zoe let out a nervous laugh, and shook her head. "No," she said. "Um, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to accuse-"

Director Fury shrugged. "It happens with the type of business that we run," he said, and lifted his card to the card swipe machine so that he could enter the bridge. "Director Fury, cleared to board," the voice said.

Zoe swiped her card after him and beamed brightly when the light turned green, indicating that she was cleared for level seven. "Agent 29, welcome aboard," the robotic female voice greeted her.

Director Fury and Zoe made their way to the glass window that stretched around the Hellicarrier and he sighed, looking onward to the clouds in the blue skies.

"Did it happen with my father, sir?" she asked.

"Oh yes," Director Fury said with a brisk nod. "It does surely happen in more ways than I'd like to count, but your father wanted to rid himself from Hydra. He never wanted this kind of life. He just wanted to save her."

"Save who?" she asked.

"You're sister," he said.

Zoe swallowed hard at the sudden news that hit her like another tidal wave. "My sister?"

"In Soho, when you ran away from the store, you found a hidden room, and in that hidden room, you found one of Hydra's old facilities when they were first coming to light in our eyes. What did you see?" Director Fury asked.

Chills swept up and down her spine, as she looked back at the past that she'd fought so very hard to bury, and lock away. She did find something very terrible, and she wanted to help that girl who was trapped in darkness, but men had surrounded her, and she was scared. She couldn't save her, so she ran. Ever since then, she'd wanted to rid herself of that memory that she could have done something better. She could have saved her, but she was too scared. So, to make up for her stupidity, she worked on trying to be a better person, to rid herself of the nightmares in that dark and dreary place where she found of only what she could assume now was Ava Sawyer.

It all made sense now. The crazy acts her father committed when he thought Zoe was Ava. It could only mean one thing. She had a twin. A look alike. Her thoughts were bristling now.

"I know you're ready for your next assignment, agent," Director Fury said. "You won't let me down. Agent Coulson gave you a direct order to pull the Avengers Initiative team together, and help keep them together. I suspect nothing less."

"What happens if I can't?" Sawyer asked.

Director Fury made no comment, and just stared back out at the world down below him.

Agent Sawyer let out an uneven sigh, as she tried to calm her mind down that it seemed to run rapidly with the possibility Ava could be out there. But of course she didn't have time to find out because like Director Fury said, she was going on assignment and the missions always came first. She'd regretted every moment in Soho.

Zoe turned to face Agent Hill who was coming up to talk with Director Fury. She chewed her bottom lip, and smiled at Hill before she left to head back to her station aboard the deck.

"Sir, how does it work now?" Agent Hill asked. "They've gone their separate ways, some pretty extremely far. We get into a situation like this again, what happens then?"

Director Fury rolled his shoulders back as Agent Hill stood beside him, diagonally, while he glanced out the window. "They'll come back."

"You really sure about that?" Agent Hill asked.

"I am," Director Fury said.

"Why?" Agent Hill said thoughtfully.

"Because we'll need them too," Director Fury said, smiling back at her. Agent Hill smiled in return and headed back to the deck where she took her place, and shared a small look with Zoe. It was back to normal for now at least, and that's all she could hope for, and if they needed the Avengers, well, she trusted her boss more than anything to count on him to bring them together.


	20. Chapter 20: Winter Soldier

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers, nor do I own Winter Solider. Both movies belong to their respective owners. I own my OC. I am writing for fun, and not for profit.**

 **A/n: Original title was called Rescue Op. :)**

 **Chapter 20: Winter Soldier**

~Two Years Later~

Indian Ocean

Agent Zoe Sawyer hid behind a wall, listening to the conversation between the two mercenaries talking about Bartac, a man who wasn't to be trifled with.

She'd gotten close to the small kitchen room where the hostages had been forced to coop up inside, not too far away from the engine room, in which she was sure that was where Bartac was. Her main objective however was to protect the hostages.

"I told Bartac," one of them spoke in French that Zoe actually understood. It was the only language besides American Sign Language that she excelled in. "If we want to make S.H.I.E.L.D. pay us…we need to start sending them bodies now!"

The pirates had taken over one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s vessel in the Indian Ocean and Zoe had been assigned to protect it along with Agent Jasper Sitwell. An interesting man to work with, Zoe duly noted, but very loose on the eyes when it came to spotting pirate ships out in the dark sea waters. She was counting on his expert observation skills he claimed he had but somehow lost that mark when pirates had surrounded them. Sitwell took the fall first. The pirates wanted something from this vessel that Zoe had no doubt Fury would not want whatever it was out here in the wrong hands, and she wasn't going to let that happen. Nor was she going to let these guys take innocent hostages who were just doing their jobs.

The tension in the recreation area of the vessel had thickened to its highest peak, as the men spoke in French.

"I have a bullet for someone," he continued, pacing back and forth, taunting the hostages as they tried to remain calm with the situation at hand. "Move that foot-" the man said, hitting one of the crew members foot. That crewmember winced just as Zoe did. "You want a bullet in the head…?"

"If anyone's going to be shooting anyone," Zoe said, whipping around the corner, pointing her gun at the man with the bigger gun in his hands. He whirled around to point it at her. "It's going to be me. Let these nice people go, and take me instead."

Sitwell widened his eyes at her that read 'Are you crazy?' She ignored his questionable stares as acting "man-in-charge" strode over to her. She shot one of his crew members in the shoulder that would cause a little pain.

"You missed," he said this time in English.

She smiled. "I didn't. I'm just showing you I mean business," she said. "Whatever it is you want, you'll never get it. S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't negotiate. And I've got a lot more where that came from, peaches," she lightly pulled the trigger.

The man lowered his weapon slightly, and an amused grin appeared on his face. Zoe suddenly got a bad feeling about this, and maybe she should've shut up when she had the chance, but sometimes she couldn't help herself. She spoke her mind in situations like this to help her adrenaline from slowing down.

"So you are not afraid to die," he said.

Zoe flicked her eyes to Sitwell then to the man in front of her. His eyes were cold and hard, but had an interesting glint of amusement. "No," she said.

"Perhaps then, if you are not," he drawled on. Zoe gulped, trying to stay still as best as she could while he continued. "Then perhaps they are afraid to die." He said, kicking another hostage's foot incredibly hard, and whacked his gun across the head to indicate an incision cut on the forehead. Blood seeped out from the cut as the young crewmember cried out in pain.

"I'm very, very afraid to die, I do not want to die," he mumbled frantically almost to tears.

Zoe widened her eyes and then looked back at the mercenary who chuckled, "Sit down, and shut up before I put a bullet in their heads," he ordered Zoe, pointing his gun at her. "Check her," he ordered one of his men. His mercenary that got shot in the shoulder held a white cloth to the wound, cringing as he glared at Zoe with deadly eyes. She gulped, as one of the men came up to her and took her gun out of her hands. He checked her body, making sure she had nothing else hidden within her S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform and gripped her shoulder tightly. "Move," he growled in her ear. She didn't want to move, but he forced her to move with all his might when she fought against him. He shoved her down next to Sitwell and started tying her hands and ankles with extra plastic wire.

Zoe sighed and leaned her head back against the metal sink.

"So much for the element of surprise," Sitwell murmured quietly to her.

Zoe glared at Sitwell. "You and I are gonna have words after this."

Sitwell slightly grimaced. He'd heard of Agent Zoe Sawyer before they met on this little assignment of theirs. He'd been looking forward to working with her interesting abilities as an agent and wanted to see what she could do. So far it was nothing special, just human regularities with a gun. But then again, you never really could tell about a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent now could you?

"Shut up," the mercenary barked.

Silence and tension eased around the room, hugging the air like a thick glove that wanted to chock the lives out of the innocent hostages including Zoe. She was pissed. Had she been assigned with Barton, she could've counted on him to secure the pirate ship before anyone else could be in this tight position right now. Barton would've never have let this happen. They could probably be on a sunny beach drinking tequila right now, probably a Daiquiri more on her end, she was a rum girl and not a tequila girl right now, but even so this would've never happened had she had a decent partner on her side. She could probably have taken out the mercenaries before Sitwell just turned over with the scared look on his face when he saw Batrac the Leaper threaten his life.

Zoe did a profile on Batrac. He was strong, fierce, and not in the least bit scary to her. Well, okay so he was a little scary especially when she couldn't very well much hold her own against him. Then the pirates swept aboard, taking her moment to disappear under Sitwell's quiet orders. Unfortunately it didn't end well. This wasn't ending well in Zoe's eyes. She had to do something, anything to get them out! And there was one place the mercenary man did not check out.

A couple men were left within the kitchen, watching the hostages closely if one moved, while the rest of the men secured the deck of the vessel. One guarded the door outside. Zoe eyed their walking movements, counting them as they walked in their same patterns that never changed. One man walked carefully down Zoe's line, pacing back and forth until he checked on the hostages on the other side of the island in the middle of the room.

When the mercenary young man wasn't looking, she took the moment to try and reach down to her left ankle boot where she'd hidden her spear, twisting her wrists within the plastic that dug into her skin.

She winced, trying to be quiet as she tried to get it without his notice. Sitwell cast down a nervous glare at Zoe's sudden movement, "Sawyer," he whispered in a warning tone of voice. She glared at him to keep quiet, and clenched her teeth together as the plastic burned into her skin. She dug her fingers into the fabric lining of her boot, and wrapped her fingers around her spear.

"You want to be a hero?" the man asked, spotting Zoe's movement. She froze, completely still as fear gripped over her like ice. "Is that it?"

She swallowed hard and moved back to position, carefully hiding her spear behind her back, as she eyed the man worriedly. When he looked away, satisfied that she was drenched with fear, she relaxed her muscles with a small sigh. "Owe," she muttered.

Sitwell smirked. "Next time find a better spot to hide that, yeah?" he asked.

Zoe glared at him. "I'm still not talking to you," she said in a whisper.

"Fine, but sooner or later you'll warm up to me," Sitwell replied with a small grin on his face.

Zoe rolled her eyes. Right, like she'd ever warm up to him. Sitwell, nice guy, bad agent. She was definitely going to give him the reprimand.

"All right, I've waited long enough…" the leader said. He walked over to the engine room, and knocked on the door. "Hey find Bartac. If I don't hear anything in two minutes, I start killing them!"

Zoe widened her eyes at the threat in French, and gripped tightly onto her spear. She would be ready and defend the lives of these people if she had to, and it appears things were going to get a little bit messy around the vessel. She was going to untie Sitwell first because she needed someone else on her team. There were just too many pirates on the vessel that had taken over.

"I'll find him," the mercenary replied. His voice echoed throughout the room. Inside the room beside the closed door, Zoe's only way out and unbeknownst to Zoe, Agent Rumlow shot an energy stinger at the man, and grabbed his neck tight before he lowered his body on the ground.

From the other side of the room, Zoe watched curiously as the man stopped walking back toward her.

Zoe noticed Sitwell's eyes staring out at the window. She frowned when she turned to see what was out there but didn't see anything.

"Time is up," the mercenary said. "Who dies first?"

"You! Get on your feet!" he said to a younger man squished in between his shipmates.

Zoe looked over at him and grimaced. "Leave him alone!" she said.

He chuckled, "I'll kill him first, then her," he said, tapping the brunette's foot. "And then every last single one of them including your partner, here," he tapped his boot, shaking Sitwell out of his calm demeanor. "First before I get to you. So every bit of that heroic heart of yours shatters to pieces."

Zoe sighed in a huff, as he continued to bark orders. It only pissed her off. She pressed the button on the hilt of her knife, and it sprang to life. The electricity that surrounded her spear cut into the plastic wrapped around her wrists.

Once the plastic fell off her wrists, she used her spear to untie her plastic against her ankles. She untied Sitwell's ankles before one of the men tried to grab at her. She shoved the man away from her and pressed another button that ignited her spear into his chest, knocking him dead just as the door blasted open, revealing Rumlow as he shot the mercenary leader onto the ground.

Sitwell glanced at him with a smile. "Like we told you, S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't negotiate," he looked to Zoe. "You're going to finish untying me right?" he asked her.

Zoe pushed the man down onto the floor, taking the spear out of his chest. She took out a cloth from the dead mercenary and wiped the blood stains on the silver blade away and rolled her eyes. She was definitely going to untie him last.

"Hey Sawyer," Agent Rumlow greeted.

Zoe grinned at Rumlow, "Hey stranger. Long time no see."

"Thought you could use a hand," he said humorously.

Zoe twirled her spear within her hand. "I had it handled."

"Sure you did," Agent Rumlow said, glancing around the room, looking at the relieved hostages. "Nice handling."

"I wasn't going to let them die," Zoe said. "I really did try to let them take me. Sitwell over here," she jerked a thumb back at Sitwell. "Failed to do his job right. If it were you or anyone else, it would've been so much easier."

"I keep telling Fury I'm not a field agent," Sitwell said as Rumlow untied his wrists. Sitwell got up with the help of Rumow's hand while Zoe and the other agents helped untie the hostages. With the final hostage untied, Zoe pressed a button on the hilt of her spear and the blade retracted back into its case. She hid it within her boot, currently unable to hide it anywhere else.

"Sure," Zoe said. "It's a wonder why I was assigned to you to this launch ship in the first place," she muttered to his side so that only he could hear while they walked out of the room and headed outside. Sitwell didn't respond. He just remained eerily silent.

Zoe frowned and scooted a bit closer to Rumlow, finding his company much more appealing.

"Cap was worried about you, you know," Rumlow said under his breath so only she could hear him.

Zoe's cheeks turned bright pink. "What? No he wasn't."

"You going to ask him out yet?" he asked.

Zoe rolled her eyes. "No. Stop asking. I have a job to do, so do you, let's focus please."

Rumlow chuckled at her flustered look, as they made their way toward the tight corridor, leading them outside. "Hostages en route to extraction," Rumlow said.

"Romanoff missed the rendezvous point, Captain. Hostiles are still in play. And Cap? Zoe says hi."

Zoe smacked his arm, "I'm going to kill you after this."

"I'd expect nothing less," Rumlow said, then he pressed his lips close to her ear. "Killer."

Zoe shuddered, and glared at him. She was so not in the mood right now. All she wanted to do was to get home, hide within her covers, and go to bed for a week, feeling slightly embarrassed by the whole situation, and not just for her on and off again feelings for Captain America.

After all the situation could've been much much worse if it hadn't been for S.H.I.E.L.D.'s agents to the rescue.


	21. Chapter 21: Project Insight

**Chapter 21: Project Insight**

Back in Washington D.C., Zoe was more than thankful to be home, but there was always that feeling on her shoulders that she'd be out again, and she knew it was going to have to be soon. She wanted to try and prolong her assignment as much as she could, but that would probably be impossible since she knew how these men worked inside and out. A frown made its way to her lips. This is what she signed up for after all. But she wasn't sure if she was ready even with all her training, and studying at the academy, she still felt icky about her current predicament. She often wondered how Romanoff could be so cool, calm, and collective in the Widow's own situations. It would be nice for once that Zoe didn't have to feel so conflicted with her drowning emotions.

But at least for now, she was home. She was within the comforting walls of her headquarters.

She walked down the halls of S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters passing other agents and members of the agency as she headed straight for Director Fury's office. Since she'd been home, she'd been contemplating on quitting her beloved job for the last two years. She didn't think she could hold herself together. Rumlow's comment had pissed her off in a big way, because the more she thought about it, the more he may be right. How could she continue being an agent if she continued to suck in a situation like that?

Romanoff could kill anyone far more easily and swiftly within seconds and still get the job done. Meanwhile Zoe could only kill so many and still get captured like a shitty damsel in distress that she desperately wanted to stray away from. Maybe going undercover wasn't such a good idea after all. And by quitting S.H.I.E.L.D. she thought that would be the only way to get out.

She pushed the door open, not even asking politely to get in the door. She didn't want to wait for Fury to finish whatever he was finishing. She'd made up her mind. The paper in her hands, along with the envelope that said it all. She was quitting. She may have loved S.H.I.E.L.D. but she was no spy. She could not do this. She couldn't fulfill Agent Coulson's dream. She couldn't even keep track of Banner right now let alone keeping track of villains like Bartac. She'd tried to tell herself that it wasn't her fault and that Sitwell had a hand in it, making her look like the fool in front of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s launch ship, but she still felt guilty. There was too much going on in her head that she just wanted it to stop. And she figured the only way to end it was to quit. Someone else could find Intel for Fury.

"Sir, I want to hand in my two weeks notice," Zoe said, clearing her throat to get his attention. Director Fury turned his chair around from the window, and arched an eyebrow at her.

"I'll call you back," he said, pressing the button on his earpiece. He looked at her shaking hands. In her hands was a white envelope and a piece of paper typed and ready to send into his company.

"I can't do this anymore," she said.

She pushed the envelope and the letter further toward him, and folded her hands across her abdomen. Director Fury glanced up and down at her state of condition. Out of all the agents he'd ever encountered this one proved to be most promising, and here she wanted to quit in the middle of it all when they were so close?

"I'm going to disincline, Agent Sawyer," Director Fury said.

"Um," she said slowly, glancing at Fury with a questionable look on her face. "You can't do that. Can you do that?"

"I'm disinclining because that man out there already knows who you are, and I cannot provide protection detail already more than what S.H.I.E.L.D. can offer you." Director Fury said.

Zoe tightened her jaw, and ran a hand through her ponytail. "You don't get it, sir. You don't understand what he wants me to do. I can't," her throat tightened at the very thought of it. "I just can't do what he wants me to do. You just don't understand," she shook her head, lowering her eyes to the floor. She'd tightened her fists with all her anger and mixed feelings inside of her that felt like they were going to burst. She'd tried to hold herself together for so long, but she felt like she was going to have a meltdown at any moment. Zoe forced the tears back as far as she could. She was not going to cry in front of her boss. She was tougher than that. She took a deep breath, and let it out, forcing her bottled up emotions to relax.

Director Fury studied Zoe for a brief moment in silence. Zoe glanced around the room, feeling slightly awkward as he looked at her through his one eye.

"I understand plenty, Zoe," he said calmly. "And I understand that you can do the job. You're my eyes and ears, girl. I need you."

"So if I quit, I basically die?" Zoe asked with a small frown.

"Only if you want to die," Fury said. "By all means. Hydra won't hesitate, Zoe, I chose you years ago because you can be an actress, among other things that you studied at the academy. That's your job here. I know you're fighting skills are a little bit lackluster and on the rusty side, but we have trained agents who can train with you and get better."

Zoe sighed. "I'll never be as good as you want me to be," she said softly, looking down at the floor. "I'll never be Natasha."

"No one can be Agent Romanoff, but Agent Romanoff, just like no one can be Agent Sawyer. You're skills will improve, I promise you that. And I know that with your current assignment, you can do it."

"Why?" she asked, as her eyes flicking up from the floor to Fury's eye.

"Because I have faith in you," he said sincerely. "Don't tell anyone else that. I'm supposed to be a hard-ass."

She couldn't help but lift the corners of her mouth into a smile and giggle because the feels in her heart grew warm like a father telling her daughter that he secretly loved her for who she was. Zoe never got to hear those words that a father was supposed to say to their children from her father, and Fury always felt like the father she never had. "Mum's the word," she said.

Director Fury nodded, and took her letter, folded it into a crisp half piece of paper before he tossed it in the trash. He put the envelope into his drawer. "If you're so concerned with your lack of fighting skills, why don't you spar a little with Rogers? I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

Zoe widened her eyes. "Steve," she cleared her throat. "Cap? Um…well, he's like a super soldier, and I'm, well, not…what about Agent Hill?"

"Agent Hill is currently on leave," Director Furry said. "Train with Rogers. He knows tactics of fighting in sticky situations better than anyone I know. He's also very smart."

She sighed. "Is that an order?" she asked.

He remained silent, giving her a silent glare with his one eye. She winced, taking that as a nonchalant yes.

"You just can't stop yourself from lying," Steve said suddenly, barging into Director Fury's office.

"Speaking of the devil," Director Fury said, twisting in his chair. Zoe's eyes glanced over at Steve and closed her mouth shut. He turned to face her before he turned back to Director Fury.

"Agent Romanoff had a different mission than yours," Director Fury said.

"Which you didn't feel oblige to share," Steve said.

"I'm not obliged to do anything," Director Fury said.

"Look, those hostages could have died in there," Steve said. Zoe didn't miss the serious tone in his voice, and that made her feel even guiltier. She was supposed to protect the vessel, but that didn't go very well as planned.

"I'm afrai-" she began but Director Fury cut her off.

"I sent the greatest soldier in history to make sure that didn't happen," Director Fury said.

Steve glanced from Zoe to Director Fury. "Soldiers trust each other. That's what makes it an army. Not a bunch of guys running around shooting guns."

Zoe bit her bottom lip, listening to Steve. He had a point, but so did Fury if he wanted to get two things accomplished that night: kill two birds with one stone.

She was going to step out of the office, feeling that she wasn't supposed to be here. She turned to quietly step out, but Fury stopped her with a steely voice that sent chills up and down her spine.

"Sawyer, I did not say you were dismissed," he said.

Zoe froze and spun back around on the heel of her boot and gulped. Steve cast a sideways glance at her curiously and then looked at Director Fury.

"Last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye," Director Fury said, standing up to meet Steve, face to face. "Look, I didn't want you doing anything that you weren't comfortable with. Agent Romanoff is comfortable with everything."

"I can't lead a mission when the people I'm leading have missions of their own," Steve said.

"It's called compartmentalization. Nobody spills the secrets, because nobody knows them all."

"Except you," Steve said in a clipped tone of voice.

Zoe could feel the room grow thick with tension between the two as they tried to remain calm with each other's opinions spewing about from their testosterone mouths.

"Can I go now?" Zoe asked tentatively. She cleared her throat when both men turned to face her. "Sir…Cap?" she really felt like this was a concerning manner between leaders, and not exactly regular employees like herself.

"Why don't you stick around, Sawyer? Maybe a little knowledge will shed a little light on your current assignment so you're not so totally in the dark," Director Fury said.

Zoe twisted her mouth slightly and remained silent as the grave.

"You're wrong about me," Director Fury said, once the silence settled in like dust. Zoe and Steve looked up from the floor, and stared into his one eye. "I do share. I'm nice like that. Follow me," he said.

Steve and Zoe turned slightly so that Director Fury could get up and out of his chair. He started to walk out of his office and down the quiet hallway of S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.

"Got another side-assignment for you, Rogers," Director Fury said as they walked down the hallway. Zoe and Steve walked side by side behind him, and looked at one another before they stared ahead of them.

"You two are going to be partners," Director Fury said.

Steve arched an eyebrow. "Partners?"

"She needs a little more training on her fighting skills," Director Fury saw the widened eyes in her look and her open mouth like she was going to protest, but he stopped her. "That's one of the reasons why I had her assigned to Agent Barton in the first place before the whole thing blew up in our faces. He's a skilled fighter, in the arts of swords, and archery. You're skilled in combat, fighting tactics, battle techniques, and the like, something that Sawyer sorely needs training on. Think of him as your personal trainer."

"I'm really not sure that's going to be a good idea, Director," Zoe said, shaking her head. "He might crush me."

Steve listened to Director Fury's words, and looked down at Zoe, who turned pink with guilt and embarrassment."Yeah, she's a little bit hobbit-sized," he said, glancing at her with a wry grin on his face. Zoe eyed him with a wry look back. "I'm really busy I got a lot of stuff to do-" Steve said.

"This is an order," Director Fury said as they entered the elevator.

"Of course it is," Zoe muttered to herself.

They made their way toward the elevator, and the silver doors slid open. Director Fury entered first. "Insight bay," he said.

Steve came in second as the computer screen spoke to Director Fury, while Zoe followed.

"Captain Rogers and Agent Sawyer does not have clearance for Project Insight," she said.

"Director Fury, Nicolas James, override," Fury demanded, and leaned back against the silver bar that stretched across the glass elevator. Zoe and Steve stood on opposite sides quietly.

"Confirmed," the female voice said.

The elevator doors closed, and started to go down slowly. Zoe leaned against the back of the silver bar and curled her foot in front of the other, crossing her legs to relax.

"You know they used to play music," Steve said breaking the silence between the three of them.

"Yeah, my grandfather operated one of these things for forty years," Fury said. Zoe arched an eyebrow at the newfound info. "My granddad worked in a nice building. Got good tips. He'd walk home every night, roll of ones stuffed in a lunch bag; he'd say hi, people would say hi back," he glanced at Steve, and then at Zoe. "Time went on, the neighborhood got rougher. He'd say hi, they'd say 'keep on stepping', My dad got to gripping that lunch bag a little tighter," he said.

"Smart man," Zoe said quietly, crossing her arms over her chest.

Fury smiled very subtly at her.

"Did he ever get mugged?" Steve asked.

Fury let out a small laugh, "Every now and then some punk would say, 'what's in the bag?'"

"What'd he do?" Steve asked.

"He'd show him," Fury replied. "Bunch of crumpled ones. And a loaded twenty-two magnum."

Fury smirked at Zoe and Steve's looks on their faces as he stepped away from the railing. "My granddad loved people. But he didn't trust them very much," he said, glancing slightly at Zoe.

Zoe chewed her bottom lip. Well, that was why she couldn't go on with her assignment. She tried to get out of it, but Fury wouldn't let her.

Her mouth dropped to the floor when the skies of blue turned to shades of gray and weapons galore on Insight Bay. Holy Shit. She thought. What in the hell was Project Insight?

"Uh, Fury, are we planning to go to war anytime soon?" Zoe asked, making Fury chuckle lightly at her words as she stepped closer next to Steve beside the window.

"Yeah I know. They're a little bit bigger than a twenty-two,' Fury replied.

"A little bit?" Zoe asked.

Across the facility bay that stretched for miles on end were three huge Hellicarriers with weapons pointed up toward the ceilings that made army tanks look like scared little ants. She could see Quinjets, and jets of all kinds hanging from cable wires, lowering onto the decks of Hellicarriers. It made Zoe wonder if Coulson or Hill knew about Project Insight and failed to share with her. Of course she didn't blame them. They were on different levels than she was.

She drew in a short breath as if she'd been holding one the entire ride down to Insight Bay.

They started to walk down the walkway that stretched inside throughout the facility, flanked between rows of Hellicarriers, as Director Fury continued to tell them about Project Insight. "This is Project insight. Three next generation Hellicarriers sent to a network of targeting satellites."

Zoe was quite impressed by it as she tried to keep up with Director Fury and Steve. She made her way on the other side of Director Fury, unable to tear her eyes away from the beauty of the gray colored war machines that were bigger than her, bigger than the Hulk if that were even possible! Workers in orange colored shirts and grey shirts worked together to put everything they had into this project. How long was Fury working on this? Did he seriously just say three generations?

"Launch preliminary in stock," Steve said.

"Once they get in the air, they never need to come down," Director Fury said. Fury's words drowned in her ears as she continued to be in awe with the Hellicarriers as she walked passed them. They were just so beautiful and she wondered what they were going to use them for, of course she could only assume they were for bigger things like the Hulk. An ill feeling swept inside her. But they already knew that the Hulk wasn't evil and Banner was trying to control him so…that didn't make sense at all. What else would they use them for?

She decided she ought to listen to her director as he explained their capabilities, and uses.

"Our new repulser engines," Fury finished.

"Stark?" Steve asked. They walked right underneath one.

"Ah, he had a few suggestions when he got an up close look at our turbines." Fury replied.

Zoe looked up at the bottom of the engine and smiled. Good. Hopefully no Hellicarriers will fall in the sky like last time.

"These new long range precision guns can eliminate a thousand hostiles a minute. The satellites can read a terrorist's DNA before he steps outside his spider hole. We gonna neutralize a lot of threats before they even happen," Fury explained candidly and with hope in his heart.

It sounded very idealistic to Zoe's ears, and promising, but frowned when a scary thought occurred to her. "There goes my job," she joked.

Fury chuckled. "You'll still have a place with us, providing," Director Fury said next to her as they turned on the bridge, and Zoe leaned against the bar, gripping it tight within her fingers.

"I thought the punishment usually came after the crime," Steve said.

"We can't afford to wait that long," Director Fury said.

"Who's we?" Steve asked.

"After New York, I convinced the World Security Council we needed a quantum surgeon threat analysis. For once we're way ahead of the curve."

"By holding everyone at gunpoint on Earth and calling it protection?" Steve said.

Zoe could hear the uncertainty written in his voice and it broke her heart that he couldn't understand how wonderful this all sounded, at least to her, even though she could sense the concern a little in his voice.

"You don't have any idea what's out there, Steve," Zoe said. "This could save a lot of lives."

Steve turned to face her. "You know the last person that said that had an evil agenda because he was so distraught with his despair he grew to gain revenge. This sounds like revenge to me."

Zoe swallowed hard, releasing her hands from the railing, and glared at him. She tightened her fists by her sides, ready to punch him. He didn't know. She lost her mother to God knows what, and she lost her father to Hydra. He didn't know what it was like to loose someone he cared about.

"You don't get it," Zoe said. "You don't get it because you never lost someone," she snapped, letting her anger get the better of her.

Steve was taken aback by that. She was so wrong. So wrong. He'd lost many people he cared about. He was about to yell back at her but Fury stepped in before the fight ensued and got worse.

"You know, I read those SSR files," Fury interjected. "Greatest generation? You guys did some nasty stuff."

"Yeah, we compromised," Steve said, turning back to Fury. "Sometimes in ways that made us not so sleep so well. But we did it so people could be free. This isn't freedom, this is fear."

"Oh boo-hoo, so you didn't get to sleep, Rogers," Zoe said acidily, unable to stop herself from talking. "Big freaking deal. Tell that to those who died and got left in the dust. Think you can be so free now?"

Steve frowned at her. "You know what Sawyer…"

"Cannit, Sawyer, Rogers," Fury said, glaring at the two. "Take it in the gym when you spar later for training." Once Zoe and Steve calmed down a bit, Fury continued on with his reasoning. "S.H.I.E.L.D. takes the world as it is, not as we'd like it to be. And it's getting damn near past time for you to get the program, Cap."

"Don't hold your breath," Steve warned, facing Fury, nose to nose.

Fury smirked. "Tell that to Agent Sawyer," he pointed at Zoe as she'd walked away, unable to hear anymore of this strange nonsense spewing between men, or boys as they seemed to act like. Both had good intentions, but one of them pissed her off entirely, and she needed a punching bag, or coffee. Either one would do the trick to calm her sudden anger down of the loss of her mother that slithered its way back into her heart.


	22. Chapter 22: The Smithsonian

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or Winter Soldier. They belong to their respective owners. I just own my OC. I a writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 22: The Smithsonian**

Zoe made her way down S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hallway, heading for the elevator that would eventually take her back to the recreation room, and the lockers so she could shower, change, and go home. She'd had enough for one day and just needed to decompress everything that she was told. She pressed the button and waited for the elevator to come up to her floor level.

Her mind was running a million miles, like it was on a tangent that she couldn't shut off. Steve's words replayed in her head over and over like a broken record player. She took a deep breath, and exhaled, trying to calm down her fiery emotions. He didn't know what he was talking about. Fury had a great idea. Suppress the threat before it happened. He was right about one thing; they couldn't afford to loose anymore people. And Zoe didn't think that someone else in the world should have to share the same fate as her when it came to loosing someone close. Say someone attacked someone in a dark alleyway when it could have been prevented in the first place? Blood splatter wouldn't have to happen. No one would have to clean up any messes. War wouldn't have to happen like the Battle of New York that was now a bitter memory in Zoe's mind.

"Zoe," Steve said, catching up to her.

She turned at the sound of his voice echoing through the halls. She turned to face Captain Rogers and chewed her bottom lip. Great, she thought sourly. What did he want? After all, she wasn't looking forward to sparing with him.

"Zoe," Steve said, taking a deep breath, as he stood beside her. She looked at his outfit, still carrying his Shield, and into his eyes.

"What?" she asked.

Steve could hear the tiresome tone in her voice.

"Look, Steve, all I want to do is to go home, and sleep for a week, maybe a month if I'm lucky," she said. "I don't have the energy to fight you."

Steve listened to her, and nodded. "Well, you're in luck because I don't either. Instead, I figured for our first lesson, I'd take you to the Smithsonian."

Zoe quirked an eyebrow curiously and crossed her arms. "Are you kidding me?" she asked.

The elevator doors opened, and she walked inside. Steve slipped inside with her. She pushed the button down and Steve followed her suit. Together they leaned against the window in awkward silence.

"I never kid," Steve said. "Not when it comes to a history lesson."

Zoe frowned, and rubbed her eyes with her fingers. "You know, Coulson didn't pick me out of a billion agents for nothing, Steve. I'm a pretty good researcher, and I'm pretty sure I know all about you, and the SSR that included some very interesting characters like Howard Stark, and Peggy Carter, of the likes. I know that part of history pretty well."

Steve tightened his jaw, and shook his head. "Not that kind of lesson. A lesson about loosing a soldier in war, and I've lost plenty, one that was a best friend of mine."

Zoe bit her lip, suddenly realizing where this was going.

"So if you're interested, we could go, after you've…whatever it is that girls do today to get ready, and stuff. I can meet you outside," Steve said. "In say ten after?"

Zoe was definitely interested. She nodded. "Okay," she said in a whisper. "Steve?" she asked, trying to prevent more silence from slipping in between them.

"Hmm?" he looked over at her, taking his gaze away from the window.

"Do you think I'll ever be as good as Tasha?" she asked. Even though Fury tried to snap her out of her curious wonders about Black Widow, she still found it hard to just snap back to reality, and really like herself right now. She always had that problem. People could be fine with loving themselves, all the love songs were true, but Zoe could not.

Steve's lips dropped slightly ajar at the question. Was she really comparing herself to Agent Romanoff like she was comparing apples to oranges because there was no real comparison? Each woman had a different set of abilities in their own respective rights. Romanoff just had enhanced abilities that were more human than most others, but Zoe was human, one of the traits Steve liked about her. And Zoe was a good agent, who cared about the welfare of others, and could hold her own in certain situations, from Steve's experience with her.

"Never mind," Zoe said, shaking her head, unsure if she really wanted to know that question. "Forget I said anything. I'll definitely meet you outside, okay?" she said, as the doors finally slid open. She quickly walked off the elevator and headed toward the lockers, walking down the rows and toward her locker. She sighed, and leaned her forehead against the locker.

She really needed to pull herself together. Her emotions were dragging her down again. Maybe a trip to the Smithsonian was exactly what she needed. A reality check.

She unlocked her locker, and pulled out her things. She walked into the shower room and started to get ready and change for the rest of the day ahead of her. She wouldn't need her gym clothes, because they weren't going to spar, at least that's what he said. She had no energy to. She was emotionally and mentally drained. She almost quit her job, and Fury didn't let her.

She pulled off her boots and set them down next to the curb of the shower step, and rummaged through her bag for a decent outfit to wear to the Smithsonian. She came up with black slacks, a sky blue top, and a blue leather jacket. She pulled out her towel, and set it down on her bag so that this time it was closer to her. She stripped out of her uniform and tossed it on the ground in a bundle, and pulled out her hair tie, letting her wavy brown locks fully cascade around her shoulders.

She bit her bottom lip at the curious moment she had with Fury as she turned on the showers and slipped in the cold water. Shivering, she turned the knob so that it would get warm.

She had a job to do, and she would do it. Getting to that vessel out in the Indian Ocean waters had only been part of the plan, a plan that could've gone a lot better, but at least she was able to make sure the hostages were okay. That was her mission, but it was surprising to hear it was also Steve's mission too. Well, she smiled in mid thought, as she ran her fingers through her hair to disentangle the strands, it wasn't so surprising, Steve was always like that.

She reached for the small shampoo bottle on the ledge, and put some in her hands, and lathered it into her hair. It smelled like vanilla and coconut. Her favorite kind of shampoo, and started to clean her hair. It was nice to be in a warm shower after her two year streak of being undercover where showers were limited up until the point where she worked her way up in that facility that she was finally able to get some real love in that place if it were ever possible. She never knew evil was capable of loving until she met him, in the strangest way ever.

When she got the call from Hill, that Bartac was on the rise, she took that as her cue to hitch-hike her way to the ship. She had no clue how to get to it, so like any good actress when they forget their lines, she improvised to the best of her abilities and contacted Sitwell, who helped her immensely. She frowned. She had to give him that benefit of the doubt, didn't she? He'd reminded her that he helped her, even though his observation skills had been lackluster.

She put the conditioner in her hair and ran her fingers through her thick locks of hair before she finally continued to wash her body off with soap, the finishing touches, and turned the water off.

Steam flared up inside, as she crawled out of the shower, and took her towel from her bag to wrap it around her body.

She finished getting ready, and decided she was as good as new, feeling a lot more like herself again.

She stared back at the mirror and smiled slightly before she headed back outside to meet Steve for their history lesson.

~*WS*~

"I like that they have coffee available and almond milk," Zoe said happily as she blew across the top of her coffee. They walked away from the concession stand in the café area as she and Steve walked about the bustling Smithsonian museum.

"Aren't you allergic to almonds?" Steve asked with a small frown on his face. She looked up at him and his ridiculous disguise with a blue hat that tried to hide his eyes.

"Which is why I ordered plain milk, silly," Zoe said. "Soy gives you too much estrogen and just adds irregularity to your hormones."

"Good to know," Steve said.

"I thought so," she grinned, taking a sip. "The day coconut milk becomes more available, I will be in love."

Steve let out a small chuckle. "I like this side of you," he said. "You should be this way more often."

Zoe beamed widely, though she turned pink. "Give me a lot of coffee, and I'm your girl."

Steve smiled at her candidness.

"So," Zoe said, as they walked around the museum, weaving in and out through people. "Where to?"

"A place I like to go sometimes, to reminisce," he replied.

"I like to reminisce," Zoe said with a nod of her head. Steve glanced sideways at her as she spoke, "As much as I like technology, like the next guy over there, texting his girlfriend on his new Iphone watch, I like old fashion too. I always wanted to go antiquing to stores like that. My parent's penthouse was a little too modern for me," she shivered at the memory. "Too…Christian Grey," she wrinkled her nose in disgust.

Steve quirked an eyebrow at her. "Who's that?"

"He's just a…character from a novel," Zoe said. "A rich guy with douche-baggy problems, let's just put it at that."

"Should I pick it up at a bookstore?" Steve asked with a teasing tone in his voice.

Zoe rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Not worth it."

"Thanks for the warning," Steve said.

Zoe grinned, "Besides, I don't think you're ready for that yet. I mean, I had to put it down after one chapter because even I wasn't ready for it, and I'm twenty-nine years old now."

Steve quirked an eyebrow. "Now, I'm slightly curious. What kind of novel is it?"

Zoe shook her head. "You do not want to get involved. Trust me."

"Oh come on, tell me," Steve said.

"Nope," Zoe shook her head, and headed toward the escalator that would eventually lead them to the exhibit. "Not gonna happen. It's no big deal."

Steve pulled her arm, and turned her around before she stepped onto the escalator. She gasped at the fear of falling down surged through her, and she spun around in his face, so that his back was toward the escalator. "I'm not letting you in until you tell me what kind of book it is."

Zoe turned bright red within her plump cheeks. "It's a romance novel," she muttered under her breath.

"A what?" Steve asked.

"A romance novel, a silly romantic…a little bit more than that…" Zoe gulped, completely stuttering at the idea of sharing one of her guilty pleasures with Steve, a guy from the forties, no less. She sighed. "Ugh, why am I even telling you… you don't get it."

She said and walked around him, stepping onto the escalator as it descended to the lower level of the Smithsonian. Steve frowned, and stepped onto the escalator step, not even hesitating, and walked down the steps to join her same level.

"You could help me understand," Steve said, stepping next to her.

Zoe glanced at him with wide eyes, and let out a small sigh. She looked down into her coffee cup, and then ahead of her, lowering her eyes to the moving steps.

"That's why we're here, right? To understand one another," he said, when she didn't say anything, and walked off the escalator, heading inside the exhibit room of Captain America.

"A symbol to the nation," The narrator said over the intercom. "A hero to the world. The story of Captain America is one of honor, bravery, and sacrifice."

The exhibit was entirely beautiful in Steve's eyes, but he still wasn't sure what to make of it, as he turned to walk around the room, glancing at every bit of his past that was on display for the world to see.

They walked passed the American flag with Captain America and his saluted look with a quote on the wall, "Welcome back, Cap!"

She smiled at the painted wall mural and walked further inside the room, passing families and kids of all different ages that surrounded her.

"They put this up right after the Battle of New York," Steve said.

"You mean a lot to the world, Steve," Zoe said. "You saved an entire population from aliens."

"I had help," Steve said, glancing down at her.

Zoe shrugged. "Not just aliens," she said, shaking her head. "But Hydra too. It could've been a lot worse," she said, swallowing hard, and walked around the exhibit room in search for more things to see. She wondered what it was like to live in the forties and wear fancy dresses, go to jazz dances, and swing to different songs like Glenn Miller, and a few others that were probably awesome too in their own right.

It seemed so simple, but Zoe didn't think she could survive it. She was way too accustomed to the technology and the more new toys that S.H.I.E.L.D. came up with in their little lab, the more she grew to love it even more.

She probably couldn't even function at that era. After all there was a reason why she was born in the eighties right? She just never knew what that was, and hoped one day she'd be able to figure it out.

She took a sip of her hot coffee, and stood at a picture of Steve Rogers before the super soldier serum. He was so tiny back then, but then, post-serum he was…a lot…stronger, so to speak. She'd read this part over and over because Coulson kept talking about it so much to her, she pretty much had this memorized. He was the first avenger created by S.H.I.E.L.D. He would be the element of surprise, a secret weapon to destroy Red Skull and his own army that he was building to rule the world.

"Everybody wants to rule the world," she said with a sigh, leaving her lips.

Steve joined her. "Not everybody," he said. She smiled up at him, and took another sip, and listened to the narrator's voice over the exhibit.

"Denied enlistment due to poor health, Steven Rogers was chosen for a program unique in the annals of American warfare. One that would transform him into the world's first super soldier."

Steve turned around, his eyes scanning around the exhibit, as more people seemed to enter the room. One of the women who worked at the exhibit helped a little girl determine her height to see if she was a match, while another little boy stared curiously at Steve.

Steve placed an index finger to his lips, to indicate he was incognito and didn't want to be seen. The boy nodded, and straightened out his Shield t-shirt before he ran off to find his parents.

Zoe listened to the narrator tell Steve's tale about war and sipped her coffee.

"In this rare footage, everyone's favorite warrior, Captain America…" Steve walked away and headed toward a row of mannequins dressed as Captain America and his comrades.

Zoe frowned when he left her, and turned to run after him. Her coffee swishing inside the cup as she ran beside him.

She saw the motorcycle on exhibit next to the screen that was showing the awful war footage from World War 2.

"Battle tested," The narrator continued. "Captain America and his Howling Commandos quickly earned their stripes. Their mission, taking down Hydra, the Nazi rogue science division."

"Come on," Steve said, bumping her shoulder lightly. He motioned a quick nod of his head to follow her. She spun around on her heel, accidentally bumping into a random tourist, and frowned.

"Sorry," she mumbled after that person. She turned to face Steve, who was looking at a particular black and white display of a young man, a young and very attractive man at best.

"He's handsome," she said. "Who is he?"

"Just listen," Steve said.

"Best friends since childhood, Bucky Barnes, and Steven Rogers were inseparable, on both school yard and battlefield. Barnes is the only Howling commando to give his life in service to his country,"

She watched the silver screen in black and white, next to the display of Bucky Barnes, and felt even more awful when she saw the smiling face of Steve and his best friend Bucky, who both seemed like they were having a good time together that day.

Oh, no, she thought. She may have lost her parents, but she never lost a friend. That was completely different. She may have had falling outs with friends, but she never lost a friend during battle, not like Steve had, and now she winced at the words she'd said to him back at S.H.I.E.L.D. She'd lost co-workers, but loosing a friend was much worse. Loosing anyone was difficult to completely get over especially with how old Steve is right now, and it was flashing in his face, like an old memory reel.

Zoe's smile turned into a frown. "Steve…" she said, but Steve walked away and she rolled her eyes.

Stupid men always walking away. She found a trash can and tossed her coffee away before she finally found him seated in a quiet room, showing a woman on screen. Zoe squinted her eyes at the golden yellow letters that read, Agent Peggy Carter, SSR. New York, 1953.

She chewed her lip, and leaned against the wall, listening to Peggy's story. "That was a difficult winter. A blizzard had trapped half our battalion behind the German line. Steve…Captain Rogers, he fought his way through a Hydra blockade that had pinned our allies down for months. He saved over a thousand men, including the man who would…who would become my husband as it turned out,"

Zoe's lips dropped at the shocking news. Wait…she never hooked up with Steve? What? She was confused. She thought he and Peggy did hook up back then when she read his and her profile.

She continued to listen for more info. "Even after he died, Steve was changing my life."

Steve glanced down at something in his hands before he walked out of the room, meeting Zoe outside the room, and she gulped.

"Steve, I'm sorry," Zoe said.

"Yeah, well," Steve sighed, and gave her a small smile on his face. "What you don't know about me can fill a book."

Zoe looked at him with a slight smile on her face. "Where to now, Cap?" she asked, trying to ease the tension away from them.

"You can go home," Steve said.

"No sparring?" she asked with a pouty look on her face.

Steve looked at her pouty face that reminded him of a seven-year-old, and he rolled his eyes.

"Tomorrow," he promised. "Five A.M. sharp. Get some sleep."

Zoe's mouth dropped. "Five A.M.? At least bring me coffee…"

Steve grinned at her, before he left. "And don't bring coffee. I got something even better for you to try, Sawyer. You might like it."

"If it's a beet juice, I'll hate it!" she called after him, making him chuckle slightly. Zoe sighed, and decided to stick around the museum for a little bit longer. Bucky Barnes had caught her interest, and she wanted to learn more about what happened to Steve's best friend.


	23. Chapter 23: No Pressure

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or Winter Soldier. The Avengers and Winder Soldier belong to their respective owners. I just own my OC. I am writing not writing for profit, mostly just for fun.**

 **Chapter 23: No Pressure**

Zoe trudged back to her apartment, feeling the grogginess over power her. There would be no way for her to fight Steve and actually win in the training circle today. So maybe starting early and fresh tomorrow was what the doctor ordered. A yawn escaped through her lips as she walked up the five-floor walk up to her apartment that was all the way at the end of the hallway. She rubbed her eyes. She couldn't wait to hit her own bed.

Unfortunately, as she grew closer to her apartment, she noticed her door was cracked slightly ajar. She glanced around her surroundings. Not seeing any shadows, she still got a weird feeling throughout her as she tentatively reached for her gun out from behind her back pocket, and held it in front of her. With her elbow, she pushed the door wide open, and walked inside slowly. The smell of bacon trickled her nose, and she frowned when she heard the sizzling noise of cooked food in her kitchen. She only knew one man who'd break into her own apartment and cook her, her favorite kind of meal after a long day.

Brock Rumlow. He was every bit of man a girl could really dream of. He'd asked her out once or twice, and she finally said yes. They had dinner, wine, and Zoe got drunk for the first time in her life. And the one thing that was really cool about him, was that he didn't push. Instead, he let her sleep at his apartment, and made her breakfast, pancakes, bacon, and fruit, one of her favorites. She'd met him during her graduating class at the academy, and the two have been friends ever since. They never really got to work together, not until now anyway.

"I'm never going to get any sleep am I?" she asked, lowering her gun.

Brock's lips curled into a sly grin on his face as he flipped the pancake in the air with his spatula. "If you'll say yes to me this time, I'm guessing not," Brock replied smugly. Brock turned slightly away from the gas stove, and gave Zoe a once over with his dark eyes, lingering on her body. "Might want to put that away before you hurt yourself."

Zoe rolled her eyes, and placed her gun on her table beside her couch facing a small black screen television set on top of an entertainment center that could be like her dresser, but really all she had were storage stuff, music, and movies in the drawers, and maybe a few weapons she wouldn't tell anyone about. "I wouldn't hurt myself," she said. "I'd hurt you."

Brock let out a small chuckle. "Babe, you couldn't hurt me if you tried."

"How many times, must I ask you not to call me babe? It's rather…sexist," she said, trying to find the right words. She wrinkled her nose.

"I think it suits you," Brock said. Zoe glared at him, though she sensed his teasing tone of voice.

"It does not suit me, it makes me feel uncomfortable," she muttered, sitting on her bar stool.

"So, hungry?" he asked, flipping another pancake that landed perfectly on the spatula. He lowered it down into the pan that sizzled within its buttery contents.

Zoe shrugged. "I guess," she said, then felt and heard her stomach rumble the more she walked closer to her kitchen that filled with bacon smells, pancakes, and fruit enticing her hunger pains she'd buried a long time ago. When was the last time she actually had real food? "Famished. What are you doing here?" the question was flowing across her mind, as more questions seemed to brim inside. She really just wanted to sleep, and decompress. She was utterly thankful for her relief today. She got to learn a little bit more of Bucky Barnes at the Smithsonian, which made her feel even more depressed about her life. She never had a best friend like that. She always tried, but it'd never pan out, and she always blamed herself for it. She thought that maybe that was why she felt so at home at S.H.I.E.L.D. because they never let her down, and she was always there for them.

"I…wanted to make sure how you were doing," he said.

Zoe quirked a curious brow at him. "Since when does Brock Rumlow have feelings for anyone else but himself?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. She leaned against the counter top as he handed her a glass of Mimosa. "Thank you," she said.

"Since they told me what you were up against," Brock replied. "I'm delivering a message."

"Oh," she said, grasping the stem of the tall champagne glass in between her fingers. She chewed her bottom lip. "Who else knows?"

"Just the S.T.R.I.K.E. team and some guy named Alexander Pierce," Brock replied.

"Who in the hell is Alexander Pierce?"

"I know, right?" Brock said with a shake of his head. He grabbed her plate from the counter and dropped two pancakes on the plate. Everything else was in front of her, the fruit bowl and maple syrup all ready to go. He put the plate back down in front of her, and she smiled at the two pancakes, and side of orange garnish slices on the plate.

She wondered how long he'd been in her apartment.

"We're all counting on you, Zee," Brock said softly, as he turned off the gas stove.

Zoe frowned. "You're not eating?"

"I already ate," he said. He took the plate full of bacon and handed it to her. She grabbed a couple pieces, and he set it back down on the counter next to the syrup. He took a bite of the bacon, chewing as he watched her pour the syrup all over the pancakes. "Apparently he flew in yesterday, as soon as he heard about the take over with the launch ship in Indian Ocean Waters. The council was pissed."

Zoe cringed. "Yeah, I sort of, don't blame them," she said. "But what does that have to do with us? I mean we got them out safe and sound right? That's all that should matter."

"I don't know," Brock shrugged. "Rumors are going around, though, that Fury's involved into some deeper waters, some how. Anyway, Pierce will be talking to the Council tomorrow, so they expect us all to be there, on alert."

Zoe frowned, suddenly loosing her appetite. She hated it when anyone accused Fury of something that he may not have control over.

"I know that look, Zee," Brock said, leaning his elbows against the counter top. She swallowed hard. "But this is S.H.I.E.L.D. Who knows what he's up to?"

"You can't believe that," Zoe said.

"Why else were we sent there in the first place?" Brock asked.

"To rescue hostages!" she exclaimed rather hotly.

Brock raised an eyebrow at her, and shook his head. "Doubtful, Zee. Fury wanted something on that boat. Something he didn't want us to know."

"And you think I know?" Zoe asked outrageously.

"You're pretty tight with him," he shrugged.

"I swear on my life that I know nothing," she said, glaring at him. Brock turned away, and the awkward silence slipped in.

Zoe sighed, looking down at her plate full of food. She didn't want to hear anymore of this. "Can we drop the subject?" she asked.

"Fine," he shrugged casually. She looked into his dark eyes. "Let's talk about what you're supposed to do, and what you signed up for. It's all on you, girl. The clock is ticking and someone's getting a little impatient with your stalling act."

Zoe sighed, and rubbed her eyes. She was never going to get any sleep.

"Fine," she took her fork from her napkin and pointed her fork at him. "But if I go into work tomorrow with dark circles under my eyes, that's on you."

Brock smirked, "I still can't believe you have a crush on him, of all people, Sawyer,"

She turned to stare down at her food, avoiding his amusing eyes. "I do not have a crush on him…" she said with a shake of her head.

"I can see your cheeks turn crimson," Brock said. "It's adorable. But I will warn you, Sawyer,"

Zoe looked up at Brock. His tone of voice suddenly turned from playfulness to seriousness.

"If you try anything," Brock said, reaching out for her free hand. She didn't even try to take it away from him. His fingers ran along her soft hand and she shivered, now feeling even more uncomfortable. "It may not end well for the both of you. We're always watching. I don't think he'd be too pleased if you did hook up. Just a warning."

Zoe drew in a deep breath and nodded. "Got it," she said, trying to shake off her sudden nerves within her system. "Take a stand, stand where you belong, or get killed."

"Exactly," he said. "Now, eat up, you're going to need all the strength you can get within the next few days," he said as he released something within her hand and she felt the edges of the paper within the palms of her hands, and she looked down at the piece of crumpled up paper when he released her hand and took a sip of his own Mimosa drink, half full.

Coordinates to Loki's Scepter.

"You okay, Sawyer, you look like you've seen a ghost?" Brock asked, glancing at her sudden pale look.

Zoe blinked and looked up into Brock's concerned eyes. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. Totally. Can't wait to get started."

"I'll drink to that," he said and clinked his glass against hers. She slowly brought her glass to his and she gulped her drink down.

Yeah, she thought with a frown, can't wait…


	24. Chapter 24: Cap Vs Zoe

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or Winter Soldier. They both belong to their respective owners. I just own my OC. I am not writing for profit, just writing for fun.**

 **Chapter 24: Cap Vs. Zoe**

The next morning, and after a long painful and agonizing run (trying to keep up with Steve was impossible), Zoe found herself locked in a complete headlock with Steve's legs wrapped around her neck. Captain America's legs were wrapped around her neck, trying to squeeze the life out of her in the training room. She winced as his legs closed off her throat, and found it a bit difficult to breathe. She reached for the inside of her sock and used what strength she had left to reach for her weapon. She took out her weapon, pressed her button, and the blade sprang to life. Blue electricity ignited around the blade like small tiny lightning bolts, and she stabbed him in the side, which allowed his legs to drop to the floor. She rolled out from underneath him, and flipped her self back up, glancing down at a slightly injured Steve.

She winced, feeling a tad bit guilty for that.

"Damn it, Zoe," Steve hissed as he held the side of his stomach with his hand, crouching over into a sitting position. He lowered his head against his knee.

"Oh come on, I barely grazed you," Zoe exclaimed. "For Captain America, that should be like a scratch."

"I said no weapons," Steve said.

"You're too strong for me," Zoe said, retracting her blade within its hilt. She dropped it next to her bag that rested along the mat's rings. Zoe grabbed Steve's water bottle and tossed it to him, as he pulled himself up off the ground. He grabbed it thankfully and took a large gulp of water while she followed suit with hers.

Steve grabbed a towel from his own bag and placed it on the side of his stomach.

Zoe cringed. "I am sorry," she said.

Steve nodded and leaned against the rings, dabbing the cut, and putting pressure onto his side.

"I can always get out of that headlock move when its Hill, but when it comes to someone like you, I just…can't get it right," Zoe said softly.

"It doesn't matter the strength, Zoe, it matters the skill you have," he said. "What did you do when you were on stage, in the moment, and you forgot your lines?"

She shrugged, "Improvise. I had the weapon, so I improvised, made it work."

"Okay," Steve said, glancing at her. "What if you didn't have a weapon?"

"That's easy," Zoe said with a smile. "I'd grab the nearest one, and clock you right in the head. Hopefully, it's that sweet Shield of yours."

"And if it's the Hulk?" Steve asked.

"Plan A, strike a conversation with him, try to befriend him, and if that doesn't work, then Plan B, run," Zoe said.

Steve tilted his head at her options, slightly agreeing with her. Steve probably wouldn't run; however, he might try option A, and anything else that he could think of to get the Hulk to calm down. Hopefully he could suppress the Hulk within Dr. Banner before anything happened.

"You're impossible," he sighed, shaking his head.

"One of my best qualities?" she asked. A grin formed across her face and he looked at her with a raised eyebrow, shaking his head. She sighed, and took another sip of water before she placed it back down near her bag. "See why I suck?" she asked. She pulled off her socks, one by one, as Steve watched her curiously. Did she have another knife tacked away in there too? She was now bare foot.

"You don't suck," Steve said. "You just need practice. You need…confidence. That's right, confidence."

"Something I apparently lack, when it comes to fighting, anyway," Zoe said, nodding in agreement. "How can you teach someone to have confidence? Isn't that like easier said than done?"

"You seem to hesitate," Steve said.

"I totally didn't hesitate with that pirate," Zoe said, smiling in remembrance when she shot her gun at the mercenary. A bullet went straight through his shoulder. She probably could've killed him too, but that was just a warning tone sent to the French pirate in charge that night.

"You had a gun," Steve reminded her. "Guns make everything seem easier in a firefight."

She frowned. That was true.

"It's always good to have a different set of skills to protect yourself," Steve continued. He whipped the blood away from his stomach, and tossed the towel back into his bag. "In a fight, don't hesitate. That gives your enemy a reason to find another place to place his blow on you, and that could really suck, if you want to talk about sucking so much."

Zoe smiled at him, "Didn't know you had a potty-mouth, Steve. The war's sure changed you." she teased.

Steve rolled his eyes. "I'm trying to be serious here," he said.

Zoe sighed, "Okay, okay, fine, let's be serious…not one of my best qualities."

"That I can tell," Steve said with a curt nod of his head.

"Oh here we go, gentlemen, the Cap and the Killer, on the mat!" An agent from the S.T.R.I.K.E. team said, coming up to them to watch.

Zoe winced at her stupid nickname. "Let's show them what we got," Zoe said.

"No weapons this time," he said, giving her a warning look.

She held up her hands in defense. "Unless of course, you're scared," she said, sending him a wry look underneath her impish eyelashes.

Steve took a deep breath. "I'm never scared," he said, grinning slightly at her.

"Alright then," Zoe said. "Ready."

She looked at him and tried her best to be as confident as she can be, ignoring the stupid catcalls from the peanut gallery as best as she could. So not helping. She wanted to know what he was going to do first.

But no one moved to advance on the other; instead they circled slowly, testing each other out. Zoe kept her hands beside her hips and watched Steve.

He suddenly moved like he was going to attack her, but then stopped when she suddenly did a back flip and landed on her hands and the soles of her bare feet.

Steve advanced on her as if he was going to drop her body to the ground, but then she lifted her feet up off the matt and kicked him right below his chin, that sent him flying down on his back, catching him totally off-guard. She curled her legs in the air as if she was in a hand-stand mode and flipped backwards, landing on her feet.

She held her hands in defense mode against her chest, and stared down at Steve, lying on the matt. The whistling and cheering from her S.T.R.I.K.E. team wasn't necessary but it did boost her confidence, letting her know that she was on the right track.

Steve flipped himself up off the matt, and got into position. He ran at her, and threw a punch to the side of her face, but she dodged his hand, as his hand swung over her face. She took that moment of distraction to knee him in the stomach, but Steve whacked her knee down, and hit her across the stomach, so that she landed on her back.

Just as he was about to lock her in position, she rolled out from underneath him, and jumped onto his back, wrapping her arms around his neck in attempts to try to throw him off his game.

"Too bad I'm not Spock and don't have his cool, neck thing," Zoe whispered in his ear, as she tried and grunted with all her might to choke Steve into a deep sleep, but Steve just smiled,

"Spock?" he asked.

"You know, five years in the universe, searching for life and other forms of the new galaxies, etcetera, etcetera. Something like that. Has a friend name Kirk," she continued, trying to close his throat shut, but Steve fought hard against her.

"Oh, Star Trek," Steve said. "I get that. Totally get that. I have yet to see the new one."

"Wanna watch it later tonight, after I kick your ass?" she asked, feeling the pain strain in her muscles.

"Sure," Steve said, and threw her off his back like a rag doll. She let out a breath and sighed, glancing up at him, as he walked over to her. "But you gotta try a little harder to kick my ass, Sawyer."

Steve offered a hand to her. She just looked at it, and without warning, she kicked his ankles with her legs, and knocked him down on his back too.

"I was," he began breathlessly. "Being polite," he said.

"And," Zoe said, pressing her fingers against the matt to pull herself up into a sitting position. She glanced over at the empty seats. "Our friends from the peanut gallery were getting bored. I'm exhausted. Can I shower now?"

Steve nodded. "That sounds like a plan. Tomorrow we'll work more on your hesitation, and confidence." He sat himself up and leaned his arms against his knees with a sigh.

Zoe frowned, glancing at him. "I didn't hesitate this time."

Steve looked into her eyes, and noticed they were hazel within the lights of the gym room. He smiled at her. "I know, but you still got to work on that emotional heart of yours. You seem to pull back every time. You can't be afraid. What are you afraid of?" he asked.

Zoe gulped at that question, and she suddenly felt the room grow heavy. She sighed. She was afraid of a lot of things, but could she tell him?

"You can tell me anything, Zoe," he said. "You know that right?"

Zoe looked from the floor to his eyes in shock. "Does that mean we're…friends?"

"If you want to be," Steve said. "I wouldn't mind it."

She smiled. "Well, then as a friend, I suggest taking a shower right away because you smell like feet."

Steve widened his eyes and chuckled, shaking his head. "You know what, Sawyer?" he asked, leaning closer to her so that they were mere inches away. "So do you," he tapped her nose and he got up off the ground. He helped her up and walked over to their stuff. Steve started to put everything away, while Zoe watched him tackle everything in one swift motion. He zipped his bag shut and threw his bag over his broad shoulder. He started to walk away from her.

"You're not bad, Zoe," he said, and hitched his duffle bag over his shoulder. He glanced back at her. "I promise. Just need to practice."

Zoe nodded, and tossed her water bottle and items into her bag before she zipped it shut. "I hope that's all I need."

Steve said. "Well, practice does make perfect."

She smiled at him, and lifted a strand of hair behind her ears. "See you later?"

"See you later," he said, and walked away from her.


	25. Chapter 25: Dead Tears

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or Winter Soldier. They belong to their respective owners. I do own my OC. I am writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 25: Dead Tears**

The phone buzzed loudly and annoyingly in Zoe's ears, making her angry. She hated being woken up by anyone or anything. She jerked awake, clasping her pillow within her arms, and quickly searched for her phone beside her as if she were in dyer need of aspirin with a migraine until she finally found the smooth surface underneath her finger tips.

She swiped to answer her phone, and held out her phone when a familiar voice was trying to talk to her on the other end. Rumlow. It was just Rumlow. She looked at his name highlighted across her screen, and swiped over to her alarm, ignoring Rumlow's rumbling concerns, wondering why her alarm didn't go off. Even though she hated it, she needed it so she could get to work on time.

Her alarm didn't go off like she thought, huh.

She frowned and looked at her alarm again, remembering that she had set it for the right time, or at least she thought she did. She looked outside her window, confirming that dark skies were upon her. She'd slept through the day, which meant she missed a round of training, whatever job she had with the S.T.R.I.K.E. team, and… "Oh, fu…dge…me."

She was nearly ten hours late for work. She was sooo going to get it this time. Didn't she have sick days she could use up? Zoe thought curiously, trying to wrack her brain for an excuse to use just in case she needed one.

"Gladly, but I don't think now's the best time, thank you for your gracious presence by the way," Rumlow said, on the other line of her phone.

"Do you have any idea what time it is? It's-"

"I was just going to ask you the same question, Zee," Rumlow replied on the other end, as Zoe moved her phone to the other side of her ear, and away from her thick bed head of hair that looked like a bush. She scratched the top of her head and yawned, glancing out the window. "You missed work today."

"Oh," she chuckled. "I did. Oh. Shit."

"Fury's going to kill you," Rumlow said.

Zoe cringed, and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. She emitted a low groan, trying to ease the tired and grogginess from her deep sleep that she'd fallen under.

"Sorry," she said with a cringed voice.

"Well, you're kind of in luck actually," he said.

Zoe frowned, noticing his tone had changed in a dramatic way to momentous and weighty, like he was holding back on something. "I am? Why?"

"Fury's…" he sighed. "I'm sorry, Zoe. He got into an accident earlier today."

"Wasn't anyone with him?!" Zoe demanded.

"Well, you were going to be on Fury watch when you were supposed to come in and work today," Rumlow said on the other line of her phone.

Zoe looked forward, eyes straining into a gaze, landing heavily on her purple and gray colored comforter. Her eyes started to travel up the flower stem in like a trance as if she was going through the motions in her head.

"Zee, Zee, Zee, Zee!" Rumlow repeated louder, blinking her out of her trance. She shook herself out of it, and ran a shaky hand across her face, and let out a deep sigh. She was now fully awake. Her heat was beating so fast.

"He was fine, Zee, relax, he was in his car, heading down Madison…" Rumlow began, but she clicked him off, not wanting to hear his dumb excuses or anyone elses and she climbed out of bed, flipping her comforter covers off of her.

She didn't even shower, didn't even bother to put some real clothes on. Instead she just threw a jacket on over her spaghetti-strap blue shirt, and black yoga pants she liked to wear because they were comfortable, and stuffed her feet into her boots. She was in such a rush that she nearly forgot her phone and keys.

She definitely in panic mode, unsure of what to do, but all she knew is that she had to get to the hospital.

~*WS*~

Zoe ran through the hallways of the hospital. Everything around her seemed like a blur. She didn't have time to think or access what was going around her, instead she just had to get to her destination to where Fury would be,

She weaved in and out of the S.T.R.I.K.E. team that was blocking the entrance way. Zoe heard Rumlow calling after her, but she ignored him like a bad boyfriend, and stopped heavily beside Steve. There it was. The operating room where Director Nick Fury laid upon the table covered in plastic.

"Do we know anything?" Zoe whispered.

"No," Hill replied.

"He's dropping!" The doctor cried out with tools in his hands as the machines beeped furiously.

Zoe watched the scene before her eyes, listening to the beeping sounds, and the shouts of the doctors and nurses try to save this man's life who'd done nothing to deserve it.

"Okay! Charge two hundred, please. Stand back!" the doctor ordered, and gave Fury another shock. He looked at the green screen. He turned to the nurses. "Give me epinephrine! Pulse?"

"Negative," the first doctor replied.

"Don't do this to me, Nick," Natasha whispered. "Don't do this to me."

She was only voicing what everyone else was thinking right now. They couldn't loose him, not now.

Unfortunately, Fury's line was flat, and long in Zoe's ears. There was no hope in bringing him back from the dead.

Steve turned beside Zoe, and walked away. Zoe swallowed hard and watched Natasha leave the window as well, leaving Zoe with Hill.

Hill looked away from the window, and cast her eyes down at the floor. Zoe dropped her fingers along the edge of the window and felt every bone of her body break with sadness, like the world was slowly caving in.

Zoe turned to look at Hill, and they shared a moment together before Zoe took off to join Steve and Natasha in the waiting room.

Steve was slumped in a chair, while Natasha was leaning against the wall, hugging her arm across her stomach, staring up at the ceiling.

"What happened?" Zoe asked, glancing between the two. She rolled her eyes at the silence. "Steve?" she asked, glancing down at him. Steve looked up at her and pushed himself up off the chair. He walked over to her.

"You forgot movie night," he said, eyes glowering at her. Zoe frowned. Was that like in code or something?

"Who shot him?" Zoe demanded, dodging Steve's ill attempt to cover something up.

Zoe sighed when he didn't answer. "Tasha?"

"A psychopath," Romanoff replied, and pushed herself up off the wall, after noticing the nurses take Fury's body into another room. Hill followed them inside.

"Well, that could be anybody!" Zoe said, waving her hands in the air as Steve walked away from her.

Zoe let out an angry growl, kicked the floor, and winced. "Owe," she mumbled before she stomped right into the room to pay her respects to Fury.

Zoe hated dealing with death. She hated dealing anything related to death. It wasn't her favorite subject and she didn't know how to handle death very well. She didn't even know how to tell someone bad news if there were any.

She just stayed put beside Hill, and Steve, watching Natasha stare at Fury's body covered in a hospital blanket.

"It's okay if you want to say something, Zoe," Hill said in a whisper.

Zoe swallowed hard. "If I say something, I'll start crying," she said.

"There's nothing wrong with that in a time of …" Hill said slowly. "Death."

Zoe slowly took a brave step forward. Hill made perfect sense. Zoe always wondered how Hill could stay so strong and be so….Maria Hill, and stay the way she is without going ballistic or without getting lost like Zoe often did.

"Fury," Zoe said, taking a deep breath. Natasha glanced at her, and then stared back down at Fury's closed eyes. She drew in another sharp breath, trying to steady her nerves, but it was too late. The tears were already threatening to come up. So instead, she just kissed his forehead, and walked out of the room, leaving them all some space.

She let out a shaky breath, and brushed her hair out of her eyes, pacing back and forth in the hospital hallway, still trying to reel it all in that her director was dead. The one who took her in, and found her a home, and a family…and gave her a job to do.

Natasha walked out of the room not a moment later, quickly followed by Steve who called out her name.

Zoe frowned, and she was about to go after them but then she heard Rumlow calling out her name behind her echoing down the halls. She sighed, glaring up at the ceiling. Today was just not her day, was it?

"Zee!" Rumlow jogged down the hallway, and stopped beside her.

"Not now, Brock," Zoe said, trying to keep her tears in check. She shook her head.

"They need you back at S.H.I.E.L.D.," he said.

Zoe looked up at him incredulously. "Are you insane? Do you know what just happened," she pointed angrily back to Fury's room. "Do they know what I've just lost?! Do they even care?!"

"Zee," Rumlow said slowly. "Now's not the time. Pierce wants to see you."

"Why?" she frowned.

"Not sure, but we better get moving," Rumlow said.

Zoe groaned, "It's late, Brock…and I'm tired…I'm tired of running back and forth, and I'm just tired of…feeling…dead," she said, leaning her head back against the wall. "I just want to go home," she said with a frown like a sad little girl who lost her teddy bear.

Rumlow nodded, and glanced around at his team before he walked close to her and pulled her gently away with his hands cupped around her elbows. "I know. We'll take you and the Cap there safely. I promise."

She sighed, giving him a look. "Why do they need Cap?"

He shrugged. "Not sure. Captain!" he called after Steve who was talking to Natasha by the vending machines.

Zoe looked over at them and chewed her bottom lip curiously. She brushed her hands over her cheeks, trying to keep herself busy so she wouldn't cry.

"They want you back at S.H.I.E.L.D.," Rumlow stated.

Steve turned to face Rumlow. "Okay," he said, and then turned back to Natasha.

"They want you now," Rumlow said a little more firmly than what Zoe would have liked. She placed her hands on her hips, and quirked an eyebrow up at Rumlow.

"What's going on, Rumlow?" she asked.

Rumlow just shrugged. "I don't know a damn thing. But, I do think Pierce is pissed at you. I'd tread carefully, girl," he said.

Zoe sighed, and started to head back in the other direction once Steve finally joined them. Zoe glanced back behind her, expecting to see Natasha or Hill, but neither were present. She glanced back at Fury's closed doors one last time, and continued to head forward.

~*WS*~

Zoe was able to change into some formal attire once she returned to S.H.I.E.L.D. the very next morning. It was another day at work, another time to move on. She could do that, right? She bit her bottom lip and looked around her as she walked the halls.

The sunlight's rays started to shine through the glass windows of the familiar headquarters. Everyone seemed like they were back to working mode, solemn, but work and straight laced. It seemed undeterred what happened the previous night before as she walked down the hallway to the conference room, where Director Fury would sometimes be inside. She looked up from the floor, expecting to see him, but instead all she saw was a man in a grey suit and piercing eyes staring back at her with grey hair and an old face to match his elderly look.

"Oh, God, I am so fired," she muttered, feeling dread wash over her. "So fired, so fired," she said as she walked up to him, feeling the pitfalls of her ups and downs swirl around in her stomach like a rollercoaster. She handed her arm out and plastered a smile on her face. "You must be Alexander Pierce," she said, with one arm curled around her back. She tried to play it cool. "I've heard so, so much about you," she said, totally trying to butter him up.

Alexander Pierce just smiled like a Cheshire cat. "Agent Zoe Sawyer, I've heard quite a bit about you," he said. "And don't worry. I wouldn't dream of firing you. Next to Romanoff, you're one of the many agents I admire, especially of what you went through. It appears we have something in common. I lost my father too at an early age," He said, allowing her into his office.

As Zoe stepped in between the threshold, she looked up into his eyes and he stared back at her. "We'll call it a sick day," he winked at her, and Zoe was trying to figure out what kind of guy he was but she was okay with that. "Right? No harm, no foul."

"Right," she said slowly. "So. In that case, let me just say I've never heard about you. Just that you're name is Alexander Pierce."

He chuckled at Zoe, as she stood in the middle of the conference room. "I like your honesty, Agent. Honesty is like a warm hug, squeezing you to death till you pop," he said.

Zoe wrinkled her nose at that and glanced at him. "What do you prefer then?" she asked.

"I prefer, half-and half," Pierce said, liking that Zoe caught on. "In which I hope that those halves become a whole."

Zoe raised her eyebrows at him as he urged her to have a seat. As she sat down in her chair next to the conference table, she watched him pace back and forth in front of the window, and suddenly got a weird feeling…a weirder feeling than what she's been feeling these past few days. Oh great. She thought. What now?


	26. Chapter 26: Old Records

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or Winter Soldier. I am writing for fun, and not for profit. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 26: Old Records**

Zoe walked out of the office with Pierce, and shook hands with him. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder before he let her out. She gave him a curt nod and a billion thanks for letting him keep her job, and that she wouldn't let him down before she turned on her heel and headed down the hallway. She passed a woman with dark blonde and wavy hair down the hallway.

"How'd the clothes fit?" she asked in passing her through the hallway.

Zoe smiled at her, "Great, thank you again. If you need anything at all, just let me know. I'm Zoe."

The agent smiled at her, "I'm Sharon. And feel free to hand them over when you wash them, okay?"

Zoe tightened her smile. "Got it," she said, and headed straight for the elevator. She pressed the button, and waited until it finally arrived at her level. She walked inside the sleek and glass encased elevator and pressed a button on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s computer pad, entering the floor she wanted.

"Records," Zoe said as she entered. The doors slid to a close and the computer pad on the elevator wall beeped to life.

"Records," the computer said, but then stopped confirming it. "Restricted for level seven agents, agent."

"Since when?" Zoe demanded, glaring at the computer pad, as the numbers lit up in blue.

"Overrided by Agent Maria Hill," the computer replied.

Zoe crossed her arms over her chest, now pissed. First she lost Coulson, now Fury, and now she couldn't get into her own level?

"What is happening to the world?" she asked in a small whisper. She took out a card from Sharon's pocket in her blaze jacket in hopes to swipe her clearance manually, and swiped it in the keyhole.

"Agent now cleared," the computer said.

"Thank you," Zoe said in a clipped tone as she put her card back within her pocket.

She looked down at the floor and waited in silence until the elevator reached her level. That music Steve mentioned that used to play in these elevators? Zoe really wished she could hear some right now.

The silence crept around her as she leaned her head back against the glass window and leaned against the railing. Her thoughts just continued to drift around the previous events of what happened to Director Nick Fury. It wasn't fair. Loosing him now? It just didn't seem right. It just seemed so sudden, and so awful that Zoe couldn't believe it. But yet she saw him in that hospital room, hanging on for his life as best as he could. Poor Hill, Zoe thought with a frown. She wondered how she was handling the new situation. Zoe always thought those two were close. And now, he was gone.

Zoe took a deep breath, and walked out of the elevator into the Records room, and glanced around her.

She walked down the weaving corridors of rows and rows of shelves that resembled bookcases almost like an old library.

While everyone, including herself at times was hooked on technology at S.H.I.E.L.D. she got the lovely task of keeping Records safe and sound here at the Triskelion. She used the computers upstairs when she needed fast information for a certain Op or whatever anyone needed from her, she was their go-to girl, whenever she was home and not on her assignment.

At first she hated it. She hated thumbing through paper after paper and wished that she could just easily go online, but sometimes online information like on the Avengers were hard to find, so she created a database specifically for the list of the Avengers, and their abilities for the Avengers Initiative. Hmm, she wondered if maybe the effect of Steve's return to the world was having an effect on her. It was highly plausible. After all the Records room was her home now, since she was used to thumbing through papers and getting paper cuts. So when she needed a break from her world of technology she could come here, and smell the essence of old paper that made her feel a little bit more homey inside. She smiled as a thought crossed her mind. "Wasn't born a Libra for nothing," she muttered. She was always torn when it came to today's fast technology that she'd slowly grown accustomed to and the fact that old books, and old paper clippings were still around. She loved it either way, and often at times preferred the old way. The weapons S.H.I.E.L.D. had though were pretty cool. She would not lie about that. That was one thing she could easily get excited for at her job, and one thing she had in common with Romanoff, besides Clint Barton that is.

Zoe let out a small sigh, and pressed her fingers to her temples, speaking of the master archer, she could really use a friend right now, especially for what she was about to do and she was sure as hell that Steve would not understand. Then again, she could talk to Romanoff, but she was going through something right now. They all were. And Zoe didn't want to bother Romanoff with any of her woe-is-me act. She'd probably just get annoyed with it anyway. Whatever. Zoe would just have to deal with her own issues by herself, just like she always did. She was almost excited when the Avengers came about. She thought maybe it would be cool to pool them together and she could meet them, and have friends, and maybe even a family of sorts. Hill, Fury, and Coulson were great and she loved them, especially her agents here at the Triskelion, but she barely got to see them, and well, Coulson was gone.

Zoe shook her head. "That was two years ago, Zoe, pull yourself together," she mumbled to herself.

Everyone did their own thing when they were given the job. Often, Zoe was stuck here in the Records room, gathering information for other agents, but lately given her newest assignment to pull the Avengers team together and helping fight the Chitauri in New York, she'd been doing more than being just a Record's Keeper. A lot more. She'd been entrusted to keep something safe for a long time. In the last two years, New York had to undergo cleaning up the entire city of Manhattan. Zoe had helped cleaning up Tony Stark's balcony. Loki's scepter was taken in by S.H.I.E.L.D. sweepers, and Fury had entrusted her with the scepter to make sure it was safe, and it would stay within the right hands since he trusted never told anyone that. Fury made her a promise to keep it safe, after all Coulson would have wanted her to. So, when Rumlow came to her apartment last night, and handed her a piece of paper with information about Loki's scepter and its whereabouts, she was looking at a ghost: her own office.

She walked into her office and smiled when she saw her mahogany colored desk with a variety of knickknacks and books that piled up in different corners of her desk. Hill was eager to show her Zoe's new office. While Zoe could still board the Hellicarrier when it was needed, she could stay here, and work by herself, in the quiet contents of books, and papers filled with information, scads, and scads dating back centuries whenever Zoe needed something, she could grab it.

Coulson helped picked almost everything out, Hill had said, remembering the exciting moment of her promotion that she'd worked hard for. During her high school, and within her short years of college, all she cared about was acting. Acting kept her alive. She didn't care what role she got, but she worked for her role, and studied her lines until she had nightmares about them, like words missing off the page, or forgetting her lines on stage during opening night of Macbeth. And that work apparently paid off for S.H.I.E.L.D.'s interest in her.

Now that shining and dreamful world of hers was gone, and Soho was just a bad memory. She only went to Soho because she couldn't stand her parent's fighting anymore. She couldn't stand to see her mother upset, and Zoe always tried to care for her, but no matter what was said, her mother would go back to her studio, leaving Zoe alone to study her lines, and fear of what her father might do to her. If he was sober or crazy, she'd feared. He did come after her one night, and he did try to attack her, but she got to him, and S.H.I.E.L.D. found her. Well, Zoe thought as she walked around her desk in the middle of her office, and over to the painting on her wall, an ancient painting of the two Twin Towers being built in old time.

She pulled the frame away from the wall, and entered the code onto the keypad. She pulled it open and pulled out a wooden box with Nordic designs etched into the wood's framed edge around the cover of the box. She brought it over to her desk, and set the heavy box down with a thump.

With her fingers, she started fiddling in between her necklaces hidden inside the collar of her blouse, and pulled off a small gold key, the size of an earring dangle. She took off her key necklace, and twisted it inside the keyhole. A click noise sounded throughout her ears, and she let out a nervous breath. The feels of excitement and nerves on the inside bubbled through her like a chemical mixture about to combust. She often wondered if this is how Dr. Banner felt before turning into the Hulk.

As she opened the box, the blue glow of the gem trapped within the contents of Loki's scepter smoldered like a blue fiery star trapped in between sharp metal holding itself together. The golden scepter leaned against two silver ring-stands inside the box on display.

She sat down in her chair, and reached down below her desk to pull out her duffle bag. She unzipped it and started to rummage through the mess of bundled up clothes and shoes, taking them out of the bag, so she could get to her secret compartment. She lifted up the bottom of the bag, and put Loki's scepter inside. She replaced the bottom on top of Loki's scepter, and moved her sneakers, gym clothes, and other clothes she'd warn previously at the hospital when she freaked out and decided not to wear decent clothing. She wasn't in a good state of mind, and she wasn't sure if she was in a good state of mind right now, but given her current circumstances and warnings, she had no choice.

She returned the box into her safe, and closed the painting's door shut. She put everything away, wanting to make sure that everything remained the same, quiet, and quaint just as she'd entered. She hitched the black strap of her duffle bag over her shoulder, before she turned her light off and walked out of the Records room. She hesitated before she got to the hallway that lead to the elevators. She frowned, and swallowed hard. She reached for her back pocket, grabbing her cell phone, and scanned through her contacts, high-lighting Agent Romanoff's name.

The elevator doors opened, and she walked inside.

She looked at the computer pad with worried eyes. "Pierce's Office," she said.

"Confirmed," the computer said. The doors closed, and she looked at Agent Romanoff's name. This is something Zoe was trained for. She could do this and everyone had her back, she knew that. It would be silly to call anyone now for help or advice. She was in the field.

She decided against it, and stuffed her phone back within her pocket. With a roll of her eyes, she took her phone out of her pocket. She called Clint's number, and put her phone to her ear, leaning against her shoulder.

"This is Barton, leave a message," his recording voice message filtered her ears and her frown deepened, much like her heart right now.

"Hey, Clint," Zoe said, letting out a nervous sigh. "It's um, Zoe, anyway, just… call me when you get this, well, don't call me because I'll be…gone. This is the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I contemplated on talking to Tasha, but if I do, I'm worried that she wouldn't trust me, or well, I don't know how she'll take it…I don't know how anyone's going to take it right now," she sighed. "But um, you said to call if I needed anything and I need someone to just tell me that…well, I mean since you have experience for this sort of thing and uh…I just need to hear that everything's going to be fine…and-"

"End of message. Press 2 if you'd like to send it, press 3 if you want to re-record and send-"

Zoe glared at her phone, annoyed that her message was too long and wouldn't get sent. "Screw it," she said, and turned off her phone. She would've tossed it on the ground in an angry manner, but unfortunately the doors slid open, revealing Steve, who stopped dead in his trek, noticing Zoe alone in the elevator. He looked her up and down with curious eyes.

She pocketed her phone, and suddenly felt a panic grip her stomach and beating heart. She looked up at the soldier out of time and swallowed hard.

"Steve," she said, straightening herself up. She pulled her bag around her body, so that the strap of her bag crossed over her stomach, and the duffle bag rested against her backside.

"Zoe," Steve said slowly as he walked inside.

"Operations Control," Steve said to the computer.

"Confirmed," the computer replied.


	27. Chapter 27: Elevator Bash

**Chapter 27: Elevator Bash**

As the elevator doors started to close, Rumlow stuck his arm into the threshold, keeping the doors open. "All S.T.R.I.K.E. personal on site," Rumlow said, scooting into the elevator. Two men entered with Rumlow, and the doors slid shut.

"Understood," the first agent, nodded affirmatively toward Rumlow, as he stood in place beside the computer pad.

"Yes, sir," the second agent said, standing close to Rumlow.

Rumlow glanced at Steve. His back was toward Rumlow. Zoe stood with her back toward the window, suddenly looking at Rumlow, up and down. She bit her bottom lip, and cleared her throat, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Forensics," Rumlow said, looking into Zoe's eyes. Zoe couldn't look away from him. Steve glanced slightly at the weird exchange between the two.

"Confirmed," the computer replied, and the doors slid to a close.

"Cap," Rumlow said, and winked at Zoe.

Zoe tilted her head curiously at Rumlow, and pursed her lips together in confusion.

"Rumlow," Steve said, and glanced at the two as Rumlow and Zoe stared at each other. "How long have you two been uh..." Steve began, wondering if they were together. From his earlier observations last night inside the hospital, and on the vessel ship, he duly noted that Zoe and Rumlow seemed pretty close. He wondered how long their relationship had been going on, and how it could have formed underneath his nose. Then again, he'd been busy with S.H.I.E.L.D. and getting used to the new ways of today's world, he just didn't have much time…or so he kept telling himself. He was curious about Romanoff's bit with him and dating other girls in this century. He wasn't sure if he was ready to start dating again. He wasn't sure what to do except his job.

Zoe widened her eyes and turned bright pink within her cheeks. "You think Rumlow and I are together?" she asked, letting out a short laugh.

Rumlow also chuckled, "That's funny, Cap, really..." he chuckled warmly, as he stepped into the middle of the elevator. "Nah, man, Zoe's like the sister I never had."

Zoe glanced at Rumlow, a little bit shocked at his words. He was like her sister? Zoe frowned. That was kind of a punch in her heart. Zoe didn't really have the same feelings she had for Steve, but she still thought Rumlow was handsome, and she actually did think they had something going on. Then again she hadn't seen him in the last two years, so it was tough to maintain that kind of friendship when you were off overseas like she'd been. But whenever she wanted to talk to someone, Rumlow was there to answer her.

Steve noticed the sad look on her face, and he frowned. That really must've stung to hear. She seemed shocked at the mention of just a sibling-like relationship. He could only imagine what she was feeling right now, but Steve wondered if Rumlow was even a good match for Zoe. They seemed like they could be a good couple, but then again Steve didn't know much about Zoe's love life and what she was into. It seemed silly to think about love and romance when all it was at S.H.I.E.L.D. was work. He never once thought that Zoe had time for thinking about dating. He certainly didn't have time for any of that or at least that's what he always told himself whenever Romanoff brought it up.

She looked at Steve, and smiled, trying to put on a brave face. She wanted to cloud her growing feelings these passed two days. She was so conflicted with the guys in her life right now, it wasn't even funny. But Rumlow had a good point. And to be honest, her feelings towards Rumlow were only minor, and she really had a thing for Steve. She blinked at her sudden realization. What? Come again? The only person in her life she'd ever crushed on was Clint Barton, and when he didn't kiss her that day, she was crushed. So she tried to move on, and forget that moment ever happened. Instead, they became friends, good friends, like she was with Rumlow, and now she was falling hard for Steve. She didn't even know if he liked her back, and to be honest, she wasn't sure if she wanted to know. She was afraid to ask. She was afraid he'd reject her and she wasn't ready for that, especially now, with her current predicament.

So, just like Rumlow, she was okay with being friends with Steve for now, in hopes that maybe one day she'd be brave enough to ask him out. But she liked what she had with Steve right now, a friendship that was starting to bloom, and she wouldn't want to ruin what she had with him.

"Sawyer and I are just friends," Rumlow continued. "We met through the academy, and if one day I could get her nose out of a book, and in the field, I'd hoped she be on my team. Her hand coordination with her knife-set is pretty sweet."

Zoe rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but blush. "It's just something I've been working on the side over the years," she said. "It's not a big deal," she said quickly to Steve, and smiled proudly at Rumlow. "Besides, I've been practicing hand to hand combat."

"Speaking of practice," Steve began, turning to face her. He turned around and placed his hands in front of him, folding his hands together. "You missed it yesterday."

Zoe cringed. "I'm sorry," she said. "I promise not to miss the next one. I mean Pierce didn't fire me, so that's a good thing, right?"

Steve gave her a small tight smile. "Right."

Silence filtered around the room, once no one else had anything left to say about Zoe's missed day of work. She could have been fired. She didn't know she was supposed to be on Fury watch like Rumlow had told her. Pierce didn't say too much about that.

"Evidence response team found some fibers on the roof they want us to see," Rumlow said, breaking the silence that was beginning to feel awkward. "You want me to get the tac-team ready?" Rumlow asked, glancing at Steve for orders.

Zoe's eyes drifted from the floor to Steve then to Rumlow.

"No, let's wait and see first," Steve replied.

"Right," Rumlow said.

"Are you going to need me back in Records?" Zoe asked.

"Should be fine," Rumlow replied. "It would be nice to get you out in the field more, though," Rumlow said.

Zoe rolled her eyes, and shifted on her feet. "I've been iffy ever since New York, you know that," she said, looking at Steve, who was casting a low gaze at one agent who was shifting his leg back and forth, trying to be subtle. His hand kept tapping his weapon that was attached to the side of his leg within his S.T.R.I.K.E. uniform. The other agent beside Rumlow followed suit. Zoe looked into Steve's eyes that seemed focused and cleared her throat, trying to keep the air light as she could.

"You did great in New York," Steve said to her.

Zoe gave him a look, "I got hit in New York, and nearly passed out. Truth be told, I was thankful to come back to the Triskelion."

"So, it was your first time in battle," Rumlow said. "Not bad kid."

"And I have been out in the field, thank you very much. How do you guys think I got on the Lumerian Star in the first place, by an alien ship?" Zoe said with a small shrug. "I've just doing my own thing whatever Fury wanted me to do, I'd do it." Zoe put one foot in front of the other, leaning her hands against the railing. Her bag hit the side of the window gently, and she winced wondering if anyone heard what she heard, a small clink noise against the window that sounded like metal hitting against glass.

"Either way," Steve said, turning to face her. He sent her a soft and encouraging look that gleamed in his kind eyes. "You just need the practice."

"Never mind you it was an accident," Zoe scowled. They were sweet, she thought. The words out of his mouth, and probably ones she really needed to hear right now, even if she lacked the confidence. "I wasn't even supposed to be there. Stupid God of Mischief," she mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. She stepped away from the window as the elevator doors slid open, revealing a few more men.

"That sounds like an oxymoron," Steve said under his breath. He tapped her shoe twice.

A light smile played on Zoe's face as she noticed the men walk inside the elevator, joining her, Steve, and Rumlow. "He is a moron."

Everyone scooted around the square elevator, making more room. Zoe noticed they were in suits, talking in hushed tones amongst themselves, as Zoe and Steve got squished together in the middle of the elevator, and Rumlow got pushed to the front of the elevator.

"Administrations level," one of the men dressed in a grey suit said to the computer.

"Confirmed," The computer replied.

"Excuse me," one of the agents nearly bumped Steve into Zoe. She steadied the strap on her shoulder, and crossed her arms, starting to feel a tad bit claustrophobic.

"Um," Rumlow turned his head over his shoulder, glancing back at Steve and Zoe. "Sorry what happened with Fury. That's messed up what happened, I think," Rumlow said, turning to face the elevator doors as the elevator moved down again.

"Thank you," Steve said. Zoe nodded her thanks quietly.

Steve's eyes traveled over toward a particular agent who seemed to be talking to himself in a strange way. With his foot, he gently tapped Zoe's shoe, catching her attention. Zoe looked at Steve like he was crazy, but he motioned a quiet nod over toward the agent, mumbling to himself, and another agent that seemed nervous. Sweat trickled down his face.

She shook her head, thinking that maybe it was nothing. She talked to herself all the time when she was in her mode of work. Steve frowned at her, and glanced around the elevator with his eyes, trying not to make a subtle move. Zoe didn't like what Steve was up to but given the nature of their situation, it did start to feel and grow a bit awkward around the room, like the walls were closing in on her. It made her feel nervous and out of place.

The elevator stopped again, and the doors opened to reveal two more S.T.R.I.K.E. team members, that made Zoe scoot back, nearly getting trampled. "Records," the agent said.

"Confirmed." The computer said.

"Need something, agent?" Zoe asked, clearing her throat so that she could speak with an affirmative voice that would reach the tall agent's ears.

The agent turned around and saw Zoe. He smiled. "Zoe! Didn't see you there, you're just so tiny."

"I know," she said dryly, glaring up at him. "So tiny, I could be a hobbit. What do you need, Agent?"

"Just a couple files on something I've been working on for my Op," he said casually, glancing behind his shoulder at her. "Think you can help me?"

She smiled sweetly at him, "I'll do what I can."

He nodded thankfully at her, and glanced back ahead of him toward the elevator doors as the elevator started to go down again. She sensed it then that something was way wrong. Zoe glanced sideways towards Steve and tapped his foot in response that she understood.

"Before we get started, does anyone want to get out?" Steve asked.

"I do, I really, really do," she said. "I really want to get out."

Rumlow let out a low laugh that rumbled out of his throat. His dark laugh sent shivers down her spine, and she now noticed the sudden change of atmosphere in the elevator. Everything was changing around her within the blink of an eye.

"Always running away from her problems, this one." He wrapped a hand around her upper arm and held her in place.

"Well, I try to keep my problems to myself," Zoe said with a tilt of her head, as her fingers dug inside her pocket, and wrapped around the wooden covered hilt of her knife.

"That's not a very healthy way to live, agent," Rumlow said.

The agent in front of Steve, whirled around and kicked his electric rod in motion. He attacked Steve and shot his rod against Steve's suit. Steve cringed, and jumped backwards, making his move to kick the rod out of the agent's hands with his foot. Steve smashed the computer pad into lock down mode with his fist.

Zoe tried to yank herself out of Rumlow's grip while the agents surrounded Steve, and tried to pile up against him in a tight corner beside the elevator wall. Rumlow twirled her around within his grip as though they were in a dance, but Zoe was not dancing. She was panicking and wanted to get to Steve while he struggled inside the pile of agents, trying to take him down.

One of the agents tried to force a magnetic shackle around his wrist. He almost got it but Steve raised his knee and kicked him down with his foot, knocking him out of the way.

During the attack, Zoe tried to find her knife while Rumlow held her tight in place, watching his men gain up on Steve, pushing his arm up against the wall so they could attach him within the magnetic cuff.

"This is our moment, Zee," Rumlow said. His voice was cold and dark in her ears that made her shiver in an uncontrollable way. "Just watch at how they capture him...it's glorious."

She widened her eyes in shock as she watched the men attack Steve, as he tried to kick them down one by one in a quick and swift motion. She felt Rumlow's smile curve into an evil grin on his face, against her neck, and she moved to struggle away from him, but he only held her tighter. Her heart pounded against her chest as the fight quickly unfolded before her eyes so fast, she didn't have time to think up of a plan in her head to help him. So instead, she had to work on instinct, and use what she had, just a small pocket knife.

Her fingers finally reached for her knife, and she quickly pulled it out of her pocket, slicing Rumlow's lower stomach, a part of his flesh that wasn't covered by a bullet proof vest, allowing his grip to let her free.

Zoe raised her knife in the air just as Rumlow raised his electric rod ready to engage in a fight within the elevator.

Rumlow glanced at her as she moved to protect Steve from him. Rumlow grinned and moved to attack, but she was quick to deflect his blow with her knife's blade, hitting against the sizzling electricity flowing through Rumlow's rod. Her knife was just simple, but it was still enough so she could hold her own against Rumlow, as they sparred against each other.

Zoe was about to lunge forward to attack, but instead of using his electric rod like she thought he would, Rumlow suddenly raised his leg and threw a round kick, toward's Zoe's knife, and successfully knocked it out of her hand. Zoe winced when the sole of his shoe connected to her hand.

She flicked her hand back and forth to lessen the sting until Rumlow came at her again and shoved her against the wall, and kneed her in the stomach, hoping that was enough to keep her occupied with the pain he ensued in her, and went after Steve. She winced at the harsh pain that rode throughout her system, and felt shoved by one of the agents who'd tried to attack Steve from the side. Steve kicked at each agent who tried to gain up on him. They all doubled backward, but no one gave up.

Everyone came at him with full forces of energy, like it was the last man standing who would win the prize if one of them had successfully captured Captain America, alive.

That's what Zoe noticed. They were trying to take him alive, and it wasn't working because Steve was winning.

Steve threw the bald man over his shoulder, and knocked him down. He looked over to make sure Zoe was okay. He widened his eyes when he caught Zoe trapped on the floor, hovering himself over her with his hand squeezing her neck, as she tried to pry him off of her. It was one of the men who tried to shackle him against the elevator wall.

Steve was about to help her until Rumlow kicked one of the magnetic cuffs in the air, successfully attaching his wrist up against the wall.

Steve turned around and tried to yank his wrist out of the cuff, just as Rumlow ran to attack him with the electric rod, but Steve was quick to use his free arm to block him out of the way.

Zoe, meanwhile, reached for the electric rod in her attacker's jump pants. She winced against the man's grip on her, as he towered over her on the ground, trying to kill her. She reached for the rod and shoved the electric rod into his stomach, electrifying his ass. He yelled in pain, and she whacked him across the head with the butt of the rod, so he fell off of her unconscious. She dropped the electric rod on the ground.

Steve yelled as Rumlow shoved his electric rod into Steve's stomach. Her head snapped up in fear, as she widened her eyes. "No!" she cried, and ran with all of her energy and strength she had left, and shoved him out of the way, and he landed roughly against the wall. Another agent threw a kick in Zoe's stomach. She double backwards, and lost her grip on her weapon.

During the elevator attack, and inside the main control room, Jasper Sitwell watched the scene unfold before his strained eyes. "Mobilize units, twenty-fifth floor," he ordered through his comlink, tightened in the grip of his fist.

"Steve!" Zoe warned back inside the elevator, while Rumlow tried to keep Zoe from going to help Steve.

Rumlow shoved her against the wall, and held her tightly. She tried to pry his fingers off of her neck, even though his knee kept her in place. She was worried that he might try to use one of his electric rods on her. That gave her an idea. She reached for the rod stuck inside Rumlow's jump suit attached to the calf of his leg.

Steve looked over to his right to see the same guy who'd kicked Rumlow and Zoe away, and grabbed his electric rod before it could get to him, and electrify his other attacker on his right.

He kicked an agent down with his leg, then another who tried to get to him.

Letting out a small involuntarily sound of brute strength from within her lips, and wherever it was that she found, she grabbed the rod's handle out of his pouch that wrapped around his leg, and shoved it inside Rumlow's lower abdomen. He yelled in pain, doubling away from her.

With newfound anger that rose to the occasion within him, he went to attack her again, but Steve suddenly kicked him down before he could get to her. She smiled her thanks to Steve, and sighed, trying to keep her energy intact, and process what just happened to her and Steve.

She looked up at Steve as he tried to get out of his magnetic cuff. She was going to look for a key within the briefcases that were on the ground, but he'd already flipped himself out of the restraint.

One man suddenly sprang up from the ground and tried to come at Zoe, while the other was engaged in a fight with Steve. She used her rod to deflect her agent's attacks, as he advanced on her inside the elevator, moving her to a tight corner as she deflected each forcible blow that sent her closer to the wall.

Rumlow picked himself up off of the ground, and saw that Zoe was fighting for her life against the agent. The agent used his rod and was about to electrify her until Rumlow grabbed him by the collar and electrify him instead.

Zoe widened her eyes in shock, and he grinned at her. What the hell was Rumlow doing? What the hell was going on? She took a careful step back and held her own rod in self-defense, but he kicked it out of her hands so she was defenseless once again. He ran toward her just as she stepped back, but he grabbed her arm and whirled her around so that her back was against her. He felt the duffle bag press against his body, and he grinned.

Steve looked at Zoe's worried face, as they stared at each other. Her hands tried to push Rumlow's arm away from her neck, but his grip was too strong for her, and one rod pierced the side of her stomach.

"Whoa, big guy," Rumlow said out of breath. Zoe wrinkled her nose as she felt Rumlow's hot breath against her skin. "Just wanted you to know, Cap, this ain't personal."

"So, you're threatening his friend?" Zoe asked. "That's real rich, Rumlow," Zoe grumbled. "Nice of you to-" but she couldn't finish because she felt the sharp tip of his electric rod against her stomach, and the electricity oozing out against her skin. She winced and cried out in agony.

Steve threw a kick, knocking the rod out of Rumlow's hands, so that Zoe could catch her breath, and not die from an electric shock. Rumlow threw Zoe to the ground, knocking her out before Steve could get to her. Steve glanced down at Zoe, who's head fell against the floor.

Steve rushed forward and pushed Rumlow back, but Rumlow was fast, allowing him to strike the rod against Steve's stomach, electrifying Steve, while he held Steve's fist from hitting the side of his face. Steve knocked the rod out of Rumlow's hand, picked him up and tossed him up against the elevator's ceiling, breaking it to pieces, and tossed Rumlow on the ground that would ensure Rumlow's unconscious.

Steve scooted beside Zoe, and knelt down beside her. He placed two fingers against the pulse of her neck. She was still breathing at least.

"Zoe," he said.

She didn't wake.

"Zo-ee," he said again. He sighed, and made a move to pick her up. He was about to scoop her up within his arms, but she jerked awake and coughed at the sudden movement when she felt Steve's hands on her body.

Steve held his hands up in the air.

She looked at him with wide eyes. "What the hell was that all about?" she asked.

"I was going to ask you that," Steve said, looking down at her with a small look of concern on his face.

She rolled off of one of the agents, and pushed herself up so that she was in a sitting position. Steve helped her up off the ground, so that they stood in the middle together, surrounded by unconscious men around them.

"Well, I don't know, no one wants to tell me anything these days," Zoe said, as Steve kicked his Shield in the air, so that it gripped onto his wrist. He kicked the window, breaking the lock on the computer screen so it blared to life. "But I'm betting this was all a set up."

"Ya think?" Steve asked, just as the doors slid open.

Zoe gasped in shock as more men with black suits and helmets on came at them in numbers with guns raised in the air ready to shoot.

"Uh, now I know," she said, gripping onto Steve's free arm, hiding behind him and his Shield as best as she could.

"Drop the Shield and put your hands in the air!" the man said.

"Yeah, right, like you're going to drop your Shield," Zoe said, muttering next to him.

Steve whirled Zoe around to safety, as she hid against the side wall since she was small enough to hide against it, while he kicked the emergency button so the doors slid shut. She dropped to the floor when Steve threw himself over her to cover her for safety, as the elevator went down faster than the normal speed of what Zoe would have liked.

She winced, closing her eyes, feeling her stomach drop. "What the hell is going on, Steve?" she asked over the scraping metal noise.

"I don't know! Right now, we need to find a safe route," Steve replied over the noise of the elevator scraping against metal.

The elevator came to a full stop. Steve got up from the ground and climbed over to the door, while Zoe hopped over the unconscious guys carefully. Steve tried to pull the doors open. Zoe moved her strap across her stomach, just to ensure that she still had it with her.

"Any luck?" she asked.

Steve shoved the doors closed with his might, and Zoe frowned.

"What?" she asked. "What was coming for us?"

"More guys in suits," Steve said. "Not a good idea to go on that level. I think we're surrounded."

Zoe winced. That wasn't good.

"Give it up, Rogers! We've got you surrounded!" The men shouted throughout the door. "You've got nowhere to go!"

"There's your confirmation," Zoe said in a sing-song voice. She pointed to the voice outside the door. "What do we do?"

"Well, unless you have some extra TNT'S in that bag of yours, I'm thinking we jump," Steve said, glancing down at the window.

Zoe couldn't help but smile at his ridiculous idea. "Heh…jump? You're kidding me…"

"Got a better idea?" Steve glanced at her.

"We could surrender and find out what they want from us?" Zoe asked. "Or you. My guess is that they're after you."

"Well," Steve said. "You didn't try to kill me today, so they'll be looking after you. You're going to have to come with me. Staying here in this elevator isn't an option."

Zoe gulped, and frowned. She was afraid of that. She looked down at the height she was at and gulped again, swallowing hard. Great. She really did have no choice but to jump with Steve. She was going to jump with Steve, and go against everything that she believed in. But he was right. If she stayed, with Agent Hill currently missing, and Director Fury now gone, what was this new guy Alexander Pierce going to do to her? And why was everything suddenly flipping upside down around her? It was all happening too fast for Zoe to comprehend right now, but right now she didn't have a choice.

Steve stepped back, and allowed Zoe to come close to him so that she could hang on tight. He wrapped an arm around her and together they ran forward with his Shield in front of them. He pushed them out of the window, and jumped down in the sky. Zoe yelled as she dropped down twenty-five floors down below them, hanging onto Steve's neck, and wrapping her legs around him so she didn't fall off. He branched out one arm, holding his Shield up to gain momentum and release until they were closer to the ground, and used it as protection so they didn't get hurt as much when they landed hard on the cement floor beneath them. Glass flew everywhere, and Zoe felt the blood start to seep from an incision cut she received from the fall.

Owe!, she thought.

She coughed, feeling a newfound pain surge throughout her body. She continued to cling on against Steve, shaking. "Okay," she said, breathing hard and out of breath. "You do know, I'm not Romanoff right?"

Steve looked down at her and smiled lightly. "Right," he said. "Which is why I need you and I to split up. It's me they're after. They're going to come after me, not you, you have to stay here."

She frowned, and disentangled herself from him. They both stood up and she shook her head. "No. No way. I'm not letting you go alone! That's insane! As far as I'm concerned Pierce is not my director, and I do not have to follow by his rules. If he sends a S.T.R.I.K.E. team after my priority detail, he's going to get another thing coming to him. Fury is the only Director I've ever cared about."

Steve blinked at her words and tried to read her facial expression that looked genuine. "I'm your only priority?" he asked. He glanced around the lobby area of the Triskelion, and started to get nervous as the people around them looked at them, curiously, wondering what just happened. He pulled her along toward the garage in a quickened pace.

"Yes," she said in a low whisper as they reached the garage. She stopped talking, getting out of breath, as adrenaline had finally caught up with her. She was starting to feel the pain in her muscle joints and her stomach. "Do you have any idea what is in this duffle bag?"

"Really expensive gym clothes," Steve said, as he steered them toward a row of vehicles inside the garage, and finally found his own parking space. He pulled on his mask over his head, in which only his eyes were visible.

"Ha, ha," Zoe said, rolling her eyes.

Steve frowned, and looked at her.

"It's Loki's scepter. I was entrusted by Fury himself to keep it safe. If anything, I'm supposed to keep this safe from whatever strange hell is filtering inside the Triskelion," she explained passionately.

Steve eyed her carefully as her words spewed together in his ears. They sounded legit. And the way she looked at him, made him feel like he really did have a friend, but she was still an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and now carrying Loki's scepter that he had no clue she was keeping it all this time, although he suspected something weird was in her bag, he just never thought it was this…magnitude of a weapon.

"Fury gave me direct order to protect it," she said. "And I can't let it get into the wrong hands."

Suddenly Steve heard commotion outside the garage, and he looked at her, studying her emotions ridden within her facial expression, trying to sense if what she was saying was true. He wished he could believe her, but right now he was still having a hard time believing in anyone. Zoe seemed legit enough, and up until this point, Steve thought she was innocent, who just got trapped in the wrong place, wrong time.

"Fine. If what you say is true, meet me back at the hospital. If you and I cross paths there, then I'll decide if we're in this together. If anyone asks, you tried to get to me, but failed. Got it?" he said, looking at her through serious eyes.

"Um, might want to make it look real though," Zoe said nervously, looking down at his hands.

"What?" Steve asked, furrowing his brows in confusion.

"You know, knock me down or something," Zoe said.

"I'm not going to hit you, Zoe," Steve said, shaking his head. He pulled out his motorcycle into the clearing of the parking space and hopped on the seat. He was every bit of the man that was Captain America in the 1940's right now, blue, red, and white stripes in his uniform.

Zoe arched an eyebrow. "I can take a hit, Steve," she said.

Steve shook his head, "Not going to happen. I won't. You're an actress, right? So, act. Just keep that thing safe," he said, as he heard the sound of thundering boots quickly rampaging through the garage. He hopped on his motorcycle, and took off; while Zoe stood and watched Captain America disappear.

Zoe tried to make herself appear out of breath, like she was running after Steve.

A dozen men dressed in heavy black suits and armor rounded around the corners of the garage and surrounded her, pointing guns in her direction. She held them up in the air, surrendering. "Pierce sent me after him, but he was too fast."

"Bring the girl in," one of them said. An agent walked over to her, gripped her tight and forced her to move back inside the Triskelion.


	28. Chapter 28: Middle Ground

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or Winter Solider. The movies belong to their respective owners. I just own my OC. I am writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 28: Middle Ground**

Zoe walked down the long corridor with her head down. Two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents walked on either side of her. She felt like an old rotting sandwich. She stared down at the man waiting before her, Jasper Sitwell. He had a steely glare glossed across his dark eyes through his spectacles that rested on his nose. His arms were crossed, as he seemed to be extremely pissed off. She drew in a deep breath, preparing herself for this moment.

"You let him escape?" Sitwell asked Zoe before he looked at his men. They loosened their grips from her arms. "Thank you," he noted the agents in black to disappear from the florescent lighted up corridor.

Zoe didn't miss the hot anger seeping out of his voice when he spoke. "I didn't let him escape, Sitwell. He let me go," Zoe stated acidly through clench teeth. He quickly rounded on her and pushed her against the wall, holding his hand against her shoulder so that her shoulder blade contacted against the wall.

"Need I remind you, we have a job to do, Sawyer," Sitwell said in a heated whisper. She looked up at his dark caramel colored skinned tone on his face and thought anger was going to seep out of his veins, ready to pop out of his neck any second.

"Need I remind you that I have my own separate mission," Zoe said in the same tone of voice Sitwell bestowed upon her.

"I don't like it when agents of my own team have their own missions," Sitwell stated coolly.

Zoe's lips curled into a grin. Sitwell may be a few inches taller than her, but she was not afraid of him. "You and the Cap have something in common," she said.

He shoved her shoulder hard again, and she winced in pain. Then again, she didn't want anymore pain surging through her either. After the fight she'd endured inside the elevator, he had an advantage to stopping her from continuing her goal right now. She moved the bag closer towards her front, staring at Sitwell.

"Do not compare me with that man," he growled under his breath. "If you can even call him a man."

"He's twice the man you'll ever be," Zoe said, smiling up at him. There was an honest gleam in her eyes when she spoke, an honesty that she hadn't felt in a very long time, and it surprised her to say the least, but she wouldn't regret saying out loud, especially to Sitwell. She widened her eyes at Sitwell's large hand suddenly raised in the air. She turned her cheek against the wall as if to brace herself for the slap, but Pierce's voice stopped him.

"Stand down, Sitwell," Pierce's voice cut through the stale air in the corridor. "She has her priorities. I gave her this mission after all."

With her fingers, Zoe brushed Sitwell's hand off of her shoulder as if it was just dust that had collected over the years on a fireplace.

Sitwell snapped his suit's jacket closer over his chest, so it wasn't wrinkled, and glared at Zoe with suspicious eyes.

She smiled, giving him a small look, and leaned off against the wall. She pulled out a card from her pocket in between her index finger, ring finger, and thumb, and handed it toward Pierce with his picture on it.

"You look a little bit roughed up, hope they didn't hurt you too much," Pierce said, indicating the elevator incident. Zoe winced. She was definitely in pain, especially after her death-defying fall that Steve protected her from with his super-soldier strength and Shield. Other than that she was just...swell. "Glad you got in okay," Pierce continued as he reached for his card in between her fingers.

They're fingers brushed each other and Zoe shivered. He totally rubbed her the wrong way, but she didn't exactly have a choice where she stood right now. Pierce tacked his card back in between the silver clip that clipped onto his pocket's seems within his grey suit.

"Didn't need it," Zoe said. "Like I told you, the Records room is my area of expertise," she patted the side of the duffle bag with her hand.

"I just wanted to make sure there weren't any more glitches in this trying time," Pierce said. "What did Rogers say to you?"

Zoe shrugged, as her eyes flicked over towards Pierce. "Just said that he was going to the hospital, and wanted me to come. I'm supposed to be playing it "cool" right now," she said, giving Pierce and Sitwell air quotation marks. "What do you want me to do?"

"Keep her in a holding cell," Sitwell said. "I don't think she's telling the truth, otherwise she wouldn't be here right now."

"Don't be an idiot, Jas. I had no choice, your men surrounded me," Zoe said, turning toward him as she placed her hands over her hips. "Need I remind you that you failed to keep a look out for Fury's pirates?"

Sitwell winced, as Pierce looked at him with a curious gleam in his eyes.

"Nevertheless," Pierce said, glancing back and forth between the two standing before him. "The mission still stands as follows. You think you can handle it alone?"

Zoe looked at him, and into his cold gray eyes, and nodded. "I'll do my best," she said.

"Good. Good work, agent," Pierce said with a small smile on his face. "Knew I could count on you."

Zoe swallowed a big gulp, and she gave him an affirmative nod. "Anytime, sir," Zoe said. She looked over at Sitwell. "Aren't you supposed to be debriefing the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. right now? I'm sure they'll be all dying to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is suddenly on the look out for our dear Captain America," she said, glaring at him.

Sitwell glared at her, and looked at Pierce with wide eyes. Pierce gave him a nod.

"I need to talk to Agent Sawyer, in private, so yes, please go debrief," Pierce said, sending Sitwell a wave of his hand.

Sitwell looked taken aback by Pierce's orders.

Sitwell glared and scowled as Pierce spoke to Zoe in a conspicuous position beside the wall. His mouth dropped slightly ajar. What in the world was going on?

He spun around on the heels of his Italian leather shoes, and headed for the main control room, while Pierce took Zoe's arm gently and started to talk to her in low whispers.

"Yes, sir," Zoe said, glancing every so often at Sitwell's curious stares on her and Pierce. "I understand."

He'd stop walking every now and then, unable to help but peek at the two behind him in the middle of a conversation. He couldn't help but glance behind his shoulder, as he treaded carefully forward. He was treating her like she was his new and shiny toy. She wasn't that new. She'd been around for a long time. He'd heard many stories about this particular agent that he was a little fond of. He was partial towards her. But he was even more cautious of her when she turned up on the Lumerian Star. He often wondered how a girl like Sawyer could slip into the centerfolds of Hydra that was now starting to come to light right from underneath S.H.I.E.L.D's headquarters.


	29. Chapter 29: Don't Run

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or Winter Soldier. They belong to their respective owners. I'm writing for fun and not for profit. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 29: Don't Run**

Zoe passed security and the desk, slipping away in the weave of people walking inside the hospital. She hated hospitals. She was grateful for them, but in the end she'd always hate them. She hated the smells, and the long plaster white hallways. Besides dealing with Director Fury's death, the last time she ever been in one was with her parents, and she swore then that she would never enter one, until now that is, until Fury suddenly died.

That had caught her off-guard. And she didn't tell Pierce why Steve said meet him at the hospital because she didn't know why. He never said anything specific. She drew in a deep breath, and looked at the elevators. People were waiting to go up them, but she decided to take the stairs. After her death-defying fall with Steve, she was rather iffy about going into one. She jogged up the stairs to Fury's floor, which she'd suspected that's where Steve would be, and pushed the door open.

Her black sneakers streaked across the shiny floors of the hallway, as she entered the floor. It was empty and eerie. She heard different hospital sounds coming from the speakers of the ceiling, nurses looking for doctors, and whispers from a side room that she passed.

"Going after him is a dead end, I know, I've tried," a familiar, tired, and stale voice entered Zoe's ears as she stopped, placing her hands within her black sweatshirt's pockets, and hesitated, listening in outside the half-opened door. "Like you said, he's a ghost story."

"Well, let's find out what the ghost wants," Steve said, taking the silver USB port from her hands into his, and curled his fingers around it.

Zoe took out her hand and pushed the door open, "Not without me," she said with a smile.

Natasha lifted herself from the wall, and looked at the girl, covered in a black sweatshirt, tight black jeans, and black sneakers. Zoe lifted her hood up to reveal who she was. "Sawyer," Natasha greeted in a emotionless voice.

"Romanoff," Zoe said.

"Nice to see you alive," Natasha said.

"For however long," Zoe shrugged.

Steve turned around to face Zoe, standing beside Natasha. "Glad you made it."

"Yeah, it was a cinch," Zoe shrugged nonchalantly. "I just acted it all out, no big deal."

"Pierce just let you go?" Natasha asked, narrowing her eyes at Zoe.

"He thinks I'm on his side," Zoe said, glancing at the Widow. Natasha arched an eyebrow at her. Zoe pointed to Steve with her index finger. "His idea."

Natasha looked at Steve with an impressive glance over at him, and grinned.

"What?" Steve asked.

Natasha just continued to curl her lips into a thin smile.

"Do you have any idea what she's carrying in that thing?" Steve said, pointing to the duffle bag strapped against Zoe's body.

Zoe pulled it out in front of her, and the two women shared a knowing smile with one another.

Steve arched an eyebrow, and glanced between them curiously.

"It is her assignment after all," Natasha said. Natasha patted his shoulder as she left. "Try to keep up, Rogers."

Zoe grinned as Natasha left them alone in the room, but then frowned slightly when Steve was mere inches away from her, over towering her that made everything seem smaller than it really was. She rolled her eyes, but cringed all the same.

"I'm sorry," Zoe said. "I couldn't tell anyone. It's…still risky to say much of anything about it right now," she said.

"Whatever happened to opening up, and being friends?" Steve asked. "I told you that you can tell me anything, remember?"

Zoe looked up at him, and nodded. "I remember," she said. "But this is something I have to do on my own."

"And you know how I feel about people, especially those I care about taking on private missions of their own," Steve said quietly.

Zoe was about to walk out of the room, but stopped when she heard those words out of his mouth, and blinked at up at him. He towered over her, and he was much too close for her likings right now.

"This was years in the making, Steve," Zoe said softly. "This has nothing to do with you."

"The hell it doesn't," Steve said, gripping her arm to keep from running away from this current confrontation. "Why did Fury give Loki's scepter to you?"

"Now's really not a good time, Steve." Zoe said, not even attempting to shrug his hand off of her because it would be pointless.

"I think now is a great time, Zoe," Steve said.

"I told you. I'm supposed to keep you, the Avengers, and Loki's scepter safe. If it gets into the wrong hands, we're screwed," she said, gripping tightly onto the black strap.

"Fury already gave me protection detail," Steve said, eying her with pure curiosity in his eyes, but also gave Zoe a look of knowing like Zoe should have known this already. "Kate?" Steve sighed, and tried again. "Agent 13."

"Who in the hell is Agent 13?" Zoe asked, furrowing her brows.

"You're telling me, Fury didn't tell you to hire that agent to be my neighbor?" he asked.

"No," Zoe shook her head. "I think that was just Fury being Fury. And seriously who is she?"

"Missing the point," Steve said exasperatedly. "Our lines are criss-crossing and I don't like it. For once in my life, I'd just like a straight forward answer. So please just answer me this," Steve sighed, loosening his grip on her arm.

Zoe swallowed hard before she retracted her arm back and folded her arms over her chest, keeping them to herself, waiting for his impending question.

"Are you at least on my side?" he asked.

Zoe was taken aback by that question. She wondered how he could even ask that of her, but given the current circumstances lately, she didn't blame him. And she already knew her answer to that. She was always on his side, but her job was always different, and right now she was treading deep waters.

Zoe took a brave step forward, and pressed her hands lightly on his arm. She stepped up on her tip-toes. Steve lowered his body down a bit to her height, and she planted a kiss on his cheek before she stepped down to look into his waiting and concerning blue eyes. "I am always, on your side, Steve."

"You two lovebirds ready? Getting kinda chilly out here," Natasha said, poking her head inside, red hair falling down to her pale cheeks. She zipped up her jacket and grinned at the two, as Steve had a classic look of crimson blooming in his cheekbones. Zoe smiled and walked out of the room, hitching her bag over her shoulder, so she had two hands. She walked beside Natasha. Steve sighed, and headed out of the room.

"Let's just make one thing clear, we are not lovebirds," Zoe said under her breath to Natasha who just smirked.

"Not what I saw," she said in an amused tone of voice. "Whatever happened to Clint?"

Zoe's cheeks burned and she shook her head. "Not now."

Natasha chuckled, "We're going to have a talk, you and I, soon,"

Zoe grimaced. "I was proving a point. He needed to know what side I was on, told him I was on his side, in which of course I am, always."

"I'm pretty sure it's a little bit early in the game to be picking sides, Sawyer," Natasha said.

Zoe gave Natasha a curious look.

"Just a warning," Natasha shrugged, looking at Zoe. "This kind of stuff? Not for the faint of heart."

~*WS*~

S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters

"Nick Fury was murdered in cold blood," Alexander Pierce said, as he stood in front of the World Council. He was in the conference room, holding a meeting between him and the World Council that was essential to today's events. He walked around in a delicate circle. "To any reasonable person that would make him a martyr, not a traitor."

"You know what makes him a traitor?" Councilman Rockwell asked. "Hiring a mercenary to hijack his own ship."

"Nick Fury used your friendship to coerce this council into delaying Project Insight. A project he knew would expose his own illegal operations," Councilman Siingh explained. "At best, he lied to you, at worst…"

"Are you calling for my resignation?" Pierce said, ready to thrust his hand inside his jacket pocket. "I've got a pen and paper right here."

"That discussion can be tabled for a later time," Councilwoman Hawley said, glaring at Pierce.

"But you do want to have a discussion," Pierce said.

"We've already had it, Mr. Secretary," Councilman Rockwell said. "This council moves to immediately reactivate Project Insight. If you want to say something snappy, now would be a good time."

~*WS*~

Washington D.C. Mall

Zoe tried to keep up with Natasha and Steve as Steve sped-walked, or rather ran close towards Natasha through the city mall.

"First rule of going on the run is, don't run, walk," Natasha said. "That goes for both of you."

"If I run in these shoes," Steve said under his breath, as Zoe caught up on the other side of Steve. "They're going to fall off."

"Mac Store!" Zoe pointed out excitedly.

Natasha glared at Zoe's enthusiasm. Zoe shrugged innocently. "Sorry. I'm usually doing this kind of thing alone, so I'm not used to having company."

"Second rule of going on the run?" Natasha asked, narrowing her eyes at Zoe. "Indoor voices."

They headed inside the Mac Store and walked right over to the electronic section and sped down the rows of computers, to one particular white MacBook.

"The drive has a level six homing program," Natasha explained as she leaned over the laptop, already typing into the laptop's files. "So, as soon as we boot up, S.H.I.E.L.D. will know exactly where we are."

"How much time do we have?" Steve asked, glancing nervously around him, as Zoe opened her mouth.

"Not long," Zoe said, glancing around her for any suspicious movements in the store. All she saw so far was just normal people shopping for normal every day things that Zoe never really got to do. She smiled thoughtfully around her unable to help but peek at the outside world of S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Uh, nine minutes from…" Natasha pulled out the flash drive into the Macbook pro and images popped up onto the screen. "Now."

"This is kind of exciting," Zoe said. "I feel like a secret agent."

Steve quirked an eyebrow down at Zoe and couldn't help but smile. He glanced down at the computer screen, looking over Natasha's shoulder.

"You are a secret agent," Natasha said, typing quickly as fast as she could to get all the data they needed. "Hmm, Fury was right about that ship. Somebody's trying to hide something. Zoe, did Fury say why he wanted you to protect this Intel?"

"Not a damn word," Zoe said, shaking her head. "Actually," Zoe let out a small laugh.

"Zo-ee, maybe this isn't the best time to tell Steve," Natasha said in a small sing-songed voice.

"Tell me what?" Steve asked, glancing down at the two women.

Zoe winced. "Well, I was supposed to get to the ship, and then I was supposed to help Agent Sitwell, you know act like I was trying to defuse the situation, but then I was actually supposed to become a hostage because Fury suspected the ship was dirty, and so I had to play it cool, and act like a level six agent, even though I'm level seven, and pretty badass," She said with a small chuckle, although Steve didn't look to amused by the time she was done talking.

"Just get to the source," Steve said to Natasha, eyeing Zoe curiously.

"You haven't even heard the best part yet," Zoe said with a proud grin on her face.

"Zoe," Natasha warned. Zoe chewed her bottom lip to keep from talking, and looked at the laptop screen, crossing her arms. "The drive is protected by some sort of AI. It keeps renewing itself to counter my commands."

"Can you override it?" Steve asked.

"The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me," Natasha said as she glanced at Steve and Zoe before looking at the screen with a smirk. "Slightly. I'm gunna run a tracer. This is program that S.H.I.E.L.D. developed to track hostile malware. So, if we can't read the file, maybe we can find out where it came from."

Zoe glanced over Natasha's shoulder, watching her work, as the screens on the computer searched the U.S. map.

"Can I help you guys with anything?" The Mac employee asked, coming up beside the three of them.

Steve, Natasha, and Zoe looked at one another before Natasha put on a bright smile across her face, and pulled Steve closer to her. "Oh, no. My fiancé was just helping me with some honeymoon destinations."

"Right!" Steve said, jumping into Natasha's grand idea of a cover. "We're getting married."

"All three of you?" the employee asked curiously, pointing at Steve, Natasha and Zoe, waving his finger back and forth.

Steve and Natasha's eyes slid sideways over to Zoe.

"Maid of Honor!" Zoe said quickly. "I plan everything. Even the honeymoon. Want to make sure my sister has a great time, you know? I care about her so much," Zoe said, forcing a smile on her face.

"Wow," the Macbook employee said, nodding his head. "Nice sister."

"Yeah," Zoe coughed, clearing her throat, trying to keep her nerves down. "It's all part of my wedding planner package, thing. Great discounts," Zoe said.

"Does that mean you're single?" the Macbook employee asked Zoe.

Zoe winced, feeling slightly awkward at the situation unfolding before her.

"She's taken," Natasha said. The Macbook employee arched an eyebrow, and frowned slightly in confusion. "His name is Francis, and he's an expert archer, so if you go anywhere near her, he'd probably shoot your ass," Natasha said, though this guy didn't seem to take the hint. "She really likes pointy things if you know what I mean."

"Like Lord of the Rings!" the employee clapped his hands together in realization. "Awesome! So I bet you go to all those Renaissance festival things, am I right?"

Zoe glared at Natasha, turning beet red, and buried her forehead within the palm of her hand. Natasha just grinned widely as she continued to type onto the keyboard of the laptop.

"Yeah, sure, all the time. That's where we met, yep," Zoe mumbled, wanting to smack Natasha so hard right now.

"Epic," The Macbook nodded in approval of Zoe's choice in men. Zoe felt so embarrassed right now it wasn't even funny. "Congratulations," the Macbook employee said, though feeling slightly sad that Zoe was taken as well. "Where do you guys think about going?"

Steve looked over at the computer screen as the trace search high-lighted a state and Steve widened his eyes in shock. He looked at the employee. "New Jersey," he said, not exactly liking the way the Macbook employee was still ogling at Zoe. "It's a double wedding."

"Where's your fiancé?" the Macbook employee asked Zoe.

"At Dillard's," Zoe replied, forcing a grin on her face. The Mackbook employee arched a suspicious eyebrow. "Picking out a tux."

The MacBook employee frowned, but then smiled when he turned to Steve, once he finally left Zoe be. She sighed as a small relief washed over her.

"Oh. I have those exact same glasses!" the Mackbook employee gushed excitedly.

Steve raised his eyebrows and smiled slightly. At least he didn't recognize who he was…

"Wow, you two are practically twins," Natasha said dryly, working on the laptop.

"Yeah, I wish," The employee said, holding his hands in the air toward Steve as if Steve was like some sort of God. "Specimen. Uh…if you guys need anything…I've been Aaron."

"Thank you," Steve said sincerely.

The Mackbook employee pulled Zoe aside and whispered, "If it doesn't work out for you, here's my number. I'll show you where the real fun is!" he wrote his number on her hand.

"Real fun?" Zoe was almost afraid to ask.

The Mackbook employee leaned into her ear and whispered, "Comic-Con," he said with a grin on his face.

Zoe pulled back away from him, "Sure, sounds great," she muttered. He grinned.

"Call me!" he said, waving his hands in Zoe's face. She scooted closer to Natasha as he left them be.

"Kay, little freaked out," Zoe said nervously, watching Aaron go talk to other customers who were walking into the store. Poor employee, must've been really bored.

"He was just doing his job," Steve said.

"Flirting with someone else's fiancé?" Zoe asked, trying to brush the number off of the palm of her hand. She shivered.

The corner of Steve's lips curled into a sly grin on his face, "You're not really engaged."

"Now, who's the jealous one," Natasha said, shaking her head at the two.

"Okay," Steve scowled. "You said nine minutes," Steve turned back to Natasha, and regaining back his self-composure.

"Shh, relax," Natasha said until the computer finally beeped the signal in New Jersey that pointed to a small town called Wheaton. Natasha looked up at Steve's expression on his face, as though he'd seen a ghost. "You know it?"

"I used to," Steve said. Steve took out the flash drive and curled it into his fist. He put it in his pocket. Zoe looked at Steve curiously with a thoughtful look on her face. She wondered how he used to know Wheaton, New Jersey and she was eager to find out.

Natasha, Steve, and Zoe walked out of the Macbook store and onto the main floor of the mall. Steve looked up and around as they started walking down the clearing of the mall, in a heave full of people around them. Steve was flanked between Zoe and Natasha.

"Standard tac-team," Steve said under his breath, slowing down in their trek. "Two behind, two across, two coming straight at us. If they make us, I'll engage, you, and Zoe hit the south escalator to the metro," Steve said.

"Shut up and put your arms around us," Natasha said. Zoe eyed the tac-team members and gulped.

"What?" Steve asked.

"Just do it!" Natasha ordered.

Steve threw his arms around Natasha and Zoe, pulling them close.

"You guys laugh at something I said," Natasha said.

Steve and Zoe gave each other a look before they both let out fake fits of laughter out of their mouths, and walked around the perimeter toward the escalator.

The tac-team had circled the main floor of the mall, each one dressed to blend in with the mall's daily crowds as they searched for Steve, Natasha, and Zoe.

"Negative at the source," one of the agents said, glancing for any signs of them, but saw nothing.

"Give me a floor rundown," Rumlow said, standing on the balcony. His dark eyes scanned the floor in the blur of people. He couldn't see much of anything either even though he tried.

"Negative on three," An agent said.

"Negative on two," Another agent replied.

"Scan the upper levels, work down to me," Rumlow said, moving onto one of the escalators. They were close. They had to be. There was way too many people. If he could just focus on Zoe for a minute, then he could find them.

"Kiss me," Natasha said suddenly, turning to face Steve. She'd noticed Rumlow right away.

"What?" Steve asked, voicing Zoe's thoughts.

"Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable," Natasha explained in a heated rush.

Zoe scanned the second escalator for any signs of the tac-team, trying to focus on anything else but the conversation behind her. There on the second escalator she spotted Rumlow, and gulped.

"Yes, they do," Steve said.

"And then Zoe will get jealous, then you can express your dying love for her as we're about to die into some heavy explosions," Natasha said with a wicked smile on her face. Natasha tugged on Zoe's sweatshirt, and pulled Zoe closer to her, making Zoe stumble up on top of the same step beside Natasha, so that Zoe was hidden away from Rumlow's searching eyes.

Zoe widened her eyes with shock, as Natasha grabbed Steve's head and leaned up to kiss him.

Zoe's heart was pounding loudly in her chest and she felt as though her world was spinning. Natasha and Steve were kissing and she was hiding from Rumlow, one of her greatest friends she'd ever had since the academy, and now she was hiding from him. She looked down at the floor, feeling completely dejected, and now alone. Zoe understood why Natasha had to do this, but Zoe didn't think it would make her feel this way. Zoe didn't think the kiss that was lasting a little longer than what Zoe would've liked was making her feel so vulnerable, and in a word, jealous.

"You still uncomfortable?" Natasha asked, walking down the escalator steps when Rumlow was nowhere to be found.

"Sort of," Zoe mumbled under her breath at the same time Steve spoke, "Not exactly the word I would've used," Steve said.

They both looked at each other, and stared into each other's eyes. She was staring into his deep blue ones, as she felt her face suddenly fill with heat because he was staring right back into her hazel eyes. She was not jealous. She was not jealous, Zoe thought repeatedly in her head. He didn't love her. Nope. There was no love here. Nope. Zoe wanted to deny it just as much as Steve wanted to deny it.

Zoe felt frozen and cold in her spot, as the feelings were starting to swirl around in her stomach like butterflies catching inside a net. She sucked in her lips, and pushed her way out of the weave of people down the escalator, attempting to catch up to Natasha. She needed to get rid of these feelings fast. She gripped tightly onto her duffle bag's straps and tried to think of something else. Because thinking about Steve Rogers in this way right now was just way too damn complicated. She was already in a tight spot as it is. Nope. She was not going to think about this now.

Zoe jogged up closer to Natasha, and stuck her hands into her pockets. "So, Tasha," she said. Natasha glanced at her curiously. "Francis?"

Natasha shook her head with a slight grin on her face. "Oh, no, we're not going there."

"You said it, not me," Zoe said.

"Okay, fine, but this stays between us," Natasha said, narrowing her eyes, as she looked behind her to see Steve catching up to them. "Got it?"

Zoe grinned. "You know me and secrets. My secrets are always safe."


	30. Chapter 30: Arnim Zola

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or Winter Soldier. They belong to their respective owners. I'm writing for fun and not for profit. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 30: Arnim Zola**

Steve drove passed the Welcome to New Jersey sign, and finally felt like he could take an edge off from being hunted and on the run for a little bit off of his shoulders. Even Natasha was relaxing her socked-covered foot on the dash, and Zoe was sound asleep in the backseat of the car. She rested her head on her duffle bag, and slept on her two hands folded underneath her cheek.

Steve looked up in the rear view mirror to see Zoe's small five foot' two frame curl against the backseat. She looked peaceful, and complacent, like she was dreaming, and for once in her life probably her normal self, and not playing someone else for a change.

Steve found the lips of his mouth curl upward in an amused smile on his face until he felt Natasha's eyes grinning at him.

"What?" Steve asked, refocusing himself on the road.

Natasha shook her head. "Nothing," she said. "If you want, I can get you two together."

Steve let out a scoff, "I don't know what you're talking about. We're just…" he didn't know what they were, actually. Fury had made them partners in the beginning of this whole thing, and then Steve said they could be friends, but could he really trust Zoe? She was here with them this far, and she hadn't let him down yet. He'd like to trust Zoe and Natasha. "Partners."

Natasha nodded gently, and leaned her head back against the seat lazily, watching the green trees pass by the road. Zoe's quiet snores were in hear ears. She smiled, tapping her knee lightly as a thought drifted across her mind. Zoe had been a little panicky about stealing someone else's car. Apparently the only thing dangerous she'd ever done was Soho, staging a crime scene, and staging her father's death as a suicide, and yet she was panicking about stealing someone else's car.

Natasha suspected there was more to the story in Soho than what Zoe was letting on, but if Zoe wasn't ready to talk, Natasha wasn't going to interrogate, besides she never told Zoe about Budapest. Some things are better left unsaid, unless you were Steve Rogers because Natasha was dying to know how he learned how to steal a car.

"Where did Captain America learn how to steal a car?" Natasha asked.

"Nazi Germany," Steve replied. A solemn yet thoughtful look graced his tired features.

"Hmm," Natasha said.

"And we're borrowing it," Steve said, glancing over at her. "Take your feet off the dash."

Natasha smirked. "You would be cute with Zoe," she said. "Borrowing and stealing are not the same thing."

Steve crinkled his nose at the thought penetrating his mind, and he shook his head.

"It's…complicated, for me, right now," Steve said. "As I'm sure it's complicated for her."

Natasha couldn't hear Zoe's snores behind her, and wondered if Zoe was just about to wake up from her two hour nap, but when Natasha looked at the rear view mirror, she didn't see Zoe move a muscle. All Natasha could hear was quiet breathing from Zoe's slightly parted lips. "Alright, I have a question for you of which you do not have to answer," Natasha said finally. "Although, I feel like if you don't answer it though…that might be your-"

"What?" Steve asked.

"Was that your first kiss since 1945?"

"That bad, huh?" Steve said, looking the other way.

"I didn't say that," Natasha said.

"Well, that's kind of sounds like what you're saying," Steve said.

"No, I didn't, I just wondered how much practice you've had," Natasha said with a mere shrug.

"You don't need practice," Steve argued.

"Everybody needs practice," Natasha rationalized.

"It was not my kiss since 1945," Steve said. "I'm ninety-five, I'm not dead."

"Nobody special then?" Natasha asked.

"Heh," Steve scoffed. He looked up at the rear view mirror, glancing at Zoe's sleeping form curiously. Her eyes were still closed. He looked over at Natasha. "Believe it or not it's kind of hard to find somebody with a shared life experience."

"Well, that's alright," Natasha said casually. "Just make something up."

"What, like you?" Steve glanced at her and then back at the road.

"I don't know. The truth is a matter of circumstance. It's not all things to all people all the time," Natasha said. "And neither am I."

"That's a tough way to live," Steve said.

"It's a good way not to die though," Natasha said.

Zoe frowned at those words as the meaning of what Natasha said finally hit her like a ton of bricks. That was a tough way to live. No wonder Natasha was the Black Widow, and could do her job one-hundred percent and give it her all. Natasha didn't have to worry about emotional attachments like a normal human being did, or at least Natasha pretended not to act like she didn't. In a word, Zoe always thought Natasha was one complicated person.

And Zoe was on the rise of complicated.

Zoe had made friends within S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters, and had lost friends during different circumstances. She worked hard to shove her emotions down and burry them within a casket and lock them, hoping that would do the trick, but whenever she'd loose someone they threatened to come up. She was trying to work on her emotional attachments, but she liked Steve and she was…believe it or not…growing quite fond of Natasha, even if Zoe was still twitchy around her. Zoe liked her at the current moment. After all, Natasha was still helping Zoe take care of her assignment.

"You know, it's kind of hard to trust someone when you don't know who that someone really is," Steve said.

Zoe felt his words hit her heart like chilled ice sticks. Then there was that. Zoe didn't even know who she was right now. All she knew is that she was on Steve's side, even with her current assignment, she was on Captain America's side. But the truth was for Zoe, is that she was scared. She'd been under this assignment for so long, she only felt like this was the beginning.

"Yeah," Natasha agreed. "Who do you want me to be?"

"How about a friend?" Steve asked.

Natasha smiled.

Zoe could feel the humming wheels of the truck pull to a slow stop. She pushed herself up from her duffle bag, and sat up against the middle seat. She let out a good and loud yawn, and stretched.

"Hey sleepy head," Natasha said, glancing up at Zoe through the rear view mirror. "Welcome to Wheaton, New Jersey."

"Yeah," Zoe groaned, and wiped the sleep out of her eyes with the pads of her fingers. "Right."

She pulled the strap of her duffle bag over her shoulder, and climbed out of the truck. Steve and Natasha walked over to the closed off fence, waiting for Zoe to join them.

"This is it," Steve announced.

Zoe and Natasha glanced at each other and around the place that was fenced off. Zoe didn't know why, but she couldn't help but feel like it was a ghost town. She felt eerie walking here.

"Are you sure?" Zoe asked tentatively, pulling her messy hair out of her ponytail. She raked her petite fingers through her brown strands of hair out of the way.

Natasha shrugged, glancing at Zoe. "The file came from these coordinates."

"So did I," Steve said grimly.

The sun was no longer apparent, for clouds had covered the skies. The nighttime hours were beginning to creep up on them, as they searched the grounds of an old army base. Zoe and Steve walked around on the grounds, while Natasha searched for a signal as to where the data point may be located, but so far Natasha wasn't having much luck.

"This feels more like a prison than an army base," Zoe said, coming out from around behind the building in the middle of the army base. Steve gave her a gentle nod, Shield tight in his hands.

"This camp is where I was trained," Steve said.

"Change much?" Natasha asked.

"A little," Steve said, stopping in front of the stairs.

Steve glanced ahead of him, feeling a bit nostalgic as a memory fleeted across his mind,

"Pick up the pace, ladies! Let's go! Let's go! Double time! Come on, Rogers! Move it!" A Lieutenant shouted. A dozen boots sounded in Steve's ears. A much younger, and skinnier Steve stopped suddenly, and turned.

Steve stared back at his younger self, startled that his own memory was staring back at him.

"Come on! Fall in! Rogers! I said fall in!"

"Steve," Zoe said, touching his arm gently, pulling him out of his reverie.

"Hmm?"

"I said are you okay?" she asked, giving him a small smile. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Steve smiled down at her, "Yeah. I'm okay."

"Was it hard living in the forties?" Zoe asked.

"At times," Steve nodded. "But we all learned to live through it, together."

Zoe smiled thoughtfully when he said that. "I don't know if I could survive the forties."

Steve smiled, glancing at her. "I'm sure you could've survived pots and pans and laundry pins. Milk runs…" Steve said with a small shudder of his shoulders. "Those were never fun."

Zoe let out a giggle-snort as a funny image came to her mind of her dressed in a 1940's outfit, baking a blueberry pie in the kitchen. She shook her head. "Oh please. Like I'd be staying home, cooking in the kitchen, and knitting socks. No way. I'd want to be out there."

"Oh yeah?" Steve challenged. "Think you can handle what I went through?"

"I'd always thought about joining the USO," Zoe said thoughtfully.

Steve looked at her quite impressively. "So you've heard about entertaining us boys then."

Zoe grinned. "I have. Did you know that the founder was President Roosevelt?"

"President Roosevelt, yeah, I know," Steve finished for her at the same time with a small nod of his head.

"I'm no Marilyn Monroe, but I may be close to an Audrey or a Kathryn Hepburn," Zoe said.

"Or just Zoe Sawyer. Having her own household name doesn't sound so bad," Steve said.

"Yeah, and all the guys would ogle her in her beautiful gold classy dress showing all the right curves in the right places," Natasha said, walking back toward Steve and Zoe. Zoe couldn't help it. She blushed. "When was your first kiss, Zo?"

Zoe eyed Natasha with a warning glare. "How's that signal coming along, Romanoff?" Zoe asked, changing the subject.

Natasha sighed, and shook her head. "This is a dead end. Zero heat signature, zero waves, not even radio," Natasha said, lowering her device. She put it in the back of her jean's pocket. "Whoever wrote the file must've used a router to throw people off."

Zoe leaned against the small staircase that lead up to the platform, and crossed her ankles and arms over her chest.

Steve looked from Natasha and Zoe to the double doors on the other side of the base.

Zoe and Natasha shared a curious look with each other before Natasha looked at Steve. "What is it?"

Steve started to walk around the platform, heading to the main building of the base area, leaving Natasha and Zoe to quickly follow him. Natasha hopped off the platform, joining Zoe's and Steve's sides.

"Army regulations forbid storing ammunition within five hundred yards from the barracks," Steve said. "This building is in the wrong place."

Zoe looked over at Natasha as Steve took his Shield from his hand and whacked the lock open. He pulled the door open, walking in first. Zoe and Natasha followed him down the stairs that lead into a much larger space. Steve flicked the lights on to reveal the empty space that looked almost like it was set up for some sort of meeting room, or a classroom.

"This is S.H.I.E.L.D.," Natasha commented that made Zoe turn her head to face the wall. There it was. SHIELD's symbol painted in a circle with brown and dusty gold colors. An eagle formed inside the seal.

"Maybe where it started," Steve said.

This was definitely SHIELD, Zoe thought, glancing around the eerie room. She didn't like being here. It was starting to gnaw at her, and was beginning to think that maybe this was shut down for a good reason.

Steve motioned a quick nod for the girls to follow him towards a closed door that eventually led them inside an office.

Steve, Natasha, and Zoe poked around. The haze of the fluorescent lightning made everything seem old and ancient inside the room, and there was dust everywhere that was getting inside of Zoe's lungs as she walked around, trying to keep from coughing.

"Anyone else getting a weird vibe, or is it just me?" Zoe asked.

"Relax," Steve said. "I know this place. It's fine."

"Sure, tell that to the dusty pictures staring creepily at you," Zoe said, coming to a stop at the frames hanging along the wall, one of which she recognized from the Smithsonian, Peggy Carter.

Natasha hummed lightly, coming up beside Zoe as Zoe looked at the picture of a man who reminded her of Tony. That man had to be Howard Stark. It was the spitting image of Tony. Zoe smiled thoughtfully at the crooked picture on the wall next to Peggy's.

"There's Stark's father," Natasha said.

"Howard," Steve said, staring at the old picture. His blue eyes darted toward the one right next to it, a young woman with dark wavy curls that rested upon her shoulders.

Zoe looked at the picture and smiled. Peggy Carter. She looked absolutely stunning in that photo, very different from what she saw in the Smithsonian. This was a much younger Peggy Carter.

"Who's the girl?" Natasha asked, glancing at Peggy Carter's photo. Zoe was about to respond, but when Steve didn't say anything, Zoe thought better of it, and closed her mouth shut.

Zoe walked up to the picture frame and pushed Howard's picture frame, and tilted it so that it was upright.

Natasha rolled her eyes at Zoe, as Zoe shrugged. "What? It was bothering me." Natasha smiled as she followed Steve further into the gray painted room.

Zoe looked at all the bookshelves that reached high to the ceiling, shelves upon shelves that had nothing in them, but cobwebs and eerie drafts coming from the nooks and crannies that had remained solid for over seventy years.

They stopped right in the middle between a set of shelves.

"If you're already working in a secret office," Steve said, glancing back at them. Zoe quirked an eyebrow at him.

"That's going to show you another secret office that leads down to a cellar with the crook's bag of cash, and then the guy comes up to you and says, 'And I would've gotten away with it if it hadn't been for you meddling kids, or something like that," Zoe said, glancing at Natasha. "It's been a long time since I've seen Scooby Doo."

"Funny," Steve mumbled.

"I thought so," Natasha said.

"Thank you," Zoe grinned proudly, as Steve rolled his eyes, and pulled the bookshelves apart.

He stepped in between the threshold. "Why do you need to hide the elevator?" Steve said.

Natasha used her device to scan the code with her backlight system inside the device until she got it. She punched the code in and the elevator doors lit up to life, sliding open for them to walk inside.

"I can wait outside and keep a look out for our friends back there," Zoe suggested nervously.

"Or get killed, and kidnapped," Steve said.

"Yeah, not a good idea, girl," Natasha agreed, shaking her head no.

Zoe narrowed her eyes at Natasha, "You weren't in the last elevator."

"Just get in," Natasha pulled Zoe's arm and pulled Zoe into the elevator.

Zoe took a deep breath, and tightened her grip on her strap of her duffle bag, as the elevator moved further downwards. Zoe was starting to feel claustrophobic as soon as they came to a slow stop. The elevator doors opened revealing a dark room.

The lights came on one by one as the three of them walked further down the hallway that led them into a bigger room full of old technology that reminded Zoe of those old black and white movies she'd catch her mother watch as a kid.

"This can't be the data point," Natasha said. "This technology is ancient." She grinned at Steve, who looked at her and then around the room, trying to make out what this room would be used for back in his time.

"I don't remember this in my research," Zoe said in a small whisper.

"That's because it was hidden," Steve said.

Zoe flicked her eyes over towards Steve and sent him a daggered look through her steely eyes.

Meanwhile, Natasha found a USB port jack, resting on top of the computer desk. that looked a little bit more like today's style. She pulled out the silver flash drive from her pocket, and glanced at it curiously. Natasha looked over at Zoe and Steve before she placed it into the port, booting up the entire computer system. The tapes started to turn and all the lights on the old computer modems in the room started to twinkle and buzz to life.

Zoe and Steve turned to face the big computer in front of them that had a green screen.

"Initiate System…" The Computer said, and typed green letters in old font lettering onto the screen before them.

Natasha carefully stepped up to the keyboard, while Zoe and Steve hung back, unsure of what to do or how to react to this weird computer system.

"Y-E-S," Natasha said out loud as she typed. "Spells yes," she smiled. "Shall we play a game?"

She turned to Steve. "It's from a movie, that was real popular in the-"

"I know, I saw it," Steve said.

"I never saw it," Zoe said with a small frown on her face.

"You do owe me a movie night," Steve reminded her with a small smile on his face. Zoe smiled, pulling a strand of hair over the small curved shell of her ear, and crossed her arms over her chest.

Natasha grinned until the Computer suddenly spluttered into a dark green screen almost like a barcode. A face was trying to fizz onto the Computer screen that made Zoe a little freaked out, especially when the camera moved onto all three of them.

"Rogers, Steven. Born. 1918. Romanoff, Natalia Alianovna. Born 1984. Sawyer, Zoe Anne. Born 1984."

Zoe stepped closer toward Steve, definitely not liking that camera shining down on her through dark lenses.

"This is some kind of recording," Natasha said as her eyes danced around the Computer system, trying to figure it out.

"I am not a recording, Fraulein," the Computer said.

Natasha pursed her lips together in a terse manner, and glared at the screen.

"What's that mean?" Zoe whispered.

"Widow," Steve replied in the same whisper.

Zoe gulped. How in the hell could an old computer from the forties know that?

"I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945, but I am." The Computer said. Next to the big computer, the smaller computer showed them a picture of an old man with spectacles resting on his nose.

Zoe's eyes widened at the picture, suddenly realizing who it was. She'd recognized him from her previous research on Captain America and her father's files. Dr. Arnim Zola.

"You know this thing?" Natasha asked Steve, glancing at his look of realization dawning upon his sudden change of facial expressions.

"Arnim Zola-" Steve and Zoe began at the same time. Steve and Zoe stopped. Zoe offered for Steve to talk. "He was a German scientist who worked for Red Skull," Steve said as he paced around the computer system with the utmost curiosity in his eyes, wondering how in the hell he got here. "He's been dead for years."

"And worked with my grandfather," Zoe added quickly.

"How far back does your family go with Hydra?" Natasha asked, eyeing Zoe curiously.

"I don't know," Zoe whispered truthfully, and bit her lower lip because the computer started talking again. She only knew a little bit from what she read in Captain America's files, and caught her last name in the mention of Red Skull and its scientists.

"First correction, I am Swiss. Second, look around you. I have never been more alive. In 1972 I received a terminal diagnosis. Science could not save my body. My mind, however, that was worth saving on two hundred thousand feet of data banks," Dr. Zola said. "Third, Sawyer's family goes back as far as you can imagine. And you are standing in my brain."

Zoe felt a cool wave of an icy feeling wash over her that made her feel frozen with sudden awareness. She suddenly felt cold and she hugged one arm, trying to shake off the nerves about her family history coming to light.

"How did you get here?" Steve demanded.

"Invited," Dr. Zola said.

"It was Operation Paperclip after World War 2. S.H.I.E.L.D. recruited German scientists with strategic values," Natasha said.

"They thought I could help their cause," Dr. Zola continued. "I also helped my own."

"Hydra died with Red Skull," Steve said confidently.

"Cut off one head," The computer switched to a green Hydra symbol that split into two heads. "Two more shall take its place," Dr. Zola explained.

"Prove it," Steve said. Zoe looked at Steve nervously.

"Accessing archive that Dr. Richard Sawyer helped put together for me over the years," Dr. Zola continued with explanation.

Zoe, Steve, and Natasha looked at the third small computer screen that showed Red Skull as the leader of HYDRA in the 1940's.

"HYDRA was founded on the belief that humanity could not be trusted with own freedom. What we did not realize, was that if you try to take that freedom, they resist. The war taught us much. Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly. After the war, SHIELD was founded and I was recruited. The new HYDRA grew. A beautiful parasite inside SHIELD. For seventy years HYDRA has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping war. And when history did not cooperate, history was changed."

As Zoe listened to Zola, she watched the black and white footage, the same footage from the Smithsonian that had been cut out in certain spots of the film reel. She watched sadly at the screen before her own eyes as Captain America tried his best to help with the ongoing war. The images changed to Peggy Carter, Howard Stark, Dr. Zola, and Dr. Richard Sawyer the 1st as founders of SHIELD. Another picture fizzed into Dr. Zola's birth card with his image on it.

The image switched to a larger newspaper clipping of the group infiltrating SHIELD with many members including Zola and Zoe's grandfather, acting as though they were best friends.

More images popped up of the world's historic events between war, money crisis, and the hippie movement appeared on screen as Zola spoke with a bit of evil passion in his voice, not a significant trace of his voice was regretful.

"That's impossible. SHIELD would have stopped you," Natasha said firmly.

"Accidents happen," Dr. Zola said.

The computer switched to a series of historic clips. The computer showed Maria and Howard Stark's pictures in a newspaper.

Zoe read the title on the newspaper and gulped. The Stark's died in a car crash.

The image flipped to another newspaper of Zoe's parents: Amanda-Lynn Sawyer and Dr. Richard Sawyer the 2nd. The Sawyer's died in an accidental fire. Zoe saw their images on the newspaper clip a woman with red hair, pale green eyes, that could only resemble Amanda-Lynn, and her father, a man with darker skin, black hair, and brown eyes that could only resemble Dr. Richard Sawyer the second, one who tried to cut Zoe open when she was younger.

Zoe widened her eyes, and tried not to tear up inside. "That's not what happened," Zoe said in a whispered shock. Natasha and Zoe looked at her. Zoe shook her head. "My mother was murdered and I killed my father, by accident," she gulped. Now she only had more questions in her head rather than answers.

The image flipped to Fury's picture and side profile, zooming to fill the screen with the word deceased written across Director Nick Fury's facial profiles.

"HYDRA created a world so chaotic that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice its freedom to gain its security. Once the purification process is complete," Zola said, and the image switched to another series of historic images all leading up to cameras on street lamps and buildings and leading up to Project Insight.

Zoe remembered Project Insight alright, and it wasn't supposed to be anything at all like this. Project Insight was supposed to be different, and save lives, not kill. Zoe felt like her whole world was suddenly crashing around her, and that everything she worked for was…a lie? Her entire family had worked for Hydra? Her mouth suddenly grew dry and thick.

"HYDRA's new world order will arise. We won, Captain. Your death amounts to the same as your Life; a zero sum," Zola said.

Suddenly Steve punched the computer, breaking the computer glass with his fist. Zoe could feel the anger riveting from Steve's body, and the tension in the room had increased tenfold. Zoe tried to contain her emotions the best she could, but honestly she didn't blame Steve for punching the computer. She probably would have done the same if she wasn't so interested in her family's involvement with Hydra.

"As I was saying," Zola's face popped up on one of the other computers to their right. "What's on this drive? Project Insight requires insight. So I wrote an algorithm."

"What kind of algorithm? What does it do?" Natasha asked quickly.

"The answer to your question is fascinating," Dr. Zola said. "Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it."

The doors started to close behind them, making Steve whirl around to thrust his Shield at them to stop them from closing in but it was too late. His Shield came back to his hand, and he gripped it tight. "Admit it. It's better this way. We're both of us…out of time."

Zoe wanted to desperately know more about her family's history and how far back it went to Hydra, but Natasha already ripped the flash drive from the port and pulled Zoe away from the computer, practically dragging her feet across the cement floor. Natasha curled her body around Steve just as Zoe ducked underneath his other arm, while he used his Shield to protect them from the explosion as they fell straight down below under ground with heavy rocks that had exploded from Zola's explosion, knocking Zoe effectively out of commission.

Steve coughed and pulled off rocks and bits of debris out from around him, in search for Zoe and Natasha.

"Tasha, Zo?" Steve coughed, in search for them.

"Steve," Natasha mumbled with her eyes barely awake.

"Zoe," Steve called out.

Steve helped Natasha up onto her feet. Zoe wasn't answering. Natasha used Steve's arm to pull herself up on her feet until she could regain back her strength. Natasha forced her eyes open that stung within the rubble of the mess they were in, but searched for Zoe until they landed on her unconscious form. "There," Natasha said, pointing to Zoe's small body draped across rocks and debris. The duffle bag rested beside her limp arm, as she appeared to have clung her hands around the straps until her knuckles turned white.

"Can you walk?" Steve asked in between the smoke filled air.

Natasha tried to move, but slipped, and lost her balance. She gripped onto his arm tightly, and shook her head. She was loosing conscious and gripped onto Steve tightly before she fell to her feet. Steve set her down gently on the rock so that he could pick up his Shield, and hook it to his armguard. He allowed her to climb onto his back, so that she could piggyback against him and lean onto him for support, while he picked up the unconscious Zoe (with the duffle bag still draped over her body). He was careful not to hit the crown of her head against the metal part of his Shield, and walked out of the rubble and debris, in search for a way out.


	31. Chapter 31: Laying Low

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or Winter Soldier. They belong to their respective owners. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 31: Laying Low**

Agent Brock Rumlow hung off the ramp, watching the debris and ruble of the building pile up into smoke and flames, as he and his fellow team members flew the quinjet's in search for the Cap, Zoe, and Natasha. That explosion should have killed them.

The lights of the quinjet scanned the area for any life forms. One of Rumlow's teammate helped him secure a cable line so that Rumlow could drop down to the ground below for a closer look around the fallen army base now blown to bits of pieces of rock and mulch.

He landed on his two feet like he was on a mission, smart, and tactical like he always was, and shined his flashlight on the dusty ground, until his light rested on a large foot print.

Rumlow turned to his earpiece, "Call in the asset," he said.

If the Cap made it out, that meant Romanoff and Zoe were at least still breathing. But they couldn't have gone very far. Rumlow took a cold hard look at the foot print and felt a slight twinge in his heart. He had a job to do. Find them and get rid of them, so they were out of the way.

Sure, he and Zoe were friends in the academy for however long, and now, now things were different. He did hope that she would be on his team, but now he was working for Pierce. He knew Zoe's true allegiance, and he wasn't going to let that get in the way of his goals.

~*WS*~

Later that night at Alexander Pierce's residence, Alexander felt restless. He'd tried to go to sleep, but he was so anxious about getting this done, he just couldn't sleep. He would sleep like a baby until this was all over and things have finally come to light. He thought, as he walked across his outside patio to his kitchen. He walked inside and headed toward the fridge for some milk. A nice glass of milk would certainly calm him down.

Rumlow had called him in the middle of the night to bring him the bad news. The Cap was still alive, and that Romanoff girl was with him. Pierce asked him about Zoe, his secret weapon, but Rumlow said he wasn't sure what happened to her, but he could only hope that Zoe was still alive.

All Pierce cared about was that Captain America and Agent Natasha Romanoff were finished, and through. Zoe was his shining hope for everything to be put into place.

He pulled the milk carton out of the fridge, and turned around. He was about to put it on the island's countertop, but froze when he spotted someone sitting in the shadows beside his television, hanging on the brick wall.

The darkness of the nighttime hours covered the Winter Soldier's face with just a hint of light that emitted from the fridge's door allowed Pierce to see his dark eyes shine with curiosity.

"I'm going to go, Mr. Pierce," Pierce's housemaid Renata announced, as she stepped out from the living room. She'd noticed the light from the fridge that he was getting his nighttime ritual of milk. "Need anything before I leave?"

"Uh, no, it's fine, Renata, you can go home," he said, closing the fridge door behind him.

"Okay," she said happily. "Night-night."

She walked out of his living room and out of his house, ready to head home for a good night's rest after a hard day's work.

Peirce glanced at the man before him, his face still covered with black greasy hair that rested on his broad shoulders. His dark eyes stared hauntingly back at Peirce.

"Want some milk?" Pierce broke the ice, as he headed to get a glass out of his cupboard. "The time table has moved. Our window is limited. Two targets, level six."

"Three targets," the Winter Soldier reminded him coolly, as Pierce shot him a glare.

"Two, Sawyer is working for me," Pierce said, taking a sip. "They already cost me Zola. I want confirmed death in ten hours." He sat down across from the Winter Soldier.

"Sir," Renata said suddenly, catching Pierce off-guard, as he spun around to face his employee. "Mr. Peirce, I…I forgot my…" she stammered, catching a glimpse of the shadowy man sitting across from Pierce. It was him. She thought. The Winter Solider. She widened her eyes in shock.

"Oh, Renata," Pierce cringed. "I wish you would have knocked," he said, grabbing his gun. He turned around and shot her to her unfortunate death.

~*WS*~

Sam Wilson finished his morning run around the lake at Washington square. He pulled out an orange juice from his fridge, and breathed a sigh of relief. He was just about to take a sip from his orange juice until he heard a knock from his door.

Closing his orange juice, he put it back in the fridge, and went to go see who was at his door.

He opened up and widened his eyes, feeling the shock rush through his soul. Captain America, or in his street clothes as Sam duly noted, he was Steve now, was at his door step with a young lady beside him. She had red hair down to her shoulders, and her face was covered in smudges of dirt and soil like she'd just been through hell. Even Steve looked like he'd been through hell with the smudges of dirt on his face. He carried a young woman in his arms too, who was either sleeping, or unconscious. Sam was guessing it was the latter.

"Hey man," Sam greeted, glancing at the woman he'd recognized earlier this week. However, he did not know the red head by name, nor did he know this woman Steve cradled in his arms.

Steve bumped Zoe up lightly with his knee, so that Zoe didn't fall out of his arms. Natasha looked at him, and hitched Zoe's duffle bag on her shoulder closer to her neck. "Sorry about this, but we need a place to lay low."

Sam glanced at the red head cautiously.

"Everyone we know is trying to kill us," Natasha explained.

He glanced back and forth between the two, and pursed his lips together. "Not everyone."

Sam let them inside his house, and slid the door closed, locked it, and drew his shades down.

"Is it okay if I set her…" Steve began as they walked inside his living room. Sam nodded and offered the couch for her. Natasha set the duffle bag down next to the couch while Steve placed Zoe down on the cushions.

"How bad is it?" Sam asked. "Is she going to be okay?"

"I think so," Steve said.

Sam noticed the evident worry in his voice and turned to the red head, who was looking at the sleeping woman with her arms crossed. She felt Sam's eyes on her, and she turned to face him.

"Natasha Romanoff," she said.

"Sam Wilson," They shook hands. "You can use my bathroom to clean up and stuff. I could watch her."

"Thank you," Steve said sincerely.

Natasha flicked her eyes from Steve to Sam. "Any chance there's a place where we can get some new attire because this just…ain't my style right now," she said slowly.

Sam smirked, "I think there's a Target down the road if you're into that. I got you covered," he said, and walked over to his fireplace in search for a ward of cash. He pulled it out for her. "Here."

"Thank you," Natasha said, pocketing the money in her back pocket.

"We owe you man," Steve said, laying an afghan onto Zoe's body to keep her warm. She shivered slightly as the afghan covered her body. Steve placed his hand over her forehead, thoughtfully, and pushed a few brown strands of hair out of her eyes, as a thoughtful look graced his concerned features.

"Captain America needs my help," Sam said, grinning slightly.

Steve turned to face Sam. A small smile appeared on Steve's face as the feeling warmed his heart.

"No better person," Sam added.

"Well, thanks, I appreciate it," Steve said, and glanced to Natasha. "Uh, you can go first. I'll keep an eye on Zoe."

Natasha smiled and nodded. She walked down the hallway where Sam showed her the large restroom big enough for two people.

She let out a deep sigh, and started to get herself cleaned up.


	32. Chapter 32: Morning Breakfast

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or Winter Soldier. They belong to their respective owners. I just own my OC. I am writing for fun, and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 32: Morning Breakfast**

Steve stared down at the sink washing his hands as he let the previous events of his life run through his mind. He shook the water droplets off of his hands into the sink before he turned the water off.

Everything he'd worked for had been a lie. Every moment in his life, his career, his dreams and goals…was for order and control? It didn't matter what he did for S.H.I.E.L.D. because it would end up something that he had worked so hard to prevent in life. He always believed in freedom. People deserve freedom.

He looked in the mirror and saw Natasha struggle to wring out the water of her hair with her own towel, and saw that she wasn't herself. She was pensive and had a soft look on her face, like she was trying to figure out why this happened. Was she scared? Steve frowned slightly and placed the towel back on the hook adjacent to the wall, and leaned against the threshold. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Natasha looked up from the floor and into his eyes. She nodded. "Yeah," she said, but he could hear the uncertainty in her voice no matter how hard she tried to mask it.

Steve walked over to her and sat down on the edge of the tub. She turned to face him, and swallowed hard.

"What's going on?" Steve asked.

Natasha looked wide-eyed before she spoke, and then turned to Steve. "When I first joined S.H.I.E.L.D. I thought I was going straight. But, I guess I just traded in the KGB for Hydra."

She drew in a sharp breath and let it out, glancing down. "I thought I knew all those lies I thought I was telling, but…" she looked up and gave him a brave smile. "I guess I just can't tell the difference anymore."

Steve nodded, listening to her words. "There's a chance you might be in the wrong business."

Natasha let out a small impressed scoff at Steve before she suddenly turned serious. "I owe you," she said.

"It's okay," Steve shook his head.

"If it was the other way around," Natasha said. "And it was down to me to save you to save your life, now be honest with me, would you trust me to do it?" She looked at him hard, searching for an answer in his eyes.

Steve was a bit taken aback by the question, but the more he thought about it, the more he thought he could trust Natasha right now. Now he could. "I would now," he said.

Natasha's eyes slid to a furrowed look slightly before they smiled in surprise, and a weird feeling slithered into her heart that was comforting.

"And I'm always honest," Steve said.

"Well, you seem pretty chipper who found out they just died for nothing," Natasha teased slightly.

"Well," Steve said, leaning back. "I guess I just like to know who I'm fighting."

"I made breakfast," Sam said, poking his head through the threshold, as he leaned his arm against the wall. "If you guys eat that sort of thing…and um…your girl's awake, kind of freaking out. I calmed her down with some orange juice."

Steve and Natasha gave each other a worried look.

"She likes coffee! Coffee calms her down," Natasha said.

"I don't like coffee," Sam said with a cringe. "Plus caffeine is awfully terrible for your joints. How is she a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent again?"

Natasha smiled. "She's an actress."

She walked over to Sam's bath sink and lifted up a hair straightener with a couple of girly items in a box, giving him questionable eyes.

Sam cringed. "Ex-girlfriend. Just haven't gotten around to de-cluttering it out yet."

"Well, then," Natasha said, taking out the hair straightener and the blow dryer. "Don't mind if I use it right? What she doesn't know, won't hurt her."

"She's kind of scary," Sam said, glancing at Steve. Steve smiled.

"She's Natasha," Steve said. "Alright, time to talk to Zoe and find out what's up with her." Steve said as he got up from the bathtub. He was about to head out until Natasha stopped him.

"I can do it," she said.

"You sure?" Steve asked.

"I got this," Natasha said with a smile on her face.

Steve nodded and allowed Natasha to walk out of the bathroom, and head into the living room, where she spotted Zoe seated on the couch, staring into the fireplace that wasn't turned on. She curled her fingers around the afghan and tugged it tight around her shoulders, trying to find some common comforting ground after the events that started to focus back into her now awake state.

"Hey, Zo," Natasha said, walking over to her. She looked at Zoe with a small frown on her face. She was shaking like a leaf, and scared. "How would you like to get cleaned up, have breakfast, and wear some fresh clothes, hmm?"

Zoe swallowed hard and didn't move for a second, but Natasha's words entered her ears, and for once she didn't hear the steely or dry voice she usually spoke to her, and tore her eyes away from the fireplace.

"My family is Hydra," Zoe said in a hollow voice.

Natasha looked up as Steve and Sam walked into the kitchen. Steve leaned across the countertop, and offered to help Sam set up the table for breakfast. Sam showed him where everything was.

Zoe could hear the clinks of dishes and glasses, pulling out of the cupboards just faintly in her ears.

"There's an explanation for everything, right?" Natasha asked.

Zoe looked at the red head and nodded, but she just couldn't help it. The tears spilled from her eyes, and that's when Natasha drew in a deep breath, and quickly sat beside Zoe. She took the glass of orange juice in her hands before it broke to pieces, and sat it down on the coffee table in front of them. Natasha wrapped an arm around her to keep Zoe from crying out.

Zoe whipped the tears away from her eyes, and let out a shaky sigh.

"Look, the bathroom is open now, so you can get cleaned up. I'll get us some clothes, and Sam will make you breakfast, okay?" Natasha tried again.

Zoe let out another sigh, but this time of relief.

"Yeah," Zoe said. "That sounds great."

Natasha smiled and took Zoe to the bathroom where Zoe could take her shower, and feel the warm water droplets around her body, hugging her soul deeply, as she tried to take everything she just learned about her own life in. She had discarded her old clothes onto the floor, no longer wearing the cool memories of last night on her body and soul.

Natasha was about to leave Zoe in the shower until she heard Zoe's cry of tears leave her lips. She looked at her up and down thoughtfully before she left to have breakfast with the boys, in hopes Zoe would get over it like she knew the girl could.

~*WS*~

"Sorry if you're having trouble with my hair, it's pretty thick," Zoe said as Natasha clamped the hair irons together along Zoe's thick and wavy hair down slowly with her fingers.

Natasha looked in the mirror as she stood behind Zoe, and didn't say anything.

Zoe smiled, as she shifted in her seat against the bathtub's edge. Zoe sighed, and felt so much better in her new clothes, skinny jeans, and a white tank top, fresh out of Target that would complete her with a white suede three-quarter sleeve jacket. She even liked the new brown boots Natasha picked out for her. The woman had style.

Zoe sighed suddenly. She could hear her voice return back to her normal chipper self, but the thoughts just came up to her mind like a freight train. She felt so weird in knowing that her whole family was Hydra, and that she wasn't. Not really. She was working for S.H.I.E.L.D. but now that was gone too, and had flipped all around her even though she tried to keep her wits about her during the whole flip. Pierce had gotten to her. And Pierce had threatened Zoe with something so much more than Project Insight because she knew he would just do it anyway. It wasn't Steve, Natasha, or any other member of the Avengers. It was something so much more than what Zoe could have ever hoped for. Zoe had no choice but to walk the other side. She wasn't sure if she should tell someone. She could tell someone, but would they believe her? And right now everyone was so focused on stopping Hydra and Project Insight from happening. Zoe had to focus on that too.

She had her orders from Pierce, and she had her orders from Fury. And Zoe would love nothing more than to listen to her own words she'd given to Steve before about Pierce not being her director because he wasn't. He was only a Secretary. But he had a powerful influence about him that scared her deep inside.

"Rogers will have to fight the Winter Soldier in due time. When you see the Winter Soldier and Rogers is dead, go to him. He knows the next name of the Hydra base in our next phase."

"You don't know?" Zoe asked.

"My time is coming to an end," he said. "I must surrender when I know I am beat."

"You're not beat yet," Zoe said. "Rogers doesn't even know who's leading Hydra."

"I can feel it in my old bones, sweetheart," Pierce said, noticing the look on her face."But don't worry, Zoe, another head shall take its place. I know your father would be proud. Hail Hydra."

Zoe swallowed hard at the words that stung in her ears, as Pierce placed a hand over her shoulder. He wanted her to say it. He wanted her to say those words out loud, but she just couldn't.

"You'll ease into it, slowly, but surely, and if not, he will kill you, and you will never know the truth." Pierce said, with a gentle nod of his head, and left her be.

"Stop," Natasha said seriously. "I know what you're doing; Clint used to do it too, and it's not helpful to dwell on what you should or should not have done."

Zoe was about to lean her head back, but Natasha pulled it foreword so she could see the strands of hair better. She was nearly finished with Zoe's hair that was taking a lot longer to straighten than expected.

"I always used to wonder why I can't be more like you," Zoe said softly.

That comment out loud made Natasha pull the straightener to a slow stop, and made her furrow her brows slightly. "Why?" she asked.

"Oh come on," Zoe said with a slight scoff. "You're perfect."

Natasha pursed her lips together aside in a thoughtful manner. "I just have a lot of experience, and you just started your first assignment with S.H.I.E.L.D."

"You mean Hydra?" Zoe asked, glancing up at her with sad eyes.

"And you can't blame yourself for that, either," Natasha said. "This is your job. You'll be fine."

"What if I'm not fine? What if I can't get out?" Zoe asked.

Natasha frowned at her words hanging in the air. There had been many times when Natasha thought that she couldn't get out but she did, all on her own. She didn't give up. She wasn't that kind of person, and Natasha didn't think Zoe would be the type to give up either. She kept trying to better herself in the world.

"You'll find a way," Natasha said. "Killer."

Zoe quirked an eyebrow and smiled thoughtfully. "That should be my code name," Zoe said.

A small laugh trickled out of Natasha's lips, and nodded, as she finished straightening strands of Zoe's brown hair.

~*WS*~

"So, the question is who would command S.H.I.E.L.D. to launch a domestic missile strike?" Natasha said, glancing at Zoe who was shoveling French-toast and fruit down her mouth, enjoying every savory bite as Sam poured more orange juice in her drink. She smiled at him, taking the glass from his hand. "Thank you, Sam," Zoe said.

"Any time," Sam said. "Are you okay, now?"

"Yeah," Zoe said, smiling slightly. "I think so. And I can answer that," she said, turning to Steve as her smile turned upward into a proud grin.

"And?" Steve asked, glancing at Zoe for an answer.

"Well, who do you think is "acting-in-control" now, silly?" Zoe asked, leaning her wrist against the table before she put a bite of the French toast into her mouth with her fork in her hand.

"Pierce," Steve said, turning to face the window.

"Exactly," Zoe said, pointing her fork in the air toward Steve, and placed her fork into her mouth, devouring the yummy fluffy flavor. She was actually enjoying this much more than Rumlow's French toast.

"Who happens to be sitting in top of the most secure building in the world," Natasha said, pacing around the room.

"He's not working alone," Steve said, glancing up at Natasha and Zoe. "Zola's algorithm was on the Lumarien Star."

Sam peeled an apple, leaning against the counter, listening to their conversation.

"So was Jasper Sitwell," Natasha said. Zoe looked up at Natasha and Natasha nodded for Zoe to explain everything that she was going to spill at the MacBook store to Steve.

"That's right," Zoe said, nodding. "Jasper Sitwell was my partner," she said, now feeling everyone's eyes on her as she tried to explain the first part of her mission. "Fury wanted me to be Sitwell's partner and help try to diffuse the situation before it got worse, but Sitwell failed to do his job. Sitwell was my mission on the Lumarien Star. I wasn't totally positive he was the mole. He seemed eager to work with me on the Lumarien Star. If he did turn, I was supposed to stop him. I didn't want to kill him. He just seemed so sincere about working with S.H.I.E.L.D. and he seemed upbeat about doing his job even if he failed to become a hostage instead of protection detail, like I was, but I wasn't going to let the pirates hurt the hostages. I couldn't, so I tried my best to get out of that situation. Then you and the S.T.R.I.K.E. came to the rescue," Zoe said with a sigh.

"Afterwards, the thoughts of that night wouldn't leave my head. I just couldn't be sure what side he was on. So, I kept it to myself, contemplating on whether or not I should have told someone. It was only yesterday that I finally realized the truth about Sitwell and what his true motives were, but it was too late, and I couldn't tell Fury the bad news. There's a reason I don't go on many field missions," Zoe said. Returning to S.H.I.E.L.D. the next morning, made her want to quit. She tried to do a good job and find out if Sitwell was the mole because when she read his file in her records, something wasn't adding up to his rep sheet, but whenever she was around him, passing him by down the halls, he would smile at her and be nice to her. She looked down at her food. "I like being the Records Keeper."

"I think that job has ended at S.H.I.E.L.D.," Natasha said. "You're stuck with us."

Zoe looked up after a brief silent moment, and smiled at her. "No place I'd rather be."

Steve looked at her thoughtfully, eyes dancing upon her. She was conflicted in the field, it seemed, but she wasn't a bad fighter, and she wasn't a bad person either. She honestly wanted to try to help, but maybe she wasn't cut out for the Avengers or field work after all, but if he knew Zoe like he thought he did, she would want to confront Sitwell straight up, and Steve didn't mind her tagging along. If they were going to make this work, Steve was betting Zoe knew a place where she could get a set of knives to cover herself in a fight as well as theirs.

"So," Steve said slowly, looking at Zoe's crest fallen face. "The real question is how the three most wanted people in Washington kidnap a S.H.I.E.L.D. officer in broad daylight."

"The answer is you don't," Sam said suddenly, tossing a packet in front of them. Zoe swallowed her final bite of food in her mouth before she pushed it aside her.

"What's this?" Steve asked, glancing at it in the middle of the kitchen table.

"Call it a resume," Sam said.

Zoe took the folder from the table, and opened it up revealing different pictures of what happened on Sam's Op with his para-rescue team. Natasha peered over Zoe's shoulder, arms crossed over her chest, as Steve stood up and also looked over Zoe's shoulder. Zoe was impressed with Sam's folder of complete Intel from his Op.

"Is this Bakhmala?" Natasha asked. "The Khalid Khandil mission. That was you." Sam nodded at Natasha. She flicked her eyes to Steve. "You didn't say he was a para-rescue."

Zoe looked at Sam with his partner beside him thoughtfully and smiled. She handed the picture to Steve who took a closer look at it, and looked up at Sam.

"Is that Riley?" Steve asked.

Sam nodded.

"He's cute," Zoe said lightly, putting the picture back in the stack of pictures Sam had protected for so long.

Sam let out a small chuckle. "I'm sure he would've appreciated that, thanks."

Zoe smiled thoughtfully at Sam, and Sam smiled at her.

"I heard they couldn't bring the choppers because of the RPG's," Natasha said, bringing Zoe back to reality. "What did you use a stealth chute?"

Sam walked over to the table and pulled out the other folder titled Falcon onto it, and handed it to Zoe.

Zoe took it in her hands and let her mouth drop.

"I thought you said you were a pilot?" Steve asked, taking his eyes off of the picture and the description down below.

"I never said pilot," Sam grinned.

"I can't ask you to this, Sam," Steve said after a moment of realization of who he was talking to and bringing into the fight.

"Dude," Sam said. "Captain America needs my help. There's no better reason to get back in."

Steve glanced at Natasha and Zoe who both shrugged. "The more the merrier?" Zoe asked.

"Where can we get our hands on one of these?" Steve asked.

"The last one is at Fort Meade," Sam said. "Behind three guarded gates and a twelve inch steel wall."

Zoe raised her eyebrows at that and folded the folder back up, tapping the bottom lightly on the table.

Steve turned to Natasha. She shrugged, shaking her head as if it was no problem.

"Shouldn't be a problem," Steve said.

Zoe smiled and gently placed the packet down in front of her that read Exo-7 Falcon across the folder.


	33. Chapter 33: Taking Action

**Disclaimer: I do not won the Avengers or Winter Soldier. They belong to their respective owners. I merely own my OC and I am writing for fun, not for profit!**

 **Chapter 33: Taking Action**

"That was smart," Sam said.

Zoe glanced at Sam curiously as she hacked into Jasper Sitwell's phone from her seat beside Sam. She wrapped the strap of her duffle bag around her ankle boots to keep her mind at ease as a reminder that she still has it. Sam and Zoe were sitting, and waiting for Jasper Sitwell and Senator Stern to come out of their lunch meeting. Zoe was hacking into Jasper's phone in the meantime. Zoe turned to Sam in her chair, and glanced over at him. "What was?" she asked with a smile on her face.

"Putting a tracking device on Sitwell," Sam said. "Smooth move."

"I feel like it's the only thing I did right," Zoe said.

Sam tilted his head to the side, glancing slightly at her as she worked her skills on his phone, and put his shades on. "And you're hacking into his phone. Not bad."

Zoe grinned. "This is an easy level one move. I can do this in my sleep."

Sam chuckled, as the waitress came by with one ice tea and a cappuccino for Zoe. Sam glanced over at the coffee drink in front of Zoe as she easily became distracted by the caffeine drink.

"You know, you might sleep better if you stop drinking caffeine," Sam said.

"Or be miserable," Zoe said, taking the cup to her mouth. She blew across the top of the liquid's surface and took a sip.

"Or be less miserable," Sam said.

Zoe's eyes slanted over in a smirk as she looked at Sam. He smiled at her, and she smiled slightly back. "So, what are they talking about?" Zoe asked.

Sam turned to his earpiece that Zoe gave him as soon as they had entered the restaurant's patio of tables and chairs. Other innocent people sat around them and ate lunch, minding their own businesses.

"Nothing exciting," Sam said. He sighed. "Oh…wait…" Sam said, sitting upright in his chair as he watched Jasper Sitwell and Senator Stern walk out of the restaurant. "Of all people…" Sam's words drifted from his lips, as he shook his head in disgust.

Jasper Sitwell and Senator Stern walked out of the restaurant with agents on either side of them for protection detail that Zoe probably would have been on hadn't she become a fugitive from S.H.I.E.L.D. turned upside down.

"Listen, I gotta fly home tonight because uh…" Senator Stern said, glancing at Sitwell as they walked to the cement stairs. "I got some constituency problem, and I gotta press the flesh."

Sam made a disgusted face. Zoe looked up from Sitwell's phone and looked over at his facial expression. Sam shook his head as if she didn't want to know what they were talking about upon the restaurant's platform. Zoe continued to hack into Sitwell's phone. She was almost done.

"Any constituent in particular, Mr. Senator?" Sitwell asked.

"Uh, no not really. Twenty-three, kind of hot. Real hot. You know, wants to be a reporter, I think. I don't know who listens at that point?" Senator Stern said.

"Doesn't sound like much of a problem to me," Sitwell said with a big smile on his face.

"Really? Cause she's killing my back," Senator Stern said. "Look, this isn't the place to talk about it." His fingers grazed the edges of the small pin tacked along Sitwell's suit, as he admired the pin, and what it represented. He smirked. "That's a nice pin," he said.

"Thank you," Sitwell said, feeling the love given from Senator Stern.

"Hail HYDRA," Senator Stern whispered in Sitwell's ear as they exchanged a hug, but it only made Stern wince a bit. "See that, right?"

"I just saw that," Sitwell said.

"Should I get it checked?" Senator Stern asked and Sitwell nodded at him as Stern continued to limp down the stairs.

"Almost done, Zoe? I'm ready to kick this guy's ass," Sam said under his breath.

"Almost," Zoe said, figuring out Sitwell's compartments in his phone. "Yes! Bingo, gotchya," she said, and handed Sam his phone back. "You are now "acting Alexander Pierce"."

Sam searched through the contacts and hit send, calling Sitwell's number.

Sitwell frowned slightly as he took out his phone from his suit pocket, and looked at the caller I.D. screen. Alexander Pierce.

"Bring the car around," Sitwell said to his men. "I need a minute." They nodded and his protection detail left him alone, as Senator Stern had left moments earlier. "Yes, sir?"

"Agent Sitwell, how was lunch?" Sam said, placing the phone to his ear. He leaned back, resting his arms across his chair, and Zoe's arm chair.

"Ask him about the crab cakes, they're his favorite," Zoe said. "He seriously just snapped a picture of them! A selfie!" Zoe said, unable to believe what a jerk Sitwell was. She leaned forward in her seat, leaning her elbow against the table, and took another sip of her cappuccino. She placed her chin within the palm of her hand, feeling the moment of pride surge through her.

"I hear the crab cakes are delicious," Sam said.

Zoe grinned.

"Who is this?" Sitwell demanded.

"The good looking guy in the sunglasses. You're ten o'clock," Sam said, watching Sitwell turn slightly. "Your other ten o'clock," Sam said. Sitwell turned to face Sam and Zoe sitting at a round table of the restaurant patio. "There ya go," he said.

Sam and Zoe waved at him.

Sitwell glared at them through his spectacles. He knew it. He knew she wasn't really loyal to HYDRA. She didn't seem the type. She seemed more like Roger's type to fight for the good and the innocent rather than to fight with evil, unless she was working…. Sitwell grimaced as a thought occurred to him. He looked over at Zoe and her grin just smiled even wider. You never can tell about people, he thought with a sigh.

"What do you want?" Sitwell said.

"You're going to go around the corner, to your right. There's a grey car, two spaces down. We're going to take a ride," Sam explained.

"Why would I do that?" Sitwell asked.

"Because that tie looks really expensive, and I'd hate to mess it up," Sam replied.

Sitwell glanced down at his tie. A red laser dot danced across his expensive tie, and he looked around for a sniper on top of any nearby building, but he didn't see anyone.

~*WS*~

Steve tossed Sitwell across the rooftop they were on. Sam and Zoe took Jasper Sitwell to the rooftop where Natasha and Steve had set up base point for their interrogation.

"Tell me about Zola's algorithm," Steve said, walking towards Sitwell as he got up from the ground and placed his glasses over his nose. He stepped back cowardly as Steve advanced forward.

Natasha and Zoe followed Steve across the roof, and joined the two boys not a moment later.

"Never heard of it," Sitwell said.

"What were you doing on the Lemurian Star?" Steve asked.

"I was throwing up, I get seasick," Sitwell said, glancing at Zoe, who pursed her lips together to the side as Sitwell nearly fell to his feet, but Steve caught him by his jacket, and lowered him gently almost off the edge. "Is this really splitting semantics in throwing me off the roof? Because it's really not your style, Rogers."

"You're right," Steve said, letting him go. He gently allowed Sitwell to stay on his own two feet and relax a little bit. "It's hers," he said.

Natasha threw a hard kick against Sitwell's stomach, and he fell down the building screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Oh, wait, what about that girl from accounting…Laura?" Natasha asked.

"Lillian," Steve said. "Lip piercing…right?"

"Yeah, she's cute," Natasha said lightly.

"Yeah, I'm not ready for that," Steve said.

"Still trying to find Steve a date, huh?" Zoe asked Natasha. Natasha grinned at her and nodded.

"He's very picky," Natasha said.

"I just don't know what I want yet," Steve said.

"Never know what you want till you don't try," Zoe said.

"Girl makes a good point," Natasha said.

Steve smiled as Sam the Falcon returned with a freaked out Sitwell, and tossed him back on the roof. Sam landed on the ground, and the wings attached to his jet pack retracted back inside the pack strapped around his body. He lifted his goggles up from his face as Steve, Zoe, and Natasha circled him.

"Told you we were going to have words, you and I," Zoe said, stepping closer. She crossed her arms over her chest, and looked down at him.

Sitwell glared at Zoe who just smiled at him and he began talking at a rushed and scared pace now that he was shaken out of his comfort zone.

"Zola's algorithm is a program for choosing Insight Targets!" Sitwell rasped.

"What targets?" Steve demanded. Zoe could hear the sirens of ambulances, and police cars blaring behind them, and she frowned.

"You! A TV anchor in Cairo, the Undersecretary of Defense, a high school Valedictorian in Iowa city. Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, anyone who's a threat to HYDRA!"

Natasha looked at Sitwell then at Steve and Zoe, and listened to Sitwell.

"Now, or in the future," Sitwell said.

"The future? How could it know?" Steve said.

"How could it not?" Sitwell asked. "The 21st century is a digital book. Zola taught HYDRA how to read it," Steve, and Natasha looked at Sitwell with confused glances on their faces. Sam and Zoe also shared a look together and looked at Sitwell for more answers. Sitwell rolled his eyes, but started to explain anyway, "Your bank records, medical histories, voting patterns, e-mails, phone calls, your damn SAT scores. Zola's algorithm evaluates peoples' past to predict their future.

Zoe frowned, as a sickening feeling started to settle within her stomach. Holy shit, she thought to herself.

"And what then?" Steve demanded to know more.

"Oh my God," Sitwell said as frightening realization dawned upon his face. He was so dead. "Pierce is going to kill me."

"What then?" Steve said sternly.

"Then the Insight Helicarriers scratch people off the list. A few million at a time," Sitwell said with a tired sigh.

Zoe looked down at the floor, and felt every fiber of her being unravel to shriveled threads. This is what her family was working for? To kill innocent people? She just couldn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it. And now she didn't have anyone friendly in S.H.I.E.L.D. who would know the truth about why they would do this, about why she had to have this kind of life. Why her? Who could she turn to for answers? Maybe Pierce did know the truth. Maybe she could find out from him, and then maybe she could find a way to stop it.


	34. Chapter 34: Metal Assasin

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or Winter Soldier. They belong to their respective owners. I just own my OC. I am writing for fun, and not for profit.**

 **A/n: Original title of this chapter was Winter Solider, now Metal Assassin.**

 **Chapter 34: Metal Assasin**

Sam and Steve sat in the front seats while Natasha and Agent Sitwell squished Zoe in the middle of the backseat of the car. Sam drove them on the freeway of the busy bridge that would eventually take them back to the Triskelion, so they could deal with Alexander Pierce and find a way to stop the Hellicarriers from killing innocent people because Zoe would not stand for this at all.

"Hydra doesn't like leaks," Sitwell said, leaning forward in his seat.

Zoe glanced at Sitwell warily, as Sam looked at him through his rear view mirror, tightening his grip on the wheel. "So, why don't you try sticking a cork in it," he said.

"He says launch is in sixteen hours, we're kinda cutting it a little close here," Natasha said, leaning her head forward behind Steve.

"I know," Steve said. "We'll use him to bypass the DNA scan and access the Hellicarriers directly."

Natasha leaned back in her seat and turned over to face Zoe, who seemed rather quiet than her usual self. She could understand a little bit of what she was going through, and continued to hope that Zoe was in the game because they needed her.

"What?" Sitwell asked. "Are you crazy? That is a terrible, terrible idea!"

Suddenly, a hand shot through the glass window, breaking it. Glass shards fell everywhere and flew into Zoe's face, as she gasped as the sharp shards of glass hit her face from every direction. She ducked to cover herself up and was about to reach out for Sitwell, but it was too late. He was pulled out with one swift move, never to be seen again. "Sitwell!" Zoe cried after him, sticking her head out the window, but Natasha pulled her back inside as the man on top of the car attempted to break in from the roof.

"Zoe! Get on top of Sam now!" Natasha said, as she climbed up and over onto Steve. Zoe's face turned pink and felt her ears turn warm when she said that. Her heart almost stopped, but she didn't have much time to think about how odd that sounded because a bullet shot through the roof, nearly hitting Zoe's shoulder. She ducked out of the way, and followed Natasha's suite into climbing over through the cup holder in the middle, and twisted her body so that she sat onto Sam's lap.

Sam allowed her to relax against his hard chiseled chest, while he tried to concentrate on driving at the same time this crazy psycho tried to kill them. Sam's arms were wrapped around Zoe protecting her, and focusing on the road at the same time so that they didn't die or hit anyone else that was driving on the road.

Sam suddenly used the stick, and stomped on the break pedal, which caused them to screech to a very loud halt. Natasha nearly slipped off of Steve as she laid back against the dash board. Zoe tried to hold onto Sam, but she ended up leaning her back against the window of the driver's seat door.

Suddenly an arm stretched out and grabbed Zoe by the throat. He yanked her out of the car, taking her with him before he flipped over in the air, holding Zoe hostage as she tried to breathe from the death-defying fall. He landed on his knee, and held out his hand to stop himself from going any further. "Zoe!" Sam said, trying to reach for her but it was too late. He looked at Steve with shocked eyes as he looked back at the road ahead of him.

The Winter Soldier wrapped his gloved hand around her neck, and threatened to kill her if they came forward with the car that Sam was driving. But Zoe used her elbow to hit him against his stomach, which caused him to double over, not realizing that she had it in her to be brave and fight him. She whirled around and raised her fists in the air. He lunged forward, throwing a mean swing across her face. She flew up in the air and twirled around over cars that were trying to get out of their way. She landed hard on the ground, and rolled over until she was close to the bridge's edge and out of the car's way.

Once she was out of the way, the Winter Soldier ran in front of the road, as Natasha attempted to shoot him, but he had jumped up onto the hood of the car and flipped himself over so that he was now on top of the car. A jeep had run into the back of their car, which allowed the Winter Soldier to jump up and onto the roof. He gripped onto the rooftop with his fingers to keep from sliding down as Sam tried to control the harshness of the car by pressing down hard on the breaks. Sparks flew underneath the car as Sam tried to slow down to the best of his ability.

Zoe groaned as she felt the ache rake through her body, but she had to get to them because they were in trouble. She pushed herself up off the ground with all of her might, and brushed the glass shards away from her body. She picked up her boots, and ran down the freeway, aiming her gun at the Winter Solider as she watched Sam stop the car in the middle of the road.

She stopped in the middle of the road, and watched with wide eyes as the Winter Soldier ripped the wheel out of the car like it was nothing, causing Sam to freak out and point to the obvious that the wheel was gone, and they were out of luck if they didn't get out of there fast enough. The Winter Soldier ran from the car to the jeep that was trying to run them off the freeway. The whole backside of the car was damaged.

"Hang on!" Steve said. He grabbed his shield from the floor, and banged his head against the passenger's side door.

Zoe started to shoot at the Winter Soldier to gain his attention. His attention was deterred when the bullets barely grazed his arm. A smirk appeared on his face like he was amused she was trying to divert him from his mission. He shot his own arm at her. She ducked and rolled onto the ground to try and not get hit.

Steve, Natasha, and Sam hugged each other for protection as they fell out of the car and landed onto the road, while the car rolled over and smashed to smithereens against the freeway. Cars dodged away from the car as it rolled to a full stop. Tires bounced onto the ground and metal pieces flew everywhere. Zoe ducked, and used her arm to block any debris that might come her way. She spotted Sam on the ground and got up to help him.

"Sam!" Zoe said, lowering her gun. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine, you?" Sam asked.

Zoe nodded. "Where are Steve and Natasha?"

But that question was met when an agent working for HYDRA had given the Winter Solider a huge gun that neither of them were prepared for. Steve quickly used his shield for protection, and shoved Natasha out of the way. She rolled over beside Sam and Zoe.

"Steve!" Zoe almost ran to him, but Sam pulled her back, for when the Winter Solider tried to hit Steve, the fire bounced off of Steve's shield and tossed him over the bridge and landed into a moving bus, which caused a horrible collision down below, knocking the bus over on its side.

The Winter Soldier and the Agent continued to shoot the car they thought the group was still in, but Sam hid behind a car, while Natasha and Zoe hid behind a parked jeep.

Zoe could hear the sounds of the machine guns roaring in her ear as she cringed at each sickening twirling sound of the weapon. They really wanted them dead, Zoe thought in a panic. She could feel her heartbeat racing as she looked worried almost sick.

She'd been in firefights before, but nothing this drastic and insane. Natasha pulled out her gun and started to fire back. "Go!" Natasha yelled at her, as Zoe glanced at the Black Widow. She grimaced and pushed herself back as she headed towards Sam's position, running further back with him.

The Winter Solider all of a sudden fired, and an explosion hit, which caused Natasha to fly off the bridge. Sam grabbed Zoe and covered her with his body to protect her from the explosion.

Natasha flipped herself and rolled over onto the road, dodging car after car as she tried not to get hit from their speeds. She jumped up on the hood of the car and rolled over as the men advanced on her, taking their firing to an extreme high.

She ran as fast as she could until another bomb exploded and caused a car to flip itself over in hopes that would destroy her, but Natasha was too quick as she used her weapon to shoot a hook that attached itself underneath the cement bridge. She flew on it like a vine that saved her from a death-defying fall onto her feet. She ran on the road.

The Winter Solider was about to shoot another bomb of explosion, but he stopped when he couldn't see her anymore.

All of a sudden, he turned to the bus that had landed on its side, as he'd noticed the shield on the ground. Natasha suddenly fired her guns upwards at him. He leaned back against the cement wall, dodging her bullets.

After a moment of silence, and regaining his patience back, the Winter Soldier spun around and fired the machine gun down in a ruthless manner.

Natasha fired back and ducked behind the bus, while he continued to fire at her in hopes to draw her out. When she realized he was never going to stop until she was dead, she took off running down the road.

"I have her," The Winter Solider said. "Find him."

Steve got up in the bus as soon as the agents started firing at him through the windows. He ran through and pushed himself through the other end, landing on the ground. He grabbed his shield, and hid behind it as two agents, and another agent who stood on top of a car with his machine gun tried to shoot him down.

While they were shooting at Steve, and Steve hid behind the shield, Sam and Zoe weaved in and out of the parked cars.

An agent raised the hook and it dug into the metal of the car, while he set up his machine gun on the ground. Sam came up behind him with his knife in his hand, and kicked him across his right leg, catching the agent off guard. As the agent turned around to face Sam, Sam punched him in the face, and knifed him in the stomach. The agent looked down at his wound that allowed Sam to punch him in the face. The agent doubled over, loosening his grip on his machine gun. Sam caught it and tossed it to Zoe in her hands, while one agent tried to come at her, but without hesitation this time, she shot him down, at the same time Sam threw the agent off the roof.

Sam and Zoe high-fived as Zoe tossed him the machine gun in the air. Sam caught it and she grabbed the agent's machine gun for herself.

Sam shot one agent behind Steve down, while Zoe started shooting at the other two agents that had advanced on Steve.

Steve looked up at Sam and Zoe with pride in his eyes, and smiled, until he felt the repercussions of the one agent who tried to kill Steve, but couldn't because Steve held the shield in front of him.

Steve edged forward as the man continued to fire the machine gun at Steve hardcore. Steve wasn't having it though, so he used the man's shoulder, and flipped himself over him so that Steve could attack him from behind. Steve pulled the agent away from the machine gun and tossed him upward underneath the bridge, and knocked him out.

Zoe aimed her gun and shot at the agent that was now on them. She ducked as the agent started firing back at her.

Steve looked over at the two agents firing at Sam and Zoe on the bridge. He looked up. Zoe popped her head up and brushed a fallen strand of brown hair out of her eyes over her ears.

"Go, we got this!" Sam said.

Steve raised an eyebrow at him, and then looked to Zoe. She nodded, and shot the agent down across the way that was about to jump on Steve. She smiled with bursting pride, as he gave her a small salute, and smiled his thanks at Sam before he took off to find the Winter Soldier.

Sam shot up the police car that exploded in between the intersection.

Meanwhile, the Winter Soldier was in hot pursuit of the Black Widow. He'd recognized her before from his pursuit of the engineer. So he needed to be diligent with his ways. She was an interesting character, one that he was sure she'd hide behind a truck…the voice was so familiar in his ears as he blocked out all the screaming from the scared civilians in the background.

He pulled out a silver device that was a bomb that could go off any second in his hand and held his gun in the air with the other as he headed closer to the vehicle, ignoring the scared pedestrians running away from him.

"I make an LV. Twenty-three hundred blocks over Virginia Ave. Rendezvous point in two minutes," It was Natasha's voice fast pace on her cell phone from S.H.I.E.L.D.

The silver bomb exploded causing the Winter Soldier to frown. He could have sworn he heard her over in that direction, but he had no time to think because he was caught off guard by Natasha as she jumped down from the van and wrapped her legs around his neck. She used her wire and tightened his neck, using her strength and energy to finish him off. The Winter Soldier backed her up as he tried to get her off of him. He shoved her back hard, and she cried out in alarm at the sudden pain that surged through her body. He took his silver arm and flipped her off of him. She landed on top of the car and fell down.

He picked up his gun and aimed it at her, ready to fire, but before he could fire at her, she threw a stinger star at him that landed on top of his metal arm. Blue electricity surged around him and electrocuted him just so that she had time to escape his gun.

She ran down as fast as she could in fear, and urged civilians to run out of the way as well.

"Get out of the way! Get out of the way!" she cried, but was suddenly shot by a shrapnel that stung and pushed hard into her shoulder, shuddering her in fear. She flew back against a car for safety, and searched in fear for the Winter Soldier, as her confidence melted away.

She couldn't see a thing. She didn't know where to look until he jumped up on the car above her, and lowered his weapon down at her. She turned around and widened her eyes in shock.

Steve ran and jumped up to stop him with his shield. Steve used his shield to attack, but the Winter Soldier threw his fist into the shield until the Winter Soldier pushed Steve's shield out of the way, which caused both of them to fall on their backs.

The Winter Soldier got up and fired at him, while Steve hid behind his shield. The Winter Soldier got off of the car and Steve rolled up onto his feet, dodging behind the car while the Winter Solider shot at him. Steve pulled himself up and over the car and flipped over to kick the Winter Soldier in the face.

The Winter Soldier used his gun again to shoot at Steve, but Steve hid behind his shield, as they walked around in a circle. Steve then took out Zoe's knife and raised it in the air and attacked him. The Winter Soldier ducked Steve's attack and grabbed Steve's shield. He threw a punch at Steve's face and twisted his shield, catching his arms in a lock so that Steve twisted his body in the air, but Steve landed on his own feet. He threw a punch at the Winter Soldier, but he twirled backwards, using Steve's shield as protection from Steve's thrusts and lunges with the knife in his hands.

The Winter Soldier used Steve's shield and hit Steve across the face. Steve tumbled backwards and backwards, until Steve stopped himself.

The Winter Soldier smirked behind Steve's shield, and they glanced at one another before Steve ran forward and raised his knife in the air. The Winter Soldier tossed Steve's shield in the air, but it only got stuck in the gray van behind him. Steve continued to run forward with his knife in hand, rather than going back to his shield.

The Winter Soldier grabbed his knife from his leg's pouch and twirled it in his hand before he attacked Steve. Steve blocked his blows every time, and his punches that threatened to hurt. They both matched each other with each other's strengths in the fight.

He twirled the knife in the air and lunged forward with more and more fiber of energy and tenacity than Steve had ever seen before. Steve dodged as quick as he could because this guy was fast.

Steve threw a punch across the Winter Soldier's face and jumped up into a twirl kick to kick him in the air. The Winter Soldier flew and landed against the van. Steve ran forward and jumped in the air, ready to kick the Winter Soldier down as he threw a punch at him, but the Winter Soldier blocked Steve's arm with his metal arm, shoving Steve back in the middle of the road. Steve flipped the Winter Soldier down on the ground and was about to toss another punch at him, but the Winter Soldier grabbed Steve by the neck tight and shoved him over a car that caused Steve to tumble backwards.

The Winter Soldier jumped up and landed in front of Steve and threw a punch down but Steve rolled over, and he got his fist caught in the road as it crumbled around his fist when he tried to punch Steve.

Steve and the Winter Soldier fought in a quickened pace again until the Winter Soldier had Steve's throat, ready to try and kill him with his knife, but Steve turned his head and winced as the Winter Soldier dragged him across the van's side…but Steve wasn't going to let him have that so he ducked and took the Winter Soldier by his torso and flipped him over, landing them both on the ground. Steve flipped back up on his feet, and ripped his shield from the van. He used his shield against the Winter against the knife.

Steve and the Winter Soldier used each other's arms again until Steve finally flipped him over hard enough for the Winter Soldier to roll back, and scrape his mask off the ground.

Steve stood there out of breath as the Winter Soldier stood back up with his back towards Steve.

The Winter Soldier turned around and glared at Steve.

Steve widened his eyes as realization hit him like a freight train. He recognized those eyes, that face… Steve's heart swelled within his chest and he swallowed hard. No. No, it couldn't be him. That's impossible… or could it? "Bucky?" he asked.

The Winter Soldier was about to make a move until he frowned at the name emitting from Steve's lips.

"Who in the hell is Bucky?" The Winter Soldier asked. The Winter Soldier was about to shoot Steve, until the Falcon kicked the Winter Soldier out of the way.

Sam lowered Zoe onto the ground, who stood beside him, holding her duffle bag's strap across her jacket.

The Winter Soldier got up from his spot, and was about to attack Steve until he was suddenly blown away by an explosion thanks to Natasha. Steve turned to face her as she lowered her weapon.

"Nat!" Zoe cried, noticing her frail state. Zoe ran across the road and over to Natasha. "Here," she said. "Lean on me." She said, as Zoe carefully took the gun away from Natasha's shaking hands. "It's okay," Zoe said. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you." She said. Natasha looked up at her with dead eyes, but nodded just the same when Zoe inspected her deep wound. Zoe's heart dropped when she saw the loss of blood already seeping out of her jacket.

"Sam!" Zoe yelled. "She's loosing a lot of blood," she said, shakily.

Sam was about to run over to her, but he was met by several agents instead.

Black SUV's surrounded them around the intersection, screaming, and yelling at Steve. Rumlow was in charge, Zoe duly noted, as she watched them force Steve to get onto his knees. "Get down on your knees! Get down!" They shouted.

Steve looked over at Natasha and Zoe as Rumlow forced his hand on Steve for Steve to lower himself onto his knees and put his hands in the air.

"Not here," Rumlow said, glancing up at the sky. He spotted the media above them, waiting to see what Rumlow and his team would to do the world's greatest superhero. Rumlow glanced at Rollins who was very eager to put a bullet in Steve's head. "Not here!"

Rollins lowered his weapon.

Sam was pushed against the car with his arms tied behind his back.

Zoe and Natasha were both taken, as a line of agents trailed after them. Zoe glanced over at Rumlow, and Rumlow looked over his shoulder, giving her a somewhat sorrowful look as if he was sorry this happened, but Zoe's heart just hardened at the very thought of him.

And Steve was on his knees with Rumlow behind him, looking down at the ground, unsure of how to get out of this mess, and unsure how the Winter Soldier could be his old friend, Bucky Barnes from the 1940's.


	35. Chapter 35: Hill's Bunker

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or Winter Soldier. They belong to their respective owners. I just own my OC. I am writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 35: Hill's Bunker**

Zoe leaned her head back against the wall of the military jeep they were in. Two agents of Rumlow's team sat diagonally in a bench seat beside Zoe as she sat next to Steve, resting, and feeling the aftershocks of adrenaline slow down inside her breaking soul. Her bag was sitting right underneath one of the agent's legs. They'd confiscated it right before Steve got silver metal shackles on him so that he couldn't break out of them. Sam, Natasha, and Zoe had regular cuffs on.

Steve was upset, and exhausted, and most importantly a little bit flabbergasted for when he saw the Winter Soldier's face in the middle of their fight in the road.

"It was him," Steve said.

"How can you be sure?" Zoe asked, hearing the tiredness of her voice leave her lips as she spoke to Steve.

Steve heard Zoe beside him, but continued to look down. "He looked right at me. He didn't even know me."

"How's that even possible?" Sam asked. "That was like seventy years ago."

Silence crept up between the four of them. Natasha leaned her head back, loosing a lot more blood than what Zoe would have liked. She frowned at her friend as she tried to hold on during the ride back to Alexander Pierce. She assumed that's where they were going anyway. She'd defied Pierce's direct order to go with the Winter Solider, only because Steve wasn't dead. They tried to kill him, but like Zoe said to Sitwell, he was twice the man.

She could think of a few things of how Bucky got involved with HYDRA, and she could think of the people who worked on him back in those days. It made her sick to her stomach just thinking about her grandfather and Zola experimenting on innocent people like Bucky Barnes.

"Zola," Steve replied. "Bucky's whole unit was captured in '43. Zola experimented on them. Whatever he did, it helped Bucky survive the fall. They must have found him."

"None of that's your fault, Steve," Natasha said, taking the words right out of Zoe's mouth and heart.

"It's mine," Zoe said.

"Yours?" Sam asked.

"My grandfather worked for Zola, and probably helped speed up the process turning Bucky into the Winter Soldier. I wonder how many of them didn't survive."

Steve glanced at Zoe and saw the hollowed look on her face. "Will you stop that?" Steve asked. "You couldn't have known your family was involved, and even if they were, that doesn't define who you are."

Zoe looked up from the ground, and looked into Steve's blue eyes, heart pounding against her chest. She'd never thought of it like that. Oh no, she thought worriedly. The feelings of emotions were running through her right now, and she wasn't sure what to say after that.

"Even when I had nothing," Steve continued. "I had Bucky."

Zoe frowned, still feeling sorry for him. "Not a good pep talk, Steve," she said.

Steve looked at her softly, "Wasn't supposed to be one this time."

Natasha winced as she moved slightly in her seat, leaning her head back against the wall. Zoe and Sam looked frantically over at her as blood continued to drip out of her wound no thanks to the Winter Solider.

Sam turned angrily at the agents, "We need to get a doctor here. We don't put pressure on that wound, she's gonna bleed out here in the truck-" But instead Sam was met with the agent beside him, electrifying the agent next to him in the black suit. The agent next to the other agent kicked him in the head with his leg, and killed him instantly.

The agent pulled her helmet off of her head, revealing none other than Agent Maria Hill. Zoe widened her eyes in shock. She let out a small scoff of relief and shock at the same time, unable to help but smile. "Ah," Agent Hill said, taking her helmet off, revealing brown helmet hair. "That thing was squeezing my brain."

"Who's this guy?" Agent Hill asked, motioning her head toward Sam.

Zoe grinned widely at her, and turned to her. "Tell me you have a plan."

Agent Hill grinned and handed Zoe the key so that Zoe could unshackle Steve's restraints both wrists and ankles that were attached to the floor of the van.

"I'm Sam," Sam said, as Agent Hill started to unshackle Sam's wrists, and get Natasha out of her own restraints, while it took awhile for Zoe to unschakle Steve but she finally set him free.

"Agent Maria Hill," Hill shook hands with him after they were introduced and Hill started to dig a hole with her equipment so they could escape. "How bad is she?"

"Not so bad," Natasha said in a tired and drawn out voice like she was loosing energy.

Zoe rolled her eyes and scooted over to her so that she could help Natasha, as Sam started to put pressure on the wound with Hill's handkerchief. That's one of the reasons why Zoe loved Agent Hill because the woman always came prepared.

"We'll go as soon as they stop," Agent Hill said.

"What?" Zoe asked.

"They said they were going to kill you once they were in the clear," Agent Hill replied. "They want you out of the way, so Pierce can continue with the launch of the Hellicarriers in the sky," Hill discarded her suit, revealing her military style outfit, and took the duffle bag out from underneath the bench and Zoe looked at it with wide eyes. Maria strapped the duffle bag over her shoulder, and she and Sam started to dig a hole through the floor of the van revealing a fiery hole in the middle.

Natasha, Sam, Steve, and Zoe shared silent looks with one another.

The vans pulled into a full stop as they headed inside a tunnel. Rollins and Rumlow climbed out of their seats and headed toward the very back row of the van line. "Four holes, start digging," Rumlow ordered.

~*WS*~

Natasha jumped out of the back of their stolen vehicle and into the helpful arms of Steve as she leaned against him. Sam, and Zoe followed Agent Hill across the secluded area that rested beside a forest. Zoe looked up at the tall bunker as Agent Hill shifted the strap of Zoe's duffle bag over her shoulder, keeping it steady across her body as she hurried them inside. Agent Hill opened the gate, and Sam opened it further to let Steve and Natasha inside, then Zoe, and he followed suit.

"GSW! She's lost at least a pint!" Agent Hill said toward the running doctor as he ran toward them down the hallway.

The doctor took a hold of Natasha, and Zoe felt a little bit better that they at least had one on site to take care of her friend.

"Maybe two," Sam said.

Zoe widened her eyes in fear as they quickly walked down the dark hallway, lightly lit.

"Let me take her," he said.

"She'll want to see him first," Agent Hill said.

Natasha looked at Agent Hill with confusion as she and Steve sped walked down the hallway and made their way to a closed off space in the bunker. Agent Hill pulled the plastic curtain away revealing none other than Director Nick Fury, alive, and in the flesh, resting on his deathbed.

Zoe widened her eyes in pure shock. What the hell?

"It's about damn time," Fury said, stretching his neck out to see his motley crew.

Zoe would have fainted right then and there hadn't it been for Sam's protected body, so that she didn't fall onto the hard cement floor and she was betting Natasha was feeling the same confused motions if it hadn't been for her shoulder.

They were all shocked, well, except for Agent Hill because apparently she knew about this from the beginning.

Natasha was taken over to the doctor with Steve by her side, and Zoe walked over to Fury, standing closer to the machines. Sam stood by the end of the plastic curtains, though giving them some sort of space.

Zoe balled up her fist and punched Fury in the arm. He coughed slightly at that and raised an eyebrow at her like she was crazy.

"Don't do that to me again," Zoe said. "You have no idea what I've been through."

"Zoe," Agent Hill said, shaking her head.

"No," Zoe said, glancing up at her with a fiery glare toward her former trainer. "I demand to know why. And did you know? Did you know about my family being HYDRA all along? Is that why you had Maria override my clearance to my own office?"

"I wasn't sure how deep the rabbit hole went," he said softly. "And even if I did know, would you have believed me?"

Zoe swallowed hard, slightly taken aback by his question. She would have believed him. He was her boss, and the only person she ever really trusted at S.H.I.E.L.D. besides the very few like Agent Hill, Agent Barton, and now she was beginning to trust Agent Romanoff. It took Zoe a long time for her to warm up to the Black Widow, and she was still iffy, but Natasha could kick butt, and Zoe was starting to think maybe Natasha wasn't so bad after all.

"I'll explain why in a moment, when I know Natasha won't be bleeding to death," Fury said. "But I will explain to you of you're family history. Coulson wanted me to tell you anyway."

Zoe frowned.

"Give us a moment please?" Fury asked within a few coughs.

Agent Hill nodded. She took off Zoe's duffle bag, and handed it to the agent before she took Sam away from the closed part of the room, giving Zoe a moment with Director Fury. Zoe pulled up a chair, and scooted closer to sit beside Fury, and rested the duffle bag in her lap, laying her hands on top.

"Before he died, Coulson wanted me to tell you what he found," Fury began.

"Why didn't you tell me from the beginning?" Zoe asked.

"We didn't know much of anything at the time," Fury said. "Your family records were hard to find, buried so deep, it was a wonder we found them at all."

"The Lumarien Star," Zoe realized. "You knew that my job was just to fake Sitwell out, and make him distracted, so that Romanoff could take the Intel off the ship. It was never about the hostages you led me to believe. That was always Steve's mission, and Sitwell was my mission."

Fury nodded. "I suspected the ship was dirty, and I knew you had the ability to be friendly, and sniff them out. You also needed a way back in to the Triskelion, so you could continue your first assignment."

Zoe sighed, and looked over at him, "Kill two birds with one stone."

"Pretty much," Fury said. "Your father and grandfather worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. They went undercover way back before you were born. They reported Zola's experiments until one day Zola found out your grandfather's betrayal. He would have killed him on the spot, hadn't it been for the threat of killing your grandmother," Fury said.

Zoe frowned. "My grandmother?"

"You're grandmother was an agent with HYDRA. At the time she was involved with Pierce's father," Fury said.

Zoe felt frozen at the knowledge and took in a deep breath, letting the information sink in.

"But your grandfather stole her right from underneath Pierce's nose. They fell in love, had a son, and soon after, things started to heat up during the war and the experiments. Zola kept your grandfather under a tight leash, but they were working to escape Nazi Germany for a better life for their son. But Zola's leash tightened even more. He had a feeling their son was going to be talented. And no matter where they tried to hide, Zola would find them. That son of theirs grew up in the quiet country side of America. That son moved back to New York City, went to MIT, studied Psychology, and got under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radar when the threat of HYDRA started to pick up again. S.H.I.E.L.D. suspected your father had found his way into the mess of it when he wanted to know more about his family history, much like yourself," Fury said. "Like father, like daughter. We found out his wife was pregnant. Amanda had a very strong impact on his life, and was changing him for the better, but the experiments were strong, and they had tools to brainwash. It was hard for your father to leave HYDRA. He kept saying he'd quit and he didn't want to give us anymore Intel because he had you on the way. He never did say his wife was having twins."

Zoe cast a small look over at Fury's face that hardened. "Your father was loyal up until he stayed and went dark for three years. Your mother took you in and raised her by herself, trying to make ends meet as a waitress, and a painter selling her talented gift to the world."

Zoe swallowed hard. "That painting on my wall in the office?"

"Your mother's," Fury said with a smile. "That's a duplicate."

Zoe raised her eyebrows at him.

"What happened after he went dark?" Zoe asked, furrowing her brows in confusion as a thought occurred to her. "Because he came back into our lives one Christmas, I remember," she said.

"He did. He came back, not exactly his normal chipper self, but he was somewhat Dr. Richard Sawyer the second. He had a look of determination like he was on the verge of trying to find out what was wrong with his twin daughter."

"That's why he wanted to try and cut me open?" Zoe asked, horrified.

Fury nodded. "He was convinced he could figure it out by linking the brain and the gut together, along with space and time continuum. Your sister, Ava, was ill. She wasn't well. But HYDRA had him so confused he wasn't sure who he was anymore."

"He wasn't even sure who I was," Zoe said.

"There were days of no report," Fury continued. "To the point where I thought I lost my eyes and ears."

"You did," Zoe said with a nod.

"I did," Fury sighed, and coughed. "Amanda changed your father for the better, Zoe. He was going to go straight because he had two beautiful girls to look after. He never wanted this life for you or Ava."

"Didn't work out so well for either of us, did it?" Zoe asked him, glancing at him.

"Well, the way I see it, Sawyer, is that you've got two options," Fury said, pushing himself up slightly further up on his pillow so he could look down at her. "You can finish what your family started the right way, or you can drink your sorrows away and be that dead beat punk you used to be before S.H.I.E.L.D."

Zoe made a face and felt her shoulders shudder. She didn't like that girl. She wasn't even sure if she liked herself right now either, but Fury made a damn good point. She could turn things around for the better.

"Thought so," Fury said, noticing Zoe's look of pure determination on her face to make things right. "Now be a good girl, and help me up."

"I'm always a good girl," Zoe said, making him chuckle. Zoe gently placed her duffle bag on her seat, and went to get Agent Hill to help Fury move because Zoe thought he was much too delicate to move. Even with her help, she was afraid he might break, and she didn't want to loose anyone else she cared about in her life.


	36. Chapter 36: Healing Wounds

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers, or Winter Soldier. They belong to their respective owners. I am writing for fun and not for profit. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 36: Healing Wounds**

"Lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, one hell of a headache," Fury explained to the group, as Steve, Sam, Agent Hill, and Natasha joined Fury and Zoe not a moment later. Everyone was eager to learn how Fury had survived his crazy attack by the "police".

"Don't forget your collapsed lung," the doctor said, tending to patch up Natasha's shoulder with the tools in his hands.

Fury looked at his doctor, "Let's not forget that. Otherwise I'm good."

Zoe widened her eyes and shared a look with Agent Hill, who stared at Fury with her hand over her hip. Sam had his arms crossed over his chest, while Steve stood on the other side of Fury's bed right next to Natasha in her own seat.

"They cut you open, your heart stopped," Natasha said in disbelief, as the doctor applied pressure to the wound. He was fixing her shoulder as she continued to stare at Fury with questionable and astonished eyes.

"Tetrodotoxin B, Slows the pulse to one beat a minute. Banner developed it for stress. Didn't work so great for him, but we found a use for it," Fury said.

"Why all the secrecy, why not just tell us?" Steve said.

"Any attempt on the director's life had to look successful," Agent Hill replied, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Can't kill you if you're already dead," Fury stated. "Besides, I wasn't sure who to trust," he glanced over at Zoe and Romanoff.

Natasha looked away from her director and looked at the floor. Even Zoe was quiet at that. She looked down at her duffle bag in her lap, and winced.

~*WS*~

Somewhere inside a bank vault, Bucky's metal arm rested against an armchair. HYDRA agents and scientists were working on fixing the arm Romanoff had nearly destroyed in the fight between Captain America and the Winter Soldier.

"Sergeant Barnes!" Dr. Arnim Zola's face came into view.

"He's not stable, Doctor,"

"He will be with your help, Dr. Sawyer," Zola said.

Dr. Sawyer looked over at the HYDRA agent, a woman who had her gun pointed at him if he did not cooperate.

The flashback in Bucky's mind switched to a faded memory that returned to the surface in which the Winter Soldier had thought he'd buried so deep he would never be able to find again.

"Bucky, no!" Steve's voice echoed in his mind as Bucky fell from the train over the mountains.

"The procedure has already started," Zola said. Sawyer used his tools to separate Barnes's arm and replace it with a metal arm. "You are to be the new face of HYDRA," he turned to Dr. Sawyer. "Put him on ice."

Dr. Sawyer looked at Zola, horrified, but he had no choice but to listen to Zola, and do what he was told.

The Winter Soldier returned from his nightmare, and suddenly tossed his metal arm at the HYDRA scientists as they flew to the ground in shock that he would attack them instead of be compliant.

Rollins aimed his gun at the Winter Soldier, frozen in his chair, ready to shoot if he needed to.

That was when Alexander Pierce and Brock Rumlow headed inside the vault, ignoring the scientist's warning that the Winter Solider was unstable, and erratic.

"Mission report," Pierce said, leaning his body forward, waiting to hear what the Winter Soldier had to say. "Mission report, now."

Pierce leaned upward, and walked over to him. He looked down at the Winter Soldier's face, and looked into his soft eyes. Pierce frowned. They were loosing him. They couldn't loose him, not now. He smacked him across the face in hopes that would snap whatever spell he was under.

Bucky winced slightly at the hand slap given to him by his boss, but it didn't stop him from thinking about the man he saw on the bridge that seemed so familiar to him it wouldn't leave his mind. "The man on the bridge…" he asked, looking into Pierce's light blue eyes. He could see the moment flash through him and hear Steve's familiar voice calling his name. "Who was he?"

"You met him earlier this week on another assignment," Pierce replied.

"I knew him," Bucky said.

Pierce drew in this sudden change of events occurring right in front of his nose. He leaned forward. "Your work has been a gift to mankind," Pierce said. "You shaped this century, and I need you to do it one more time. Society is a tipping point between order and chaos. Tomorrow morning we're gonna give it a push. But if you don't do your part, I can't do mine, and HYDRA can't give the world the freedom it deserves."

"But I knew him," Bucky said with a determined glint in his brown eyes.

Pierce sighed. He really didn't want to have to bring her into this, but maybe it would help.

"There is a girl with that man, Sergeant Barnes, a girl who is in danger," Pierce said. "And if you don't get to her, that man you saw on the bridge? He's going to kill her."

"Who is she?" he asked, recognizing the girl he'd remember nearly trying to choke her to death on the bridge. "The Captain seemed to care about her when I took her away from him."

Pierce looked at him with wide eyes, until he blinked and came up with an explanation. "She's on our side, working for the greater good. She was trying to get insight on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s betrayal to this country so that we can be one step ahead of them. That's why you two have become so close, working for the same reasons. I've been trying to get to her, but it is out of my hands. She's a good asset of mine, and one you've very much grown attached to. I would hate for something bad to happen to her."

"Prep him," Pierce said to the scientists who'd regained their self-composures.

"He's been out of cryo-freeze too long," one of them said in a frantic worried voice like Pierce was out of his mind.

"Then wipe him and start over," Pierce demanded with the notion that the Winter Soldier will be back up and in business tomorrow morning.

Alexander Pierce motioned a nod over to the scientists. The HYDRA agents secured a circle around them, while the scientists got Bucky ready. They covered his head with the instrument that would brainwash him, and placed a mouth guard in his head, ready to start the electrifying brainwashing methods HYDRA had used over hundreds of years. Pierce walked away, listening to his screams behind him, and put a wall up over his own emotions.

~*WS*~

Zoe handed Fury an old photo of Alexander Pierce, and stood beside him. She hadn't felt like sitting much after taking in her family's history. Her mind needed to focus on what was important right now. Alexander Pierce was going to launch those Hellicarriers in the sky and kill thousands of people with just a flip of a switch, and she wasn't going to let that happen.

"This man declined the Nobel Peace Prize," Fury said, placing the photo on the table for the group to see. Natasha looked down at it, seated diagonally across from Fury, and Hill. "He said, "Peace wasn't an achievement, it was a responsibility." See, it's stuff like this that gives me trust issues."

Zoe crinkled her nose in disgust. She didn't blame him there. "Who declines a Nobel Peace Prize?" she asked.

"A psycho," Steve said, making her smile.

"We have to stop the launch," Natasha said, sharing a small look with Steve and Zoe. Zoe nodded indefinitely, and she looked up at Steve, giving him a wink.

"I don't think the Council's accepting my calls anymore," Fury opened up the case that had three communication chips, resting inside the black felt of the case.

"What's that?" Sam asked, looking at Agent Hill's computer that was in front of her. He'd noticed something interesting on the computer.

Agent Hill looked up at Sam, and turned it around to share. Zoe walked around the table to join Steve's side so she can look at the laptop's screen. "Once the Hellicarriers reach three thousand feet, they'll triangulate with Insight satellites becoming fully weaponized."

"So we disable the satellites," Zoe said.

Fury nodded at Zoe's simple reasoning, but he didn't think it was going to be that simple. It was a lot more complicated. "We need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own."

"One or two won't cut it," Agent Hill said. "We need to link all three carriers to work, because even if one of those ships remains operational…a whole lot of people are going to die."

"We have to assume that everyone aboard those carriers is HYDRA," Fury continued. "We need to get pass them, insert the server blades, and maybe, just maybe we can salvage what's left…"

"We're not salvaging anything," Steve said firmly.

Everyone looked up at Steve.

"We're not just taking down carriers, Nick, we're taking down S.H.I.E.L.D.," Steve said.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. had nothing to do with it," Fury said, his voice raising a notch in the room.

Zoe twisted her mouth to the side in thought as she listened to them, feeling awkward again.

"You gave me this mission," Steve continued. "This is how it ends. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s been compromised, you've said so yourself. HYDRA grew right underneath your nose and nobody noticed."

Fury looked at him. "Why do you think we're meeting in this cave? I noticed," he said animatedly with his hands, pointing at the table.

"And how many paid the price before you did?" Steve asked.

Zoe hugged one arm and looked at the duffle bag resting underneath her chair.

"Look, I didn't know about Barnes," Fury said.

"Even if you have, would you have told me? Or would you have compartmentalized that too?" Steve said, glaring at him. Steve looked at everyone, each one differently until his eyes landed on Fury. "S.H.I.E.L.D., HYDRA, it all goes."

Fury drew in a small subtle sigh, and looked at Agent Hill. She nodded. "He's right," she said.

He looked up at Zoe. S.H.I.E.L.D. had always been her home, but she could understand Steve's reasoning for closing down headquarters. It was compromised, and she was beginning to wonder if she was too.

"I agree," Zoe said, looking sideways at Steve. "I'm with him on this one."

Steve looked at her with shocked eyes, but still couldn't help but smile his quiet thanks at her response. She nodded gently at him, looking at his facial expression with kindness.

Fury couldn't say he was surprised. In the beginning, she had wanted to quit, thinking her first big assignment was far too hard for her to manage on her own, but here she was, still living, and breathing. He had high hopes for her potential in the field, and he still thought she could hold her own. He was still going to hope for the best for however this would turn out. He turned to face Romanoff. She leaned back in her seat as her response. Fury looked up at Sam.

"Don't look at me," Sam shook his head with a small shrug of his shoulders. "I do what he does, just slower."

"Well, looks like your giving the orders now, Captain," Fury said finally after a moment of realization around the table. He was outnumbered, but he wouldn't have it any other way.

~*WS*~

"I can't believe you said that," Steve said, standing on the bridge that overlooked the forest below.

Zoe looked up from the green forest and glanced at him, smiling brightly. "Well, I've always believed in honesty, and integrity. I know, I'm not the best person to really preach about honesty," she cringed at that. "But, I'm also someone who works on trying to better herself as a person. Sometimes I rise up, sometimes I fall down. I just wish I can find some middle ground to really focus on and be myself. I don't want to make the same mistakes my family did all those years ago…" she said, still feeling horrible that her family had a hand in this whole ordeal. She sighed. "I also believe in freedom, and having the ability to feel free. You should've looked at Sitwell's face when I told him you were twice the man he was when he tried to interrogate me," she said with a small giggle, remembering Sitwell's icy glare at her. "He was not happy. I think he knew I was slipping though," she sighed. "Playing the part of both sides, is not an easy thing to do. It plays with your mind and your heart. Something, I've always struggled with."

Steve turned to face her, leaning his arms against the wooden railing. "Then why do it?"

"It was my job," she shrugged. "I loved working for S.H.I.E.L.D. at the time when I could think straight and think for myself. A long time ago, I was a lost soul," she said. "And then I found a home with S.H.I.E.L.D. who I thought had all the answer to my past. When I was given this assignment, I was really shocked, but honored. I wanted to prove to everyone I could do it."

"And you did," Steve said.

"Barely, if it hadn't been for you, I wouldn't be here right now…so, thank you," she said sincerely.

Steve smiled. "You're welcome," he said.

Zoe looked up at the cloudy sky above her head, letting her thoughts drift over her ever so anxious mind. She sighed, stretching her arms over the bridge's railings. "There's still a chance you can save him, Steve," she said after a moment of silence that had slipped between them.

Steve turned to look at her, staring at her soft facial expression. "How do you know?" he asked.

"For some strange reason," she said, smiling at him. "I have hope. I don't think he's as lost as me."

Steve looked at her with gentle eyes of confusion when she said that.

She looked over at Sam as he started walking down the bridge from the bunker. "Guess I better get ready," she gave Steve a gentle squeeze on his arm of reassurance before she left him be to his own thoughts.

"We looked for you after," Bucky said, as he and Steve walked back to his house after a long exhausting morning. "My folks wanted to give you a ride to the cemetery."

"I know," Steve said, climbing up the stairs that would eventually lead to Steve's house. "I'm sorry. I just…kind of wanted to be alone."

"How was it?" Bucky asked curiously.

"It was okay," Steve said, void of any emotion in his voice, but Bucky could tell his best friend wasn't in a good state of mind no matter how much Steve tried to block everything out. "She's next to Dad."

"I was gonna ask…" Buck began but Steve already jumped into Bucky's sentence.

"I know what you're going to say, Buck, I just…" Steve brushed the bangs out of his eyes.

"We can put the couch cushion on the floor like when we were kids," Bucky tried again. "It'll be fun. All you gotta do is shine my shoes, maybe take out the trash," he said as Steve searched for his house key in his pocket until Bucky found the secret hideaway underneath a brick by the railing where Steve kept his key. Bucky handed it to Steve. "Come on."

Steve took the key from him. "Thank you, Buck. But, I can get by on my own."

"Thing is, you don't have to," Bucky said, as he squeezed Steve's shoulder in a friendly manner. "I'm with you 'till the end of the line."

"He's going to be there you know," Sam said, joining Steve as Sam seemed to bring him back to the present time in his quiet and secluded space.

"I know," Steve said, nodding.

"The guy he is now," Sam began. "I don't think he's the kind you save. I think he's the kind you stop."

"I don't know if I could do that," Steve said. He was going to take Zoe's hopeful words to heart. At least there was one person he could count on by his side.

"Well, he might not give you a choice," Sam tried to reason with him. "He doesn't know you."

"He will," Steve said. "Gear up, it's time." He said, looking back as he heard the doors close of the bunker that Zoe disappeared into.

"You're gonna wear that?" Sam called after him.

"No," Steve said, turning sideways to face Sam as he walked toward the end of the bridge. "You're going to fight a war, you gotta wear a uniform."


	37. Chapter 37: Shield Vs Hydra

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or Winter Soldier. They belong to their respective owners. I just own my OC and I am writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 37: Shield Vs. Hydra**

It was a quiet night in the Smithsonian until a lonely security guard walked down the halls with his flashlight forward to see what all the ruckus had been about. The old man with aviators on shined his light inside the Captain America exhibit and widened his eyes at the stolen costume of the Captain America mannequin display.

"Oh man! I am so fired," he said.

~*WS*~

"We are in final launch sequence," the SHIELD computer said to the SHIELD techie's sitting at their computer station in the main control room of the Triskelion.

"We are go on guidance," A SHIELD tech announced over the headset he wore around his head. Insight Launch read little over two minutes on the clock.

"All personnel to launch station," the SHIELD computer announced over the Triskelion's intercom.

Meanwhile, Alexander Pierce stood inside the massive lobby of the Triskelion, waiting for the World Council to arrive with men by his side.

"And how was your flight?" Pierce asked as he joined Councilwoman Hawley by herside dressed in a blue blaze outfit, carrying her purse on her shoulder. She was always in top shape and a beautiful woman.

"Lovely," Hawley replied. "The ride from the airport, less so."

"Sadly, SHIELD can't control everything," Pierce said.

"Including Captain America," Rockwell said, coming up on the other side of Pierce.

"This facility is biometrically controlled, and these will give you unrestricted access," Pierce explained as they stopped beside a SHIELD agent, dressed in black. He had a small black case in his hand that opened up to reveal four pins for each of the Councilmen.

Hawley took one for herself and pinned it against her blue jacket's collar, while the other three men each took one for their suit.

~*WS*~

Up on a different floor of the Triskelion where the technical members of SHIELD controlled the satellites, a helicopter flew outside the window that no one paid any attention to because they were so focused on their own work.

A couple of the techie's were talking about a parking spot though because someone wasn't too happy that that tech person had parked in his spot.

"I've been parking there for two months," he said.

"But it's his spot," his co-worker tried to reason with him.

"So where's he been?" he asked.

"I think Afghanistan," he replied.

"Negative, DT-6. The pattern is full," he said in his headset, and then turned to his co-worker. "Well, he could have said something."

Then all of a sudden they heard a loud static noise that pinged in their ears. "Owe!" They winced, taking their headsets off for a second. "Must be the dish?" he asked, glancing at his co-worker with nervous eyes.

"I'll check it out," he said, and got up from his seat. He reached for the door, and turned the handle, pulling it back open only to reveal Captain America, Sam, Agent Hill, and Agent Sawyer on either side of him with guns raised at his head.

"Excuse us," Steve said.

Steve, Agent Hill, Agent Sawyer, and Sam followed in line as the tech guy moved out of the way with his hands still raised in the air, definitely not wanting to get on Captain America's bad side.

"Thank you," Zoe said as she walked by the tech guy who just gawked at her with shock in his eyes.

~*WS*~

Inside the Council room, Pierce was delivering a speech. He'd given everyone a champagne flute filled with golden liquid. Project Insight was almost ready to launch and his plan was about to explode into full bloom of his beautiful sky view in front of his massive window that stretched around the room, leading out to the balcony of the rooftop.

"I know the road hasn't exactly been smooth, and some of you would have gladly kicked me out of the car along the way. Finally we're here, and the world should be grateful," Pierce said. He raised his glass and was about to take a sip to finish it off with his celebrated moment, relishing in his body until he heard a familiar voice that belonged to none other than Captain America. Pierce slowly stopped his flute from reaching his lips, listening to Rogers's words spewing out of the intercom.

"Attention, all SHIELD agents. This is Steve Rogers. You've heard a lot about me over the last few days, some of you were even ordered to hunt me down," The whole building of the Triskelion grew quiet and frozen, listening to his voice on the Intercom. "But I think it's time you know the truth. SHIELD is not what we thought it was, it's been taken over by HYDRA. Alexander Pierce is their leader. The STRIKE and Insight crew are HYDRA as well. I don't know how many more, but I know they're in the building. They could be standing right next to you. They almost have what they want: absolute control. They shot the Nick Fury and it won't end there. If you launch those Helicarriers today, HYDRA will be able to kill anyone that stands in their way, unless we stop them. I know I'm asking a lot, but the price of freedom is high, it always has been, and it's a price I'm willing to pay. And if I'm the only one, then so be it. But I'm willing to bet I'm not," Steve finished over the Intercom.

"Did you write that down first or was that just off the top of your head?" Sam asked with a grin on his face, standing behind Steve inside the satellite control room. Steve looked at him and Zoe smiled.

"It definitely came from the heart," she whispered to Sam, leaning conspicuously next to him, and

Steve smiled back at her.

Meanwhile back in the Council room, the Councilmen looked at one another in shock and stared angrily at Alexander Pierce, who looked almost frightened at them, almost.

"You smug son of a bitch," Rockwell said.

Two agents arrived in the room with heavy weapons in their hands. Pierce smiled at them, but Singh thought they were SHILED agents. "Arrest him," he ordered, but they didn't move a muscle, and kept their guns trained on the Councilmen.

"I guess I've got the floor," Pierce said.

~*WS*~

Agent Brock Rumlow charged into the main control room and weaved through the table rows of the computer station. He leaned his arms forward over the tech, intimidating him because Agent 13 looked over at his scared face and she stayed still, curious as to what Rumlow was capable of and how her co-worker was going to handle this situation.

"Is there a problem?" Rumlow asked.

"I'm sorry, sir," The techie said, physically sweating with nerves that ridded through him. He drew in a couple breaths. "But I'm not going to launch those ships. Captain's orders."

Rumlow stepped back and raised his gun at the tech guy's head. The tech guy raised his hands in the air and Rumlow lowered his gun, aiming it for the back of his head.

"Move away from your station," Rumlow ordered.

Agent 13 walked over to him and raised her gun at Rumlow. "Like he said," she said defiantly. "Captain's orders!"

"You picked the wrong side, agent," Rumlow warned dangerously, glancing at her sideways.

"Depends on where you're standing," Agent 13 replied.

Inside the satellite control room, Maria and Zoe watched over the cameras and Zoe tugged on her lip nervously. "I should be down there," she said. "Rumlow's my responsibility."

"He's no one's responsibility but himself. He chose his side on his own accord," Maria replied. "Now, keep an eye on that door, make sure no one comes in."

"Got it," Zoe said, keeping her gun focused on the door, while Maria tackled the controls.

Two agents appeared suddenly out of nowhere and Zoe shot at them. They flew back down the stairs, trampling over one another, out cold. Maria smirked at her and turned to the monitor.

"They're initiating launch," Hill said. Zoe whirled around at her words and widened her eyes.

"Hey Cap, how do we tell the bad guys from the good guys?" Sam asked over their earpieces.

"If they're shooting at you they're bad," Steve replied.

Zoe paced back and forth, twirling her gun in her hands. She tried not to look at the fire commotion happening outside as Sam and Steve worked on trying to disable the Hellicarriers from launching into the skies above Washington D.C.

"Hey Cap, found those bad guys you were talking about," Sam said.

"You okay?" Steve asked Sam.

"Not dead yet," Sam replied.

"Please keep each other alive, I actually like Sam," Zoe said, and turned around when another agent headed up the stairs trying to get into the satellite room. She shot him in the shoulder. "Don't they see the dead agents on the floor?" she asked with a shake of her head.

"Awe, thanks Zo, I'll try my best," Sam said, flying through the skies with his Falcon jet-back.

"I won't let him get hurt," Steve promised.

~*WS*~

"Let me ask you a question. What if Pakistan marched into Mumbai tomorrow, and you knew that they were gonna drag your daughters into a soccer stadium for execution?" Pierce said, glancing at the others in the room.

They glanced at each other worriedly at Pierce's question hanging in the air. Pierce handed Singh a glass of champagne. Singh took it and swallowed a big worried gulp in his throat.

"And you could just stop it with a flick of a switch. Would you? Wouldn't you all?" he spun around the room for answers.

"Not if it was your switch," Singh replied and tossed the flute to the floor. It broke and shattered on the floor beneath them to shattered pieces with a loud clink sound.

One of the HYDRA agents handed Pierce his gun, and Pierce raised it to shoot Singh for disagreeing with him, but all of a sudden Hawley kicked Singh out of danger, and whirled around engaging into a fight with the HYDRA agents, knocking them out in the same fashion of the famous Black Widow.

Once the agents were out, she stood in front of Pierce with a smirk on her face. She pressed a button on the side of her cheekbone and pulled off the Hawley mask, revealing Natasha Romanoff. "I'm sorry, did I step on your moment?" Natasha asked.

~*WS*~

"Satellites in range at three thousand feet," One of the tech men announced to his team.

~*WS*~

"Falcon, status?" Hill demanded.

"Engaging," Falcon replied as he flew down, and landed onto the Hellicarrier almost ready to take flight. He kicked the HYDRA agents guarding the Hellicarrier as he landed on the bridge. "Alright, Cap, I'm in." Sam said.

But a HYDRA jet started shooting at Sam. "Shit!" Sam cried, and had to fly off the Hellicarrier's bridge in order to avoid getting shot.

"Eight minutes, Cap," Hill warned.

"Working on it!" Steve replied.

~*WS*~

"What are you doing?" Rockwell asked, glancing at Natasha as she stood by the computer station Pierce had already set up. The thin screen showed lines and numbers, and all different kinds of information as Natasha typed idly away, focusing on spilling secrets over the internet.

"She's disabling security protocols and dumping all the secrets onto the Internet," Pierce replied, watching her with curiosity in his blue eyes.

"Including HYDRA's," Natasha said.

"And SHIELD's," Pierce reminded her. "If you do this, none of your past is going to remain hidden," he warned, but she continued anyway. "Are you ready for the world to see you as you really are?"

Natasha looked up at him, "Are you?"

~*WS*~

"Alpha locked," Steve said, taking down one Hellicarrier.

"Falcon, status, where are you now?" Hill asked.

"Had to take a detour!" Sam shouted in the air, as more HYDRA jets fired at Sam. He twirled in the sky, and flew in a zig-zag motion trying to escape the fireballs coming at him in full force. He finally managed to get onto his targeted Hellicarrier. "Oh yeah1" he said, and switched the disks in the computer room shut. "Bravo locked!" Sam jumped out of the Hellicarrier and into the sky.

"Two down, one to go," Hill said, sharing a small look with Zoe.

~*WS*~

"All SHIELD pilot, scramble," the SHIELD pilot said out on the airstrip. "We're the only air support Captain Rogers has got,"

The Winter Soldier appeared on top of the ledge, looking down at the commotion on the airstrip. He raised his machine gun and started firing at the SHIELD pilots, and dropped down into one of the empty jets and took off.

~*WS*~

"Disabling the encryption is an executive order," Pierce said. "It takes two Alpha Level members."

Natasha smirked up at him with confidence shining in her eyes. "Don't worry, company's coming."

And indeed, company did come. The helicopter landed on the rooftop beside the building and Fury walked inside the side door. Pierce widened his eyes, shocked at his late friend's entrance, dressed and ready to go complete in his black trench coat that covered his injured arm in a sling.

"Did you get my flowers?" Pierce asked.

Fury didn't respond. A cool chill in the room swept around the Councilmen remaining shocked as they looked at Fury and Pierce.

"I'm glad you're here, Nick," Pierce said.

"Really?" Fury said in disbelief. "Cause I thought you had me killed."

"You know how the game works," Pierce said.

"So, why make me head of S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Fury demanded.

"Cause you're the best and the most ruthless person I ever met," Pierce replied solemnly.

"I did what I did to protect people," Fury said.

"Our enemies are your enemies, Nick. Disorder, war. It's just a matter of time before a dirty bomb goes off in Moscow, or an EMP fries Chicago. Diplomacy? Holding action, a band-aid. And you know where I learned that; Bogota. You didn't ask, you just did what had to be done. I can bring order to the lives of seven billion people by sacrificing twenty million. It's the next step, Nick, if you have the courage to take it," Pierce explained passionately.

Fury looked at him with his steely eye and a look that read he was calling out on Pierce's bullshit. There was no way he shared the same feelings he did as before when they used to be friends.

"No," Fury said deeply. "I had the courage not to." Fury grabbed Pierce by the arm and dragged him over to the retinal scanner as Natasha pointed her gun at Peirce's head.

Fury shoved Pierce against the screen, as Pierce tried to struggle from his old friend's strong grasp.

"Retinal scanner, active," the computer announced.

"You don't think we wiped your clearance from the system?" Pierce challenged.

"I know you erased my password, probably deleted my retinal scan, but if you want to stay ahead of me, Mr. Secretary..." When Fury saw that Natasha had her focus on Pierce in case he moved, he pulled off his black eye patch revealing a purple and red eye, completely immovable. "You gotta keep both eyes open."

Fury shoved Pierce against the retinal scanner and the computer scanned both of their eyes connecting to the source.

~*WS*~

"Charlie Carrier's forty-five degrees off the port bow," Hill announced. "Six minutes."

Zoe leaned over Hill's shoulder, watching the monitor closely.

~*WS*~

"Hey Sam!" Steve said running down the airstrip in the middle of the firefight. He tossed "I'm gonna need a ride!"

Steve jumped off the airstrip when HYDRA agents continued to fire at him.

"Rogers! Let me know when you're ready!" Sam yelled, flying in midair.

"I just did!" he said, free falling from the skies.

Sam pushed harder through the skies with all the power and energy he got in order to keep up with the Captain.

He finally grabbed his arms and brought him over back to the last Hellicarrier's airstrip with all his might, shouting as he pulled his strength to carry Steve in the air. He dropped Steve on the airstrip.

"You know," Sam said. "You're a lot heavier than you look."

"I had a big breakfast," Steve said.

The Winter Soldier appeared and knocked Steve off the edge. "Steve!" Sam cried, but the Winter Soldier grabbed one of Sam's wings and tore it off of him in one swift movement, causing Sam to fall on the airstrip hard oh the ground.

"Steve?! Are you okay?" Sam asked. "Come in!"

"Yeah, I'm here!" Steve said, pulling himself up on the ledge of the inside Hellicarrier's blades. "Still on the Hellicarrier. Where are you?"

"I'm grounded," Sam replied, looking for the Winter Soldier, but he had disappeared, more than likely to go after Steve. "Suit's down. Sorry, Cap."

"Don't worry, I got it."

~*WS*~

"Sir, Council's been breached," One of the HYDRA agents said to Rumlow as Rumlow cleared through the building's stairs.

"Repeat dispatch," Rumlow ordered, killing two more SHIELD agents that got in his way.

"Black Widow's up there," the HYDRA agent replied.

Zoe watched on the monitor with cold hard eyes. Rumlow was really pissing her off. He was shooting innocent people and he was about to kill more. She'd had enough of him, and she wasn't going to let him hurt anyone else. She grabbed the duffle bag from the desk, strapped it over her shoulder, and she pulled off her earpiece. "Zoe?" Hill warned.

"I'm going after him," she said, sprinting into a run down the stairs.

"Zoe!" Hill called after her, but Zoe wasn't listening. She'd already made up her mind and she was not backing down.

"Damn it," Hill said, and turned to the monitor, and her own earpiece with a worried look on her face. "Falcon?"

"Yeah?" Sam asked.

"Zoe's going after Rumlow, alone, without communications," Hill said.

"I'm on it," Sam said.

Two more HYDRA agents appeared and Hill got up from her seat, pulling out her gun, shooting them down on the ground.

"Seriously, they don't see the dead agents?" Hill shook her head. HYDRA definitely meant business, if that was the case, Hill thought, going back to work on her monitor. She looked over as she spotted Zoe climbing up the stairs, shooting any HYDRA agent who got in her way, heading toward Rumlow.


	38. Chapter 38: Hail Hydra

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or Winter Soldier. They belong to their respective owners. I am writing for fun and not for profit. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 38: Hail Hydra**

"I'm on forty-one," Rumlow said through his earpiece. "Heading toward the Southwest stairwell."

Rumlow pushed the doors open, but was met by a sound of a click that sounded like a loaded gun behind him.

"No you're not," Zoe said, turning away from the wall, and standing in the middle of the room, gun pointed at his back. "Stop right there, Rumlow," she said dangerously.

Rumlow's lips curled into a smile, listening to her words spewing out of that cute little mouth of hers. It really did amaze him that she ended up this far in the game.

"You're under arrest for the act of terrorizing the well being of others," Zoe said.

Rumlow took a couple of steps forward, "I said stop!" she yelled, and pulled the trigger, firing a shot at him.

Rumlow ducked her shot, watching the bullet land through the window, creating a small hole. Glass shattered down and onto the floor. He twirled around to face his old friend, Zoe.

He chuckled heartedly and tilted his head at her, eyeing her up and down as he became more amused by the minute with her gun trained on him.

"Gonna read me my rights, Zee?" Rumlow said, hands in the air, mostly just to humor her.

She rolled her eyes. "I don't think you deserve any rights and only my friends get to call me, Zee."

"I wonder," Rumlow began, as he lowered his hands gently. Zoe stepped forward, a little anxiously, as she watched his movements. "How your friends will feel if they really knew what you were up to?"

Zoe wrinkled her nose and she licked her dry lips, "You don't have any emotional advantage on me, Brock. Not anymore."

"You know I've always cared about you, Zoe," Rumlow said. "I liked your sass and tenacious wit. We could've made a great team you and me," he stepped forward, closing the gap between them.

As Rumlow stepped forward, Sam suddenly came crashing in on Rumlow and threw a punch at the side of his head. Rumlow grunted at the forcible impact and turned around to face his attacker.

Sam ran forward, grabbed Rumlow's neck, and kicked him in the legs, hoping to throw him off. "Shoot him!" Sam shouted at Zoe.

Zoe's eyes danced back and forth between the two men as they fought against each other.

Rumlow shouted a cry as he forced Sam off of him. Sam fell onto the floor beside Zoe's feet.

"Why didn't you shoot?" Sam asked, as Zoe helped him up off the ground. He grabbed a hold of her shoulder, and she grabbed his arm to pull himself up off the ground.

"He still had his bulletproof vest on," Zoe whispered in haste. "I couldn't."

"There's always shooting him in the head," Sam said.

Zoe frowned. She didn't think that was the humane thing to do, especially since she would have wanted for Rumlow to answer for his crimes like the right way.

Zoe fixated her gun back on Rumlow as he tossed his vest to the side revealing his criss-cross straps across his chest. "This is gonna hurt. There are no prisoners with HYDRA, just order. And order only comes from pain. And if you want, Zee, we can put you're fighting skills to the test. I mean after all you did train with the Cap. I'd like to see some of those moves on me," he said with a chuckle. "Are you ready for yours?"

Zoe and Sam glanced at each other. Zoe tilted her head to the side and shrugged her shoulders.

"Man, shut the hell up," Sam said.

She placed her gun back into her holster against her hip and slipped off her duffle bag. She placed her duffle bag by the door, making a mental note to pick it up when she was done fighting Rumlow to death. If that's what he wanted, so be it. She unzipped her S.H.I.E.L.D. suit a bit so she had a little room to breathe, and rolled up her sleeves.

"Alright, Brock," Zoe said with a smirk on her face. "I'll show you just how badass I can really be."

"I like the sound of that," Rumlow grinned. "Who wants to die first?"

Sam and Zoe shared a look and waited for one another to make the first move. Rumlow tilted his head to the side and decided to take the first plunge by advancing forward. He threw an arm in the air and Sam threw his own arm in the air, contacting each other's fists, holding one another's strengths against their own.

Sam threw his knee up and hit Rumlow in the groins that caused Rumlow to only force Sam back onto the floor with his forehead. Sam slid back against the floor, which made Zoe run to charge after Rumlow.

Zoe was about to run into Rumlow until he flipped her back down on the ground with just his arm. She flew backwards, landing hard on her back. She cried out in pain as the hard floor made contact with her body. She shivered and felt the pain tear her up as Rumlow walked over to her. He placed two legs on either side of her body and leaned down, yanking her shoulders down so he could lean down to her face. Her precious, cute, little face, he was going to miss.

"You do care," Rumlow whispered. "That's why you can't kill me."

"I believe every man should answer for his crimes," Zoe said. "Not this way."

Rumlow chuckled. "I think the Cap's rubbing off on you. You've gone soft."

Zoe glared at him. "Good. We need soft in this world," she said.

"Soft like this?" Rumlow asked, running his calloused hand down her cheek that made her shiver in the worst way possible. She whimpered like a little frightened child.

~*WS*~

"Lieutenant, how much longer?" Pierce asked, still inside the Council room where Natasha stood, frozen due to the fact Pierce now had control of the room.

"Sixty-five seconds to satellite link. Target reengaged. Lowering weapons array now," Charlie Weapons tech replied just as the weapons of the Hellicarrier pulled out to face the targets down below.

~*WS*~

"One minute," Hill said to Steve on the earpiece as Steve flipped himself from the handle bar and onto the platform inside the Hellicarrier's engine blades where the disks would be. Steve ran as fast as he could until he felt a bullet stuck into his back. He grunted at the impact, and fell forward onto the ground. He turned around to see Bucky standing on the glass platform down below with a gun pointed at him.

But one bullet wasn't enough to stop Steve. Steve continued to run down to stop the targeting system. He jumped up and dangled from the ledges of the shelves that held many of the computer chips inside the blue lit up system.

Bucky shot another gun at Steve. Steve lost his balance but continued. He pulled himself up, and landed on the level that contained the chips.

"Thirty seconds, cap!" Hill cried.

"I'm in," Steve said in a wince as he shakily pulled out his chip that would stop the launch from happening and killing thousands of people.

He was about to place the chip inside until Bucky shot him again. This time Steve fell forward to his feet, and sat himself down against the silver railing. He looked down at his suit, noticing the red blood seeping through his stripes.

"We've reached three thousand feet," Charlie the weapons tech announced. "Satellite coming online now."

"Deploy algorithm."

"We are a go to targets."

The weapons targeted the civilians in Washington.

"Targets saturation reached," The tech agent said. "All targets assigned."

"Fire when ready," The second tech agent said.

"Fire in three, two, one…"

But Steve regained his self-composure and got himself up, hanging desperately onto the edges of the chip system, and placed the chip inside. "Charlie locked," Steve said out of breath.

But the targets on the screen at Charlie's tech monitor disappeared. He widened his eyes in shock. "Where are the targets?! Where are the targets?!"

"Okay, Cap, get out of there!" Hill said in a warning tone of voice.

"Fire now," Steve said.

"But Steve?" Hill asked fearfully.

"Do it! Do it now!" Steve ordered.

~*WS*~

Hill looked down at the screen and locked on the targets to fire at the Hellicarriers in the air, a little bit reluctantly because the Cap was still on board.

The Hellicarriers blew up in explosions, as Steve tried to pull himself out of the Hellicarrier. One of the big pieces of metal landed on Bucky. Bucky's cries caught Steve's ears, and he looked over down below to see Bucky trapped, among the fire and the smoke filled Hellicarriers.

~*WS*~

"What a waste," Pierce muttered as he watched with sad eyes through the window as his whole line of work exploded in the skies.

"Are you still on the fence about Rogers's chances?" Natasha asked.

"Time to go, Councilwoman," Pierce said, moving away from the window. "This way."

Natasha watched slightly worriedly as she turned to face Pierce.

"Come on," Pierce said testily. Natasha turned to walk with Pierce. "You're going to fly me out of here."

Fury watched Pierce. As if he was going to let Pierce take one of his best agents…

"No," Fury said. "There was a time I would've taken a bullet for you."

"You already did," Pierce said, already on his way out of the room as he controlled Natasha with his device. "You will again when it's-"

But before Pierce could finish his sentence, Natasha took out a small circle that was one of SHIELD's tech weapons and pressed it between her fingers. Blue sparks of electricity shot through her arm and covered her body that caused her to fall down to the floor.

Pierce stopped in horror as he watched her fall. He looked at his phone as it buzzed, unlocking his device that he had control over her and saw that it was overrided. He turned around to face Fury, but Fury already had his gun out and shot it at Pierce. Pierce fell through the glass and landed hard on the ground.

"Romanoff," Fury said, once Pierce was done. He knelt down next to her. "Natasha!" he said in a loud and concerned whisper. Natasha didn't wake. "Natasha, come on!" he said louder.

Then all of a sudden, Natasha moved her eyebrows slightly and then her eyes slightly but then closed them. "Owe," she muttered. She turned her head to face Fury. "Those really do sting."

~*WS*~

"Hail Hydra," Pierce whispered his final words, bleeding to death, as he listened to his fallen prodigy fall and crash into the waters down below.

~*WS*~

"You're so badass, huh? You can't even kill me" Rumlow said hauntingly toward her ear. "Because you still love me. It's hard to forget a first romantic fling. A first kiss, your first kiss, as you once told me…I felt kind of honored."

She looked up at him and into his eyes. "Actually," she said. "I don't like you anymore, now that I officially know what side you're on. I am pretty badass, especially for what's about to happen to you." She said with a smirk on her face.

He looked up at her with confusion but was met by Sam's sole of his shoe in Rumlow's face that caused Rumlow to fly backwards and land onto the ground.

"You okay?" Sam asked, helping Zoe off the ground.

"Yeah," she said, standing back on her own two feet. She winced as she felt every ache of her body twist in her soul. She ran a hand behind her neck to ease the tension the best she could. "I'm surprised he knows the word tenacious."

Sam let out a hearty chuckle next to her and got ready to fight Rumlow, who no longer deserved the title Agent.

"Two against one is that it?" Rumlow grunted, picking himself up off the floor.

"Well, you do know my true allegiance, Rumlow, so, yes, two against one," Zoe said proudly.

"Well when you make that move, just know it's gonna sting, it's gonna sting hard," Rumlow said and ran after her, but Sam threw himself forward to attack Rumlow.

Rumlow grabbed Sam and threw him across the table, knocking him down. Zoe ran after Rumlow and threw her own fist in his face. He ducked her blow and she kneed him in the groins, that caused him to double over slightly. She was about to attack him again until he picked her up and threw her across the room. She landed hard against the wall, beside her duffle bag.

Rumlow stepped up on the coffee table. "You're out of your depth kid," he warned.

Zoe grabbed her gun from her holster and was about to shoot Rumlow in the back until she saw the Hellicarrier coming straight toward them. "Sam!" she warned.

There was no time to time to think but to get out of there fast!

"I know!" Sam rolled himself up on the ground. He ran over to help Zoe. Zoe dropped her gun and Zoe reached for her duffle and strung it over her body.

Sam and Zoe ran through the office as smoke and debris fell everywhere.

"Tell me you have an escape plan!" Zoe yelled as she ran next to Sam.

Sam glanced at her with questionable eyes. "Uh…" he turned to his earpiece. "Please, tell me you have that chopper in the air!"

Sam turned to face behind him as the ceiling fell close behind them. Zoe and Sam ducked sliding on the ground. Zoe gasped at the impact as she nearly crashed into Sam's body. He wrapped his arms around her and protected her from the falling debris.

He helped her up on her feet. She slipped, and he picked her up in his arms to carry her.

"Sam where are you?" Natasha asked.

"Forty-first floor! Northwest corner!" Sam replied.

"We're on it!" Natasha said. "Stay where you are!"

"Not an option!" Sam and Zoe cried in sync. Zoe wrapped her arms around Sam's neck, burying her head in the crook of his chest. "Uh-oh, uh, Zoe you're not going to like this!"

"I don't care, just get us out of here," Zoe rasped.

Sam sprinted for the window and cradled Zoe's body in his arms protectively, just as he jumped out of the window. He let her dangle from his hand. Zoe screamed in shock, as her duffle bag flew and hit against her chest. She looked up at the helicopter as Fury made his way toward them. Sam threw his body inside.

"Forty-first floor!" Sam cried.

"It's not like they put the numbers on the office doors!" Fury snapped back.

Sam twisted his body around, but Zoe slipped and fell out of the helicopter as soon as the helicopter twisted around. She lost her grip from Natasha, no thanks to Sam's accidental legs kicking Zoe in the head that made her fall out of the helicopter, and almost slipped out of the helicopter hadn't it been for Sam's hand grabbing onto hers. Sam reached for Zoe's hand, as her legs dangled in the air, while Fury moved to pull the helicopter back up, steadying it the best he could with the debris and smoke flailing everywhere in the skies. The door broke off. The helicopter spun around.

"Hill, got a location on Rogers?" Natasha asked.

"Zoe! Shit! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Sam cried, but Zoe felt like her hand was slipping away from Sam's hand. And Zoe knew Steve was still on that hellicarrier. She didn't want to fall anymore, but she had no choice… and so she looked into Sam's concerned eyes, and pried herself free from his hand. "Zoe!" Sam shouted.

"Steve, come in, man, Zoe's free falling!" Sam said through his earpiece. "Come in!"

Zoe fell from the skies down below, which was befitting because falling seemed to be apart of her now. She would fall in hopes to land in the arms of an angel, or she would die, in hope, so she didn't have to complete her assignment.


	39. Chapter 39: Bittersweet Endings

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers, or Winter Soldier. They belong to their respective owners. I am writing for fun, and not for profit. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 39: Bittersweet Endings**

Water spluttered out of her lips as Zoe coughed her self awake. She gasped for air and shivered as the cool breeze caressed her skin. The water seeped down into her S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform, making her cold, but that actually woke her up indefinitely. She turned to face whoever loomed over her, and wondered if it was Steve, but saw a very different yet familiar face in front of her with concerned brown eyes. Dark hair covered his pale cheeks, and water droplets fell on her body as she looked up in a daze.

She probably looked just as horrible as she felt right now, but that didn't matter because she was mostly staring at the one who had rescued her. "Steve…" she whispered in fear, and she turned over to face him. She knelt down on her knees and saw that his body was immovable. He was out like a light. She leaned down to hear his heart beat just to make sure he was still breathing. When he felt his chest move slightly, the panic that had gripped her heart soon disappeared.

She frowned; face crest-fallen as she looked at his sleeping form.

"He'll be okay," A voice said, bringing her back to reality.

She turned her body half-way to face the Winter Soldier, otherwise known as Bucky Barnes. Everything was starting to make sense now. She could only guess that Bucky was brainwashed like her father. She winced at the faded memory.

"I'm so sorry, Steve," Zoe whispered. Tears spilled from her cheeks. She couldn't help it. She was an emotional wreck. "Please forgive me," she whispered, brushing the blonde strands of his hair out of his forehead, and planted her cool lips on top of his skin, kissing him gently. "Please forgive me," she whispered in plead.

She stood up and the Winter Soldier handed her her duffle bag. She let out a tired sigh. All energy was lost from her, but she had to move on. She looked at that duffle bag like it was the plague on this earth. A disgusted scowl shadowed across her face. She didn't know how she made it out alive. She could only guess that Bucky had saved her life.

"I suppose you don't want to tell me where the next ShieldHydra base is," Zoe said softly, stringing her bag on her shoulder. She sniffed, and looked at him. She brushed a few strands of wet hair out of her eyes, glancing at Bucky.

He looked down at his old friend Steve, and then looked at Zoe.

"I have a feeling," he said slowly, eyeing her slowly. "I know what your game is," he said. "And I'll tell you, but on one condition."

Zoe stared at him, as she slowly started to feel her energy leaving her. She had to maintain her composure with all the strength she had left in her somehow.

"You break his heart, and I will break yours," he said in a dark and warning tone of voice that made Zoe shiver.

"Understood, Sergeant Barnes," Zoe said, staring into his eyes. She nodded firmly, and gripped her bag's strap tight, feeling the gem's energy splutter to life within her bag.

He smiled slightly at her and offered for her to walk first if she could find the will and energy to move on. She had no choice because now she didn't die like she'd hoped, and now she was forced to complete what she started a long time ago…

~*WS*~

Sam Wilson never felt guiltier in his entire life. The only time he ever felt so guilty was when he lost his co-pilot, Riley, and now he'd lost Zoe Sawyer, an ex-agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. who was lost out there, somewhere, probably getting tortured for information or something dryer. He was going to go after her, but he wasn't going to go after her without his new friend, Captain America. Steve would want to know what happened to Zoe. Sam owed him that. And Romanoff was already in search for Sawyer, and the Winter Soldier.

Sam was betting anything he took her just to spite Steve. Because whether Steve wanted to admit it or not, Sam knew that Steve cared deeply about this particular agent.

He sighed, and leaned back in his seat, seated beside Steve's bed in the hospital room. The song Trouble Man of Marvin Gaye, one of Sam's favorite entertainers to date, played on his MP3player.

He could only count the moments, hoping that Steve would wake up from his death-defying fall. Sam didn't even know if Zoe was alive. He hoped she was. He could only hope…

"On your left," Steve said slightly.

Sam looked up from his magazine and turned his head to his left. A relieved smile appeared on his face.

~*WS*~

Zoe and the Winter Solider parted ways. Zoe took the piece of paper from his metal hand, and looked at it. She let out a sigh, and walked into the city, ready to head across the pond, and leave her home behind.

~*WS*~

Agent 13 shot several top shots, never missing the bullseye during her training session with the CIA.

Senator Stern got arrested.

Agent Rumlow's burnt to a crisp and bloody body was taken in to a hospital.

And Agent Maria Hill was taking a polygraph test at Stark Industries.

~*WS*~

Director Fury pressed a button, and opened up his own safe box, where he kept his gun and important items that no one knew about.

~*WS*~

"Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?"

"I do," Natasha said.

"Why hasn't Captain Rogers said anything?" The committee asked.

Natasha was seated in a room full of reporters and officials, as she was ready to tell the world their secrets.

She tilted her head to the side, and crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't know what's left for him to say. I think the rock in the Potomac made his point fairly eloquently," she said.

Cameras flashed behind her, as she did her best to ignore the press while the Committee General spoke, "Well, he could explain how this country's expected to maintain its national security now that he, and you have laid waste our intelligence apparatus. Don't forget that one of your agents have gone Rogue."

Natasha furrowed her brows at him, "HYDRA was selling you lies, not intelligence," she countered. She didn't miss the fact they knew about Zoe, but she was trying to stay on point here.

"Many of which you seem to have had a personal hand in telling," The Committee General's right hand man said.

"Agent, you should know that there are some on this committee who feel, given your service record, both for this country and against it, that you belong in a penitentiary, not mouthing off of Capitol Hill," the man beside the Committee General said.

Natasha thought for a minute as she listened to his words before she stared at them, not afraid to handle these clowns. She smiled. "You're not going to put me in a prison. You're not going to put any of us in a prison. And that little rogue agent is my responsibility so you will do well to keep your hands to yourselves," she said, glaring at the entire Committee. "You know why?"

"Do enlighten us," The man said, humoring her.

But she was totally going to tell him what he wanted to hear, or didn't want to hear, either way they were going to win.

"Because you need us. Yes, the world is a vulnerable place, and yes, we help make it that way. But we're also the ones best qualified to defend it. So if you want to arrest me, arrest me, you know where to find me," she said, and got up from her seat. She walked down the aisle with her head on her shoulders, not caring about the press and the flashing lights.

~*WS*~

Former Director Nick Fury stood outside his own gravestone, wearing a hoody over his head and glasses that covered up his eyes instead of wearing his eye patch. That eye patch has been long past its due date, burning into the fires he left his old world behind.

He was standing next to Steve and Sam. Steve was dressed in a white t-shirt, jeans, and his 1940's brown jacket.

The trees bustled when the wind cascaded around them, creating a cool breeze in the air. The cemetery. What a funny place to find themselves in… and neither of them were dead…except for Director Fury.

Now it was just Nick Fury.

"So, you've experienced this sort of thing before," Fury said.

"You get used to it," Steve said solemnly, reading Fury's gravestone that read The path of a righteous man. Ezekiel 25: 17

"We've been data-mining HYDRA's files," Fury said. "Looks like a lot of rats didn't go down with the ship. I'm heading to Europe tonight, wanted to ask if you'd come."

"There's something I gotta do first," Steve said, glancing slightly at him.

"Steve…" Fury said. "Zoe's got her own path. She's-"

"I know," Steve cut him off. He sighed. "I just gotta find out."

Fury nodded solemnly at him, and turned to Sam. "How about you, Wilson? I could use a man with your abilities."

"I'm more of a soldier than a spy," Sam said, glancing between Steve and Fury.

"Alright then," Fury said. Fury shook Sam's hand and then Steve. "Anybody asks for me? Tell them they can find me right here."

Steve nodded, and watched Fury walk away from the cemetery and his own grave.

"You should be honored, that's as close as he gets to saying thank you," Natasha said, walking down the hillside to the cemetery. Steve turned to look at her as she joined him and Sam with a file in her hand.

"Not going with him?" Steve asked curiously.

"No," she said with a smile, shaking her head.

"Not staying here," Steve said.

She tightened her lips together. "I blew all my covers. I gotta go figure out a new one," she said.

"That might take awhile," Steve said.

"I'm counting on it," she smiled at him. She handed him that file. "That thing you asked for. I called in a few favors from Kiev. Will you do me a favor? Call that nurse?"

"She's not a nurse," Steve said, taking the file in his hands. He looked at it then at Natasha.

Natasha smiled. "And you're not a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent."

"What was her name again?" Steve asked.

"Sharon," Natasha said. "She's nice…unless…" she paused and Steve furrowed his brows at her. "You're still hooked on Zoe…?"

Steve looked down at the file in his hands and sighed. He didn't know what he wanted but a fresh start sounded very nice right now. And he did want to find Zoe, more than anything, but apart of him was slightly afraid of what he might find when he did…if he found her.

"I gotta find her first then we'll see," Steve said.

Natasha nodded at his answer. She couldn't blame him for that, even if she knew the real reason why Zoe went missing. She walked up to him, gently held onto his arm and placed a kiss on his cheek before she walked away.

She turned around slightly, as she heard him opening the file. "Be careful, Steve. You might not want to pull on that thread."

Steve watched her leave as he started to pull read the file she got for him. There he was, Sergeant Bucky Barnes encased in frozen ice. His black and white photograph was attached to the edge of the page. He looked so young in his uniform.

This was the man who was with Zoe now. Sam had told Steve what happened and even though Steve told Sam it wasn't his fault…Sam still felt awful for just letting her fall. It wasn't Sam's fault. It was Steve's. Steve had to protect her and he didn't.

"You're going after him," Sam said.

"You don't have to come with me," Steve said, reading Bucky's files.

"I know," Sam said. He turned to face Steve behind him. "When do we start?"

~*WS*~

"Do they suspect?" he asked. "Did you acquire it?"

Zoe had tossed her items along her journey away and stolen an outfit to remain incognito. She wore a black woolen coat over her body to keep warm from the freezing wintery snow in Eastern Europe.

She pulled out Loki's scepter from behind her. She discarded her duffle bag somewhere along her journey as she got closer to the ShieldHydra base on top of a hill that was guarded by many guards. She'd threatened to use it for she'd seen it in action and she wouldn't hesitate to get through to Baron Von Strucker, Hydra's new leader.

The blue gem in the middle of the golden scepter glowed hotly in her eyes as she held it in her hands. She was reluctant to give it to Strucker, but it had been her way in to infiltrate Hydra.

Dr. List stood before her, and she gave him a curt nod. He was an old man, of European heritage with a scrunched up face and wore a grey suit that matched his grey hair.

The people at S.H.I.E.L.D. and those she cared about around her did not suspect that she was under the influence of HYDRA.

Zoe was exhausted. Tired, both mentally and physically, and all she wanted to do was to lie in bed.

"You have done well," Strucker said.

Dr. List glared at Zoe. Zoe widened her eyes at him. "Except now, Fury has released everything to the public. It's over."

"That I had no control over," she spat, glaring at Dr. List. She didn't like him, not one bit.

"Everything he knows about," Strucker continued to stop the bickering between Dr. List and Zoe.

"If they get word of our work here," Dr. List said, eyeing Zoe with very cautious eyes. Zoe stared down at him, not moving a muscle. "If they find out we serve HYDRA…"

"Hydra," Strucker scoffed as he walked forward. He motioned for Zoe to follow. She gulped and felt herself follow as though she was a puppet on strings. "Shield. Two sides of a coin that is no longer currency. What we have…" Strucker said as he stepped over to a display of three boxed glass rooms in front of them.

Strucker lent his hand out to Zoe. Zoe glanced at the palm of his hand and then at Loki's scepter in her hands. She was supposed to give it to him.

She swallowed hard, and handed it to him, standing beside him. She watched him put it on display and it spluttered to life.

"Is worth any of them any ever knew," Strucker said.

They watched the scepter glow blue inside the gem. Zoe stared into it, even though she tried not to, but she couldn't help but feel her stomach twist inside.

"We've only scratched the surface," Strucker continued. He glanced behind Zoe and Dr. List and walked away from the scepter. He turned to Zoe with a proud smile on his face. "Now, we can complete our work, thanks to our newest member of the family. I am proud of you, Zoe, as I am sure your father would be proud too." He squeezed her shoulder gently. "You will be rewarded as promised."

Zoe swallowed hard, and only just nodded. "Thank you, sir," she said.

He smiled. "Now, go be a dear and run along. There's a shower waiting for you back in our suite."

Zoe frowned, "Not until I see her first."

"Very well," he said, and waved a hand over. Zoe stumbled forward and followed Strucker and List down the hallway.

"There are other facilities doing our good work around the world. We'll keep them away from Captain America and his colorful friends, and keep them off our scent."

Zoe's ears twitched at his cruel words as he spoke in a smooth voice. She tried to keep up with them down the hallway so she could listen in to their conversation as they seem to spoke in quiet tones, as they walked by Hydra's agents and scientists.

"What about the volunteers?" Dr. List asked.

"The dead will be buried so deep they're own ghosts won't be able to find them," Strucker replied. He was confident of that.

Zoe lowered her head as she stood on the other side of Strucker. Her heart twisted in painful threads. She was dying on the inside and screaming, but no one was going to hear her. She may as well die with the ghosts underground.

"And the survivors?" Dr. List inquired.

"The twins, and my dear sweet Ava," Strucker said.

Inside three clear glass rooms, Zoe saw the remaining volunteers. "Who are they?" she asked.

"Maximoff's, we would've stuck your sister in the same room, but," Strucker paused slightly. "You're sister Ava, she's…proven to be very affective as of late."

Zoe frowned, furrowing her brows, wondering what he meant by that but when a scientist walked by, Ava's eyes grabbed a hold onto the scientist. Ava was the exact spitting image of Zoe. Brown wavy hair, short, pale, and she was sitting cross legged in the middle as though she were meditating. She concentrated on the scientist and grinned when she finally found something. She reached her hand toward the glass, and Zoe jumped as she started to kill the scientist.

"What is she doing?" she asked, unable to help but hear the fear in her own voice.

Strucker smiled an evil smile. "She's looking into his future, finding out his death, and killing him on instant. He was going to die of cancer, but now…He'll die of a stroke. Speeding up his death in the process so she can kill him in seconds. Very useful for defense mechanisms against the Avengers…as you've once told me all about their secrets."

Ava sucked the life out of the scientist, and Zoe watched in horror as the man's skin shriveled up and with a flick of her wrist, Ava twisted the scientist's head to death. The scientist fell to the floor.

Zoe watched in horror. "Oh my God…" she whispered in shock, covering her mouth. She was afraid as to what the Maximoff twins could do because from what she witnessed from the guy trying to speed and run out of the box, to the young girl twisting the blocks in the air.

"As you know, it's not what the world needs…the twins, and Ava…it's not the world of spies anymore, or even the world of heroes, this is the age of miracles. There's nothing more horrifying than a miracle," Strucker said, watching the twins and Ava struggle to defeat their newfound powers.

With a twist of the Maximoff girl's fingers, a fiery red energy spluttered from her fingertips, she crushed the box in splinters.


	40. Chapter 40: Ultron Age

**A/n: Original title of this was Long Last.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers, Winter Soldier or Age of Ultron. They belong to their respective owners. I am writing for fun and not for profit. I just own my OC's that are not related to the films.**

 **Chapter 40: Ultron Age**

Hydra Research Base  
Sokovia, Eastern Europe

"Report to your stations immediately, we are under attack," The voice warned over the Intercom of the ShieldHyrda base that rested on top of a snowy hill, way above and beyond the mountains of Eastern Europe.

Ava turned to face her sister, Zoe. Staring at her in the same eyes as she had, felt weird. Ava never had a family before. Sokovia was the only place she'd ever really known. It was fresh in her mind, and as Zoe came into her life so suddenly, Ava didn't think she would bond so well with Zoe with the time they had. Zoe was trying to calm Ava down during Strucker's experiments, promising Ava that she would be free one day, and now with the Avenger's arrival, this was Ava's chance, and she knew that meant leaving her sister behind.

Ava pulled a nervous strand of brown hair behind her ear. She knew what to do, as Zoe had reminded her the night and countless times before the beginning of this month when she'd noticed Zoe changed her personality. Ava just didn't think it was going to be so soon.

"Now, remember, when Strucker calls out for you and the twins to fight against the Avengers, when you get out there, I want you to roll off of Pietro's back, and run, look for a man in-"

"Blue, white stripes, and stars with a Shield," Ava said in almost utter annoyance and with an eye roll to boot. "I know. What's his name again?"

"Captain America," Zoe said, unable to help but smile when she said it out loud.

"No, I mean, his real name," Ava said, eyeing her twin with curiosity.

Zoe grimaced, "Steve."

Ava looked at her with a small grin on her face.

Zoe rolled her eyes and pulled Ava's brown wavy hair out from her shoulder, and behind her back, brushing it lightly with her fingers. "Just be safe."

"I will," Ava stressed. "I just…" she paused, glancing down.

Zoe eyed her sister, up and down. It took a long time for Ava to open up to her, and Ava only spoke to three people in her life. The Maixmoff twins and Zoe. No one else was allowed inside her heart. She wasn't ready for full confrontations yet. She wasn't even that ready for Zoe to be in her life, but she had no choice but to work with her during the experiments. "What?"

"I repeat, we are under attack!" The voice said again.

~*A*~

Outside the ShieldHydra base in the snow-covered forest, Natasha drove through the forest's clearing, while Hawkeye aimed his bow and arrow, killing any Hydra soldier that would try to stop them from reaching their goal. They were driving away from another jeep filled Hydra soldiers that were trying to kill them.

They needed to get to Loki's scepter and find Zoe, bring her back. Clint was actually amazed the ShiedHydra base was out here surviving for so long, and he could only guess that the scepter was here. These Hydra soldiers were made of metal and tin, along with some kind of energy boost given to them that looked exactly like the blue energy lines on Nat's Shield uniform whenever they fired. Tony was in the Iron Man suit, being helpful for once and firing back at them as they tried to climb onto their vehicle. Clint shot another arrow at a soldier that fell to his feet. Did any of this make sense to him? He just wanted Zoe back. And he hoped to God that she was not tortured or worse…

He shot another arrow at the Hydra soldier and continued firing at them with much rage in his system, while Natasha kicked the Hydra's soldier's butt who tried to climb on top of their jeep. At the corner of his eyes, and with his elbow, he knocked out the Hydra soldier that had attempted to climb on the back of their jeep. One of the Hydra soldiers pointed their super-charged gun machines at Clint, but Clint was much too fast for their own good. He shot an arrow at the machine before the solider could shoo them and Thor came flying in with his hammer, finishing him off completely.

Thor used Mjonlir to land on one of the tower platforms in which several Hydra soldiers operated. He punched every last Hydra soldier on them, while Iron Man shot several of them down, as many of the flying Hydra soldiers tried to defeat Thor. Thor grabbed one from the air and broke him in half, tossing him to the ground. Thor ripped off the machine gun and landed on the ground. He used the machine gun to fight the oncoming Hydra soldiers.

An explosion suddenly hit, and the sound of a motorbike trickled the God's ears, as Steve came barreling in, hitting several of the soldiers on the ground, taking one with him for the ride, dragging him onto the ground. Steve could hear the cries and shouts behind him along with the firefight in the air, but Steve didn't care. He tossed the soldier ahead of him to the ground just an explosion hit beside him. Steve maneuvered his motorbike down the hillside and in between the trees; he tossed his shield bouncing off the metal covered hydra soldiers they used as their armor. He knocked every one and his shield came back to him instantly as he jumped up and down with his motorbike, narrowly missing shots being fired from around him as he drove forward, heading toward the ShieldHydra base.

He skidded around a three-sixty just as Iron Man flew in, firing at will, and the Hulk appearing beside him, shouting at his enemies as the Hulk smashed his way in the firefight. He grabbed the jeep that was following Clint and Natasha's vehicle and tossed it over the ground so that it rolled to pieces.

The Hulk grabbed the oncoming Hydra soldiers at ease, throwing them hard down on the ground, knocking them out effectively.

The team came together in a rush, as the Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, Hawkeye, and Black Widow jumped off the jeep, leaping into the air in mid fire, as Thor took Mjonlir within his hand and lit up the Hydra soldiers during the firefight.

Tony flew to the ShieldHydra base, an old building that was heavily guarded not just by guards, but by-

"Shit!" Tony cried, knocking into the building that hit his metal helmet. He flew up and backwards, hitting a few more fire balls into the sky that landed in the middle of several Hydra soldiers. The building encased in a blue energy like field that acted as a defense mechanism.

"Language!" Steve said, tilting his head to the side. "Jarvis? What's the view from up stairs?"

"A central building that is protected by some kind of energy shield," Jarvis replied through Tony's helmet. "Strucker's technology is well beyond any other Hydra base we've taken."

Thor landed in the middle of the forest clearing, scaring several of the Hydra soldiers out of the way. He kicked one down, and smacked another one to the ground. He threw his hammer at several others. "Loki's scepter must be here. Strucker couldn't mount his defense without it," Thor said in mid-fight to his team on his earpiece. "At long last." He held out his arm and hand, calling out to Mjonlir. The hammer fell into the palm of his hand and he gripped it tight.

Meanwhile the Black Widow ran in the middle of a group of soldiers somewhere in the corner of another part of the forest. She tossed an energy bomb down, and she jumped in the air, whacking the hydra soldier down before he could get to her. She landed hard on the ground, and rolled back up onto her feet. She climbed up on one of the hydra soldiers, and twirled her leg around to kick yet another solider who tried to get to her, but she wasn't going to let him. She twisted around the soldier's neck, killing both of them instantly by two small electric rods from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s weapon tech. She placed them back in her suit, and took out a gun to shoot down a couple more soldiers. "At long last is lasting a little long, boys," she said. "Zoe's not going to last much longer."

Clint had concealed himself behind a tree, waiting for the right moment to strike at his part of the forest. "Yeah," Clint said, as he aimed his arrow directly at the shooter. "I think we lost the element of surprise!" he said to his team.

More explosions hit around him, and he ducked behind the tree, taking cover.

"Wait a minute," Tony said, flying through the skies, defending himself against the guards as he zoomed through. He was closing in he could feel it, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to let something so trivial slide away when Steve just said, language. Tony smirked. "No one's going to deal with the fact that Cap just said, language?"

"I know," Steve winced, speeding up on his motorbike away from the explosions that were on his tail.

He saw the jeep filled Hydra soldiers that were firing at him and coming his way. Steve hopped off his motorbike and flipped his bike, tossing it at them, and knocked them over like a set of bowling bins. They screamed in agony as they all fell to the ground.

"It just slipped out," Steve said with a sigh.

~*A*~

Zoe and Ava looked up at the ceiling and over at the twins. Pietro was looking at them with curious eyes, which made Zoe a little uncomfortable. She pulled Ava to the side so they were a way from them.

"I'm worried about you," Ava said.

"I'll be fine," Zoe said. "I can handle myself."

"We should go," Pietro said, walking over to Ava. "They'll want us out in the field. I can feel it."

Zoe arched an eyebrow at Pietro. "You think it's a wise decision to go out on your own?"

"You really want to argue with me?" Pietro asked in that snide accent of his.

Zoe shook her head and held up her hands in defense, "You're not ready. Do you have any idea who the Avengers are?"

"Do you have any idea what you've done to us?" Pietro glared at her. "It'll be a piece of cake."

Zoe sighed, and frowned. She made the mistake of looking into Wanda's eyes, and she frowned even more. It wasn't like she wanted to have a hand in Strucker's completed experiments. If she didn't, she'd never be able to report back to Hill about the ShieldHydra base.

"Who gave the order to attack?" Strucker said, coming out from the staircase and into the main control research base.

Zoe looked behind Ava who was now standing with the twins, nervously. Zoe bit her bottom lip and looked at Strucker as he dealt with his men.

"But Strucker, it's the Avengers!" his researcher cried. Zoe had gotten to know his name as Marco. He was skittish around Strucker, but Zoe couldn't blame him. She'd worked closely with Marco over the past months, telling him much about the Avengers and their powers, scaring the pants off of him. She didn't regret planting fear into his mind because he shouldn't be with Hydra. No one should be with Hydra, Zoe thought.

"The perimeter guard, panicked," The soldier said.

Strucker turned to Dr. List. "They have to be after the scepter," he whispered in hush tones. "Can we hold them?"

He asked the poor researcher. "They're the Avengers!" he stuttered in fear.

"Deploy the rest of the tanks," Strucker ordered his men. "Concentrate and fire on the weak ones. A hit at close range," he said.

Zoe's heart strings twisted at the very thought of Natasha and Clint out there in the wilderness. Her whole team was out there fighting against the Hydra infused soldiers with Strucker's technology that Zoe helped make happen because she was given orders. Zoe had to prep Ava and the twins too with Dr. List in case they were needed for something like this.

But Strucker didn't know that there were no weak ones in the Avengers. They were all tough, even Tony.

Zoe smiled at the thought of seeing Tony again. It had been way too long. She couldn't wait to stop playing on the side of Hydra.

"Everything we've accomplished," Strucker whispered to Dr. List. "We are on the verge of greatest breakthroughs!"

"Then let's show them what we've accomplished," Dr. List said. "Send out Ava and the twins."

"It's too soon," Strucker said

"It's what they signed up for!" List cried.

"My men can hold them," Strucker said, glancing at Ava, and the twins, eyeing Zoe curiously.

~*A*~

"Sir, the city has taken fire," Jarvis warned to Tony, as he flew around the perimeter of the Hydra base, as soldiers focused on trying to kill him, but Tony was too quick and fired back.

"I suppose Strucker's not going to worry about civilian casualties, alright, send in the Iron Maiden," Tony said.

Several robots flew in sync together and landed in the middle of the city of Sokovia. The civilians frowned in confusion and hatred as they started chanting that they didn't want the robots there even though the robots claimed they were here to help.

~*A*~

"We will not yield!" Strucker said. "The Americans sent their circus freaks to test us," Strucker said, walking around his men as his voice carried throughout the walls.

Zoe held onto her elbows, arms crossed over her chest, as she stood there listening to Strucker's words. Circus freaks? She shook her head.

"We will send them back in bags," Strucker warned.

Zoe may have had a small hand in Strucker's technology, and his Hydra soldiers, but there was one thing she knew for sure is that the Avengers were going to win. They always did. And she was rooting for the day when she would see Strucker's fall, and she secretly hoped today would be that day.

"No surrender!" Strucker cried the Hydra motto for battle.

"I am going to surrender," Strucker turned to List. "You are going to delete everything. If we give the Avengers the weapons they might not be too fond…"

Ava nearly stumbled on her boot-covered feet. Her shoelaces were untied, but she didn't have time to tie them up. Instead she climbed on Pietro's back once Wanda was in his arms, and she piggy-backed onto his back, and zip-sped out of there, knocking Zoe on her feet.

She glared after Pietro, feeling slightly annoyed and angered that she'd fallen so easily.

"No," Dr. List said to Strucker. "Ava and the twins."

Strucker and Dr. List looked over to Zoe on the ground. No help from either of them? She thought. No. Why would there be? She rolled over and picked herself up onto her feet.

"What happened?" Dr. List asked Zoe as she joined them, brushing the dust off of her black shirt.

Zoe shook her head and shrugged. "I don't know. I tried to stop them, but Pietro wouldn't have it. They wanted…to help."

"To help? Or to lead them to escape?" Dr. List demanded, gripping on Zoe's upper arms. He pulled her closer to him and she grunted in fear of his bad breath and demanding eyes. "On a first name basis, that's sweet." he glared at her.

She looked over at Strucker's piercing eyes and swallowed hard. "To help," she said. "They have powers that no one's even dreamed of having! You said it yourself, the powers have grown since last; they're ready."

"I don't know, Zoe," Strucker said calmly. He placed his hands behind his back as he shared a small look with his scientist. "You've been awfully distant to us, as of late, and it is pretty convenient that the Avengers should find our base, out here in the unknown wilderness."

"You think I had something to do with it?" Zoe asked outrageously.

"I think she's gone soft," Dr. List said, glaring at her.

"I don't have time to think about going soft, Dr. List," she said with a hiss through her teeth. She pulled off her long hair out from behind her, and showed them her neck. There was a mark on her neck that was deep red. "I have this to remind myself of who I work for," she said angrily.

Dr. List smirked when he spotted the branded look of their Hydra symbol on her neck. It was small, but it was branded onto her skin forever. She didn't want a tattoo when she first joined, so instead they gave her the next best thing. She hadn't been expecting to be branded, and ever since List had been wary of her for joining ShieldHydra and then finally succumbing to Hydra in the first place. After all, Hydra didn't take prisoners. You were either with them, or dead. And who wanted to die at such an exciting time like the Age of Miracles?

"Feelings can always be changed," Strucker said.

"Yeah, well, the past can't change," Zoe said. "Don't forget who I am."

"Don't forget who I am, and who your mouthing off to," Strucker said. "You are going to help me get out of here. And we're going to surrender together. Befitting isn't it?"

Zoe swallowed hard. He snapped his fingers at her and she had no choice but to go with him. Strucker wrapped his cold fingers around her neck, and steered her out of the main control room.

Dr. List smiled coldly at her and waved goodbye to her. He would be happy to see her leave. Even the presence in the building seemed to lift with such grace as her energy left him, while he went to go delete the files as planned. Whether she was a Hydra researcher or not, Dr. List could smell team spirit on her, and he was rooting for the moment that Strucker would kill her in front of her Avenger friends.


	41. Chapter 41: Surprising Elements

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belongs to its respective owners. I just own my oc. Writing for fun, and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 41: Surprising Elements**

Clint darted in between the forest trees, dodging oncoming fire until he finally found himself a tree to hide against. He drew another arrow and attached it to his bow, listening to the different sounds around him, as he concentrated on something that sounded like speeding feet on the ground, but he couldn't see where it was coming from, and that bugged him.

The sound sounded like one of his speeding arrows in the sky, like a flash of blue energy rushing through the forest. If he could just concentrate on… movement…

He slowly poked his head around the tree to glance around his surroundings, keeping his bow and arrow tight against him, aimed and ready to fire.

He released his arrow, thinking it would draw the speedy feet out in the open and darted back behind the tree.

He heard the swoosh again, and then a cry of pain shouting from someone's lips. It was female.

He furrowed his brows, and lowered his head as he wondered what this punk's game was. Was this cry of help just a draw to get Clint out in the open too? Or had she really been hurt by one of his arrows?

But he knew that cry, or at least he thought it sounded familiar. But he couldn't risk it.

He drew another arrow and was ready to shoot until he suddenly felt a hard hit against him, another body smacking him down to the ground. He flew in a twirl and landed on the side of his back, sliding into another body on the ground. "Owe, bugger!" he said. He grunted at the forcible impact, and turned to get up. He heard another cry beside him, and he turned to face the person who was lying on the ground.

A young man with sandy blonde hair and a stubble chin walked beside Clint with a smirk on his face. He looked down at Clint, walking by him like he had swagger. "You didn't see that coming?" he taunted.

Clint jumped up onto his feet and rushed out to pull out an arrow, pointing it at that kid as he'd disappeared. He sighed, and slumped his shoulders. Another cry shouted from down on the ground. He turned around and was about to go to her until all of a sudden one of the machine guns popped out of the blunker hidden beyond the trees, and turned to shoot him. He cried out in alarm as the blue energy fired right into the side of his chest, knocking him down on his feet.

"Clint!" Natasha said, and took off running to help her best friend in the field.

Somewhere else in the forest, Steve suddenly felt the forcible impact that had come out of nowhere, knocking off his feet, and landed on his feet, steadying himself with his shield. "We have a hit in the field," Steve said.

"Clint's hit," Natasha said into her earpiece as she zig-zagged her way over to him. He seemed in horrible shape and she didn't know who was lying next to him when she got there. "Somebody want to deal with that blunker?"

The Hulk jumped down in the middle of the Hydra soldiers firing at him, and without any mind, he smashed right through the blunker, tearing it to pieces.

"Thank you," Natasha said as she attempted to cover up his side wound. She turned to the other injured woman next to him. "Who is she?"

Clint grunted at the pain that seared through him. He tried to get up but she pushed his shoulder down.

Once Clint was fixed to the best of her abilities, she moved on to the young woman beside him, and turned her over. Natasha's eyes widened at the familiar face, but she didn't have time for words. She just ripped the arrow out of her shoulder and started fixing the wound, as Clint groaned, trying not to think about the pain in the side of his chest. Natasha looked over at him with a small frown on her lips, as she took another cloth to Zoe's shoulder and put pressure on the wound. The girl's eyes were rolling to the back of her head, and she was loosing consciousness.

"Stark," Steve said as he smacked down a Hydra soldier with his shield. He spun around and threw his shield across his face. "We're going to need to get inside." Steve jumped into a twirl in the air and tossed his shield as the shield zig-zagged through the forest trees, hitting every Hydra soldier down.

"I'm closing in," Tony replied to Steve through his earpiece.

A Hydra solider shot a blue energy fire strike at the Iron Man, but missed. Tony twirled around and landed on the bridge, kneeling down. He fired two fire balls at them, and they flew to the ground instantly. "Jarvis, am I, closing in?"

He shot another fire ball at the Hydra soldier, and he flew over the bridge's railing.

"Do you see a power source for that shield?" Tony asked.

"There's a pathway above the North gate," Jarvis replied as Tony fired at the gates that allowed him to enter the perimeter of the building. He flew in and out of the Hydra soldiers, shooting randomly as they all fell to their feet.

"Great, I want to poke it with somethin'," Tony said, and pushed all of his energy and weight up to the North tower, and drew one of his missiles down to the building. The blue energy field disappeared. "Drawbridge is down people!"

Steve used his armguard's shiny energetic magnets, and his shield came up to his armguard instantly. He gripped onto it tight.

Thor flew down with Mjonlir, hitting several Hydra soldiers along the way just as Steve came running toward the God of Thunder.

"Need a haunst?" Thor inquired.

"Need's a blur," Steve replied, joining Thor's side. "All the new players we've faced, I've never seen this. In fact, I still haven't."

"Clint's hit pretty bad guys, we're gonna need evac, and I'm pretty sure I have Zoe here with me, also injured," Natasha said into Steve and Thor's earpieces.

"I can get Barton and Sawyer to the jet," Thor said. "The sooner we're gone, the better. You and Stark secure the scepter."

Steve nodded. "Copy that," he said just as another tank rolled up on the snowy hillside along with a dozen other hydra soldiers.

"Look's like they're lining up," Thor said.

"Well, they're excited," Steve grinned.

Thor flipped Mjonlir in his hand and twirled it around just as Steve used his shield to hold it up against him. Thor tapped Mjonlir onto Steve's shield with a force that allowed the lightning to splutter throughout the Hydra soldiers, knocking them all on their feet and destroying the tank on instant.

"Find the scepter," Thor said, and flew up in the skies.

Steve looked up and watched as Tony spoke in his earpiece, "And for goshsake, watch your language!"

Steve looked down with a sigh. "That's not going away anytime soon."

~*A*~

"You know you're never going to get away with this," Zoe said, as Strucker pushed her down the stairs. She stumbled forward, but caught herself onto the next step in front of her.

"It never matters what I think," he said. "As always, cut off one head-"

"Another one follows," Zoe said with a roll of her eyes.

"You of all people should know, but why would you, when you're a traitor to your own family?" Strucker asked as soon as they stepped down onto the ground.

Zoe stared at him with wide eyes and opened her mouth to speak. "It depends on how you define traitor."

He pushed her forward. Zoe sighed in a huff and kept walking forth, keeping her head held high.

~*A*~

Tony flew in, breaking the window as he hovered above several men who started shooting at him. "Guys, stop, we gotta talk this through," Tony said, but of course they weren't going to have a talk, so Tony just shot them all down. "It's a good talk," he said.

"No it wasn't," one of them groaned.

Tony flew into the research facility room. At least three computers sat in a row on a desk, all in blue that looked like important information Tony could grab his hands on. He stepped out of his Iron Man suit. "Sensory mode," he ordered. His Iron Man suit went into sensory mode and the Iron Man suit held out his hand to fire in case Dr. List decided to get up from Tony's fire.

"Okay, Jarvis, I want it all," he said, placing a flash drive into one of the computers. He started typing and downloading everything that Hydra was planning. "Give a copy to Hill at HQ,"

"Sir, might I interject that Zoe was supposed to give Hill a copy," Jarvis said.

"Zoe was supposed to report to Hill on the next Hydrabase and give us data, not join them," Tony said.

~*A*~

"We're locked down out here," Natasha said.

"Then get to Banner," Steve said as he made his way through the tunnels of the Hydra base. "Time for a lullaby."

~*A*~

"I know you're hiding more than files," Tony said. "Hey J, give me an Iron scan of the room, real quick."

An orange beam of light shot out from the Iron Man suit, and scanned around the room, landing on one particular wall.

"The wall to your left," Jarvis said. "I'm reading steel reinforcement."

Tony walked over to the wall whispering under his breath, "Please be a secret door, please be a secret door, please be a secret door," And with a slight push with his hands, Tony pushed the wall open. "Yay!"

Tony walked down the dark tunnel, suddenly wishing he had Killer by his side to defend him in the dark because it was kind of spooky like with the whole wispy wind blowing cobwebs attached to the arch tunnel thresholds.

~*A*~

Natasha Romanoff stepped out onto the snowy hill. There he was. Hulking away, or sulking away as he tore bits and pieces of chunky metal off of the turned over tanks.

"Hey big guy," she greeted with a small smile on her face.

The Hulk spun around in a growl to face her.

"Sun's getting real low," she said, eyeing him with caution.

The Hulk eyed her directly, and slowly started to slow down his stomping trek. She took off her glove, and held out her hand in the air. She nodded gently for the Hulk to come closer.

He stomped gently as he could over to her and held out the palm of his hand. She touched it lightly and ran a few tender fingers along the palm of his big hand to calm him down.

The Hulk then turned around and started to shrink back down, turning into Dr. Bruce Banner as he curled against the ground, wincing in pain as the Hulk disappeared.

~*A*~

"Baron Strucker," Steve's voice echoed in Zoe's ears and she froze right next to Strucker.

"Hydra's number one thug," Steve said, emerging from the tunnel's shadows and out into the light that showed his pale features upon his face. He stared at the man dressed in black warm clothes with his hands behind his back, save for one that was resting upon Zoe's arm. He had a shaved head, and a strange eyepiece over his eye that acted like an eye patch, but it seemed like it was etched into his skin. He smirked. He'd caught him. And…he furrowed his brows when he turned to face her. Zoe. The one person he thought he could count on stood right beside him, also dressed in black. Black shirt, black leather jacket, black pants, and knee length boots. She was different. A little too different for his likings.

"Technically, I'm a thug for S.H.I.E.L.D." Strucker replied.

"Well then technically you're unemployed," Steve said. "Both of you. Zoe Sawyer, my number one rogue agent. Thought we already took you in."

Zoe shared a small look with Strucker before she answered, "That would be my sister, Ava. You remember that story, Captain."

Steve nodded curtly. "Unfortunately, I do," he said. "Where's Loki's scepter?"

Zoe was about to respond to Steve, but Strucker already beat her to it. He even gripped her wrist to keep her from talking out against him.

"Ah, don't worry, I know when I'm beat," Strucker said. "You'll mention how I cooperated?"

"I'll put it right under illegal human experimentation," Steve replied. "How many are there?"

"Steve!" Zoe warned, as she spotted Wanda from within the corner of her eyes. But it was too late. The witch had used her powers on Steve, and he tumbled down the staircase.

Zoe was about to go after him, but Strucker twirled her arm around and yanked her back against his chest, chocking her neck with his strong arm while the witch disappeared behind closed doors.

Steve ran up the stairs to catch her, but she'd already disappeared. "We have a second enhanced. Female. Do not engage."

"You have to be quicker than that," Strucker said, holding Zoe hostage.

"Steve-" Zoe chocked out.

Steve turned to face Strucker, who had Zoe locked within his arms. And her face looked just as crest-fallen as ever. It almost twisted Steve's heart to see her in such pain, but how could he trust her now?

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't let Strucker kill you right now?" Steve whispered.

Zoe widened her eyes. She didn't try to pry Strucker's arm off of her neck like she would have done in the past. Instead, she reached down for her knife hidden inside her boot.

"I," she breathed out, blinking as Strucker tightened his grip on her. She let out a small agonizing cry that reached Steve's heart strings. "I think I love you."

Steve blinked at her. "What?" he asked.

"Awe," Strucker cooed in her ear, sending her shivers. "Isn't that-"

Zoe grabbed the wooden hilt of her knife and stuck the blade deep into Strucker's leg-calf. But he didn't get to finish his sentence because he cried out in sharp pain and released Zoe. She slipped out of his arm, and twirled around to stand beside Steve.

Steve tossed his shield at Strucker to knock him out unconscious.

"Guys, I got Strucker, and Zoe," Steve said.

"Then who do we have in here?" Thor asked, standing inside the quinjet with Barton and a girl that looked very much like Zoe Sawyer.

"Ava, Zoe's twin," Steve replied, staring at Zoe as she winced. The shield came back to Steve's armguard, and he turned to face Zoe. "You think you love me?" he asked.

"Well," Zoe said, rubbing her neck gently to release the throbbing pain. "I'm not sure if you love me back."

"Good point," Steve said. "Though, you could have said something like I'm always on your side. Whatever happened to that?"

"Well," Zoe cringed, turning bright red in her pale features. "I am always on your side, and I didn't think you'd have to be reminded! But obviously you do," she said, stepping closer to Steve.

"Maybe I do," Steve said, closing in the gap between them. "It's hard to tell when you're working with somebody who doesn't know their identity, remember?"

"I think I could use a little reminder," Zoe said in a small whisper.

They were mere inches away from one another, nose to nose, mouth to mouth, so close; they could almost feel the heat riveting off of each other. Steve gently pulled her close, hand trailing down behind her head. He was dangerously close to touching her neck, and she could feel fear grip her heart. She wanted to kiss him, but at the same time, she didn't want to find out that she had- but she could feel his fingers trailing along the symbol of her neck. She shivered at his touch. His rough fingers found the deep edges of the brand etched into her skin.

"Yeah, I got something bigger," Tony cut into Steve's earpiece.

Zoe turned her head down to the side. Steve released her and stepped away from her. She swallowed hard. "Tony must've found the secret tunnel by now," Zoe said softly.

"What were they hiding?" Steve asked, trying to find his voice again.

"Stuff from the Battle of New York," Zoe replied. "I'm not sure what they were working on, except for this," she said with a small wave of her hand that indicated the researcher facility. "Strucker would never tell me. I really did try to find out as much as I could. I just...it would have looked suspicious if I continued to pry about his business. Strucker is a very private man."

Steve nodded. "Alright, our work here is done. Let's go home," he said, and took Strucker up and over his shoulders.

"Steve," Zoe called after him. "I'm sorry."

Steve turned to face her and stared into her eyes filled with regret and walked passed her without another word. Zoe sighed, and followed him, ready to leave this place once and for all.

~*A*~

Meanwhile, Tony Stark had found jackpot. There were so many different items that he'd recognized from the past, during the Battle of New York displayed before him, but it was like a dream. All the metal pieces found were here.

At the corner of his eyes, he spotted the glowing scepter that rested on display. "Thor, I got eyes on the prize," Tony said, walking straight towards it as if he was in a trance, not realizing that the witch was right behind him.

Tony stalled in his trek, and the witch used her fingers twirling some sort of red energy flare around his head, as if she was controlling his mind or planting something inside of his mind…that seemed to change the whole room so suddenly when he spun around.

The eel monster came alive and weaved through the air as if it was coming toward Tony, but it flew over his head, and the room grew dark and sad.

Space and time seemed to split between and Tony found himself somewhere out of this world in space where he spotted something so awful that his heart clenched without knowing…

His deepest and darkest fears were coming to haunt him as he stared at his friends, dead on the ground…the Hulk in huge amounts of pain, struggling from whatever wound he was suffering from… Natasha, Clint, Zoe, Thor, Hill, the broken shield cut in half, and Steve, all dead.

Tony knelt down on his knee, and gripped onto the rock for support. He reached for Cap's neck, but Steve suddenly grabbed a hold of him, shaking Tony in fear.

"You, could, have, saved us," Steve whispered. "Why didn't you do more?"

Tony looked up and saw the eel monsters weave and fly through space until it suddenly changed back to reality.

All was quiet again.

He turned his head and frowned slightly at the all too vivid dream or whatever it was he'd seen but it felt so real.

He looked behind him just to make sure that the eel monster was still sitting in its spot and not alive. Once he was satisfied that it was dead, he held out his hand and called out for his Iron Man metal glove.

"You're just going to let him take it?" Pietro asked after he'd joined his sister. They were hiding in the shadows watching the witch's plan unfold behind her amused sparkling eyes. She grinned once Tony gripped Loki's scepter off of the display and into his hands, feeling the gem's power.


	42. Chapter 42: A-Tower

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belongs to its respective owners. I am writing for fun and not for profit. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 42: A-Tower**

Zoe ran the palm of her hand over her sister's forehead, and brushed a piece of hair out of Ava's half-closed eyes. Ava was lying on the second med-table that stretched inside the middle of the Quinjet. Zoe smiled at her and planted a kiss on top of her head before Thor walked beside Ava's med-table glancing warily at the young woman every so often. Zoe could even feel Thor's tension as he walked by. They shared a small look with one another, one that was not so pleasant. It almost made Zoe sick to her stomach and want to cry. Half of the people in this jet were mad at her. She didn't know what to say to make them all forgive her. And to be honest? She didn't blame them for wanting to be pissed off. She did her job. She got them Intel, she told them what Strucker was planning, she told them the base, and she told them how she got Loki's scepter into Strucker's hideaway.

And what's worse is that she confessed her love to Steve and they almost shared a kiss. Zoe sighed. Her first real honest kiss. She didn't even know what that felt like, and she thought Steve was going to kiss her and fulfill her dreams she had every night just to keep her sane while she was with Strucker in his dark, cold, and dingy research facility. He didn't say anything yet because he was far too pissed about her Hydra brand on the back of her neck that she was going to have to hide for the rest of her life, or try to scrape it off of her because it would remind her of her family and what her family has done with Hydra. She felt extremely horrible right now, and she wished that she could listen to Bruce's calming musical headphones, but to be frank she was glad he was listening to them because maybe sometime later when he's calmer than she could explain to him that she didn't mean for this to be like a betrayed move.

Zoe walked away from Ava for a bit before she joined Thor beside Loki's blue scepter encased away in the corner against the quinjet's wall.

"Hi," Zoe greeted quietly and nervously. She stepped up beside the God of Thunder, who was much taller and muscularly than she was. She didn't want to try his patience, but then again she felt like she owed him an explanation, after all it was Loki's scepter she was supposed to protect, not give to Hydra, but it was Hydra's way in to steal the scepter, and lay all the Avenger's secrets because that's how she was going to be useful to Hydra, and that her family worked for them as well. The only people in the Avengers' group who knew about her real family was Steve and Natasha. The brand on her neck only made it worse and made it seem more real that she'd sided with them, but she didn't. She hated Strucker. She hated it all. She was not like her family. She was completely different.

Thor was silent.

"Giving me the silent treatment?" Zoe asked.

Thor remained silent.

Zoe sighed. "I would too, if I was suddenly Hydra, but I'm not."

He scoffed slightly.

"Look, I didn't want to completely turn…I didn't know they were going to brand me. It was either get branded or die. Hydra takes no prisoners. If it weren't for me, none of you would be here right now."

"If it weren't for you," Thor said in a low voice. He turned slightly toward her. "Barton wouldn't be hit like he is now and Loki's scepter would still be safe."

Zoe sighed. "Did you know that Agent Coulson gave me this assignment before he died?" she asked.

Thor raised an eyebrow.

Zoe nodded. "He did. It was my assignment before I even met you. I had to learn about you and the rest of the team because it was essential. I was Fury's eyes and ears inside that group."

"But you didn't have to…" Thor started to say, but stopped as he lifted Zoe's hair out of the way of her neck. He frowned at the site of the brand. Zoe lowered her head down.

"I might as well," Zoe shrugged. "My family was Hydra. That's what Agent Coulson wanted to tell me before he died. I was afraid that I let him down…and that I wasn't good enough…I was…"

"It's complicated," Thor said with a sigh.

Zoe nodded.

"Well," Thor said "I am glad you are safe, Zoe, but it was still dirty," Thor eyed her cautiously. "And now you have a sister to look after."

Zoe nodded yet once again.

"How is she?" Thor inquired.

"Fine, I think, I'll feel better once we get to headquarters," Zoe said. "And thank you, by the way," she said, squeezing his arm gently. Thor raised an eyebrow. "For helping her, and bringing her with you."

"I was just doing my job," Thor replied briskly.

"And what job is that?" Steve asked, coming up beside them.

"Saving innocent Earthlings," Thor replied with a grin on his face.

Zoe glanced between them as they both shared a smile with each other that made Zoe feel a little left out, but she got it. She hadn't been with them in forever. It'd been way too long.

"Thor, report on the Hulk?" Natasha's voice cut into the air.

"The gates of Hell are filled with his screams of victims," Thor said, clamping his fist inside the palm of his hand.

Zoe cringed. What? That wasn't helpful.

Bruce looked at Thor with wide eyes, and groaned. Natasha glared at him. Bruce buried his face within his hands.

"Eh, but not the screams of the dead, of course," Thor tried to quickly recover his words.

Bruce nodded but then rubbed his temples, trying to lessen the tension ins his head as Thor stumbled for his words.

"Uh, wounded, really, wintering, uh…withering, and complaining and tales of strange deltoids and uh…gaunt." Thor finished.

Zoe and Steve shared a small look. She grinned at him but he didn't. Zoe's lips turned motionless and void of any feeling in her heart.

"Dr. Banner, Dr. Cho's on her way in from Seoul. Is it okay if she sets up in your lab?" Tony asked from the pilot.

"Uh, yeah, she knows her way around," Bruce replied.

"Jarvis, tell her to prep everything, Barton and Zoe's twin are going to need the full treatment," Tony mumbled under his breath.

"Very good sir," Jarvis replied.

"Jarvis, take the wheel," Tony said, and slid back in his chair.

"Yes, sir," Jarvis said. "Approach vector is logged."

"Feels good right?" Tony asked, joining Thor, Steve, and Zoe. "I mean we've been after this thing since S.H.I.E.L.D. collapsed. Not that I've enjoyed our little raiding parties."

Thor grinned, looking down at the glowing scepter. "No, but this brings it to a close."

"As soon as we find out what else it is used for," Steve said. "I don't just mean weapons. Since when is Strucker capable of human enhancement?"

Zoe winced, as she listened to Steve's words cut through the air like a knife. She hated those experiments. She hated doing the research. She hated every minute of it.

"Banner and I will give it a once over before it goes back to Asguard," Tony said. He turned to Thor. "Is that cool with you?" Thor nodded. "Just a few days for a farewell party. You're staying right?"

"Yes, yes, of course," Thor said. "Victory should be honored with rebels."

"Yeah, who doesn't love rebels?" Tony asked, leaning against the table. He eyed Steve and Zoe. "Captain?"

"Hopefully this puts an end to the Chitauri, and Hydra, so, yes, rebels," Steve replied.

"You know technically I can call you Rebel," Tony said to Zoe.

"Please don't," Zoe pleaded.

"I don't know," Tony said. "I mean you clearly jumped the shark with the Zoe-look-a-like over there, and rebelled against Hydra with the rest of us. So technically, you're a rebel now."

Zoe thought for a minute. What?

"Right Cap?" Tony asked.

"There's still one Hydra agent left on board that should be with Strucker," Steve said, glancing at her. "Not with us."

Zoe turned her head to face Steve and frowned deeply. His words stung and she wasn't expecting them out of his mouth, but then again he was calling the shots now. She wasn't expecting that to come out of his mouth. She knew he was upset, but was that really necessary?

She scoffed, and walked away. She was tired of it. She walked over to see Bruce and Nat relaxing on the bench. Nat eyed Zoe carefully as she walked around her sister's med-table, stomping around like an angry child. She sighed with frustration and just took her seat in the corner, not missing the looks she received from Clint before he closed his eyes.

Jarvis flew the quinjet back to A-tower. Tony's old tower. He'd built it especially for the Avengers Headquarters, which Zoe actually thought was nice of him to do. The Avengers were needed now more than ever with the enhanced twins like Wanda and Peitro Maximoff. She should probably tell them about those two, but it was literally like walking on egg-shells around these guys and half the time she was around them she just felt powerless against them. Hill was lucky. All she had to do was work behind a desk. She didn't have to be in the field, or pretend to play evil, or anything that Zoe had to do. Zoe leaned her hand within her chin.

It was only a couple more long hours before they reached New York City and onto the high platform of A-tower. The design was especially made for the Avenger's quinjet to land safely and park inside the main hanger.

Clint was quickly rushed off the ramp. Natasha walked with her best friend to make sure he wasn't alone, and a couple of other of Cho's assistant's took Ava inside. Zoe was quick to follow Ava's med-table, passing Maria, sending her a small grimly smile on her face. Zoe stopped for a brief moment and pulled out a USB flash-drive card from her pocket and handed it to Maria. Maria nodded at Zoe, smiling through her eyes, as she plugged in the card of newfound Intel regarding human enhancements.

Maria had a relieved look when Zoe returned home safe and sound. Assignment, completed. But Maria did not miss the dull look Zoe had as plain as day. She chewed her bottom lip and wondered how the Avengers were fairing having Zoe back as their information specialist, and now field agent.

Maria walked onto the ramp to join Tony and Steve, still inside the quinjet, and passed Thor who carried Loki's scepter underneath his arms.

"Lab's all set up, boss," Maria said.

"Uh, actually he's the boss," Tony said as he pointed toward Steve. "I just pay for everything and make everything look cooler," Tony grinned, spinning around in his chair.

Steve turned around from his seat, and got up to face Maria. "What's the word on Strucker?" Steve asked.

"NATO's got him," Maria replied.

"And the two enhanced?" Steve asked.

"Wanda and Peitro Maximoff, twins," Maria replied, handing him the tablet that showed the two twins engaged in some sort of protest. "Orphaned at age ten when a shell collapsed their apartment building. Sokovia's had a rough history," Maria explained as they walked out of the ramp of the quinjet. Steve swiped through the information on the screen, listening to her as they walked.

"It's nowhere special, but it's on the way to everywhere special."

"They're abilities?" Steve asked.

"He's got increased metabolism, and improved thermiohopiosasis. Her thing is neuroelectrifacing, telekinesis, mentalmanipluation…" Maria trailed off, and Steve looked at her like she was crazy. Maria slightly eye-rolled. "He's fast and she's weird."

"Well," Steve said, handing her the tablet. Maria quickly switched to another face, one that reminded him of Zoe. "They're going to show up again."

"Agreed," Maria said just as the elevator dinged letting Steve know the elevator was ready. "Steve, there's something you should know about Ava as well."

"What about her?"

"She's also, enhanced," she said. "Her father volunteered her at a young age thinking the Tesseract would help resolve the problem, but instead it just made things worse."

Steve swallowed hard as he got into the elevator. "Does Zoe know?"

Maria shook her head. "I figured you'd want to tell her."

"Why me? She should be with NATO right now, not here." Steve said.

"She did it for all of us. She wasn't trying to hurt us," Maria said. "Just give her a break, Steve. She's been through a lot. She could use someone on her side for once."

"You're on her side," Steve said.

"I'm not on anyone's side, I just think she needs the team right now, more than ever," Maria said.

"What else does the file say?" Steve asked, ignoring his brewing strange feelings inside of him. He was happy to see her, but he'd never felt more betrayed at that moment with that branded tat on her neck. He thought…he didn't know what to think anymore…

"File says they volunteered for Strucker's experiments," Maria said with a sigh. "That's nut's."

"Right," Steve said, pressing the button. "What kind of monster would let get a German scientist experiment on them to protect their country?"

"We're not at war, Captain," Maria reminded him.

"They are," Steve said.

"Talk to her?" Maria suggested.

"I don't know what else there is left for me to say," Steve said.

Maria's shoulders slumped as the doors closed behind him. For a Captain in stars and stripes, he can be a hardass sometimes….


	43. Chapter 43: Flat-Lining

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belongs to its respective owners. I merely own my OC. I am writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 43: Flat-Lining**

Zoe paced back and forth, standing beside the glowing scepter, hovering in Tony's lab. Bruce walked by her and she walked up to side with him, "Bruce-"

"Don't," Bruce said, cutting her off.

She sighed, stomping her foot on the ground. "Why? You know what I am capable of, and that I had no choice."

"Everyone has a choice," Bruce said. "You chose."

"For the benefit of the Avengers," Zoe said. "I'm still on your side. Always and forever."

Bruce shook his head. "I'm sorry, Zo... I'm just not... in the mood right now," he said sadly. He had sad eyes when he spoke, and it broke her heart. She supposed it wasn't going to be easy getting back into the swing of things like the way things used to be. Things have changed a lot since S.H.I.E.L.D. collapsed, and she wondered how much.

Zoe winced, slowing down in her trek. She clapped the palm of her hands together and sighed, as Bruce joined Tony, asking Tony about how Clint was. Clint was in the room adjacent to Ava's room. Ava had already been prepped and taken care of by Dr. Helen Cho, and now Ava was just sleeping and taking it easy. And Zoe had been nervous for Clint because he'd been hit worse by one of those energy blunker things in the snow.

Tony looked over at the distraught Zoe, and frowned. "Hey," he greeted gently. "You look tired, you should get something to drink and get some rest."

"How is he?" Zoe asked in a small whisper.

"He's fine," Tony replied. "But you aren't."

Zoe shook her head. "Bruce is refusing to talk to me," she muttered.

"Well, you know the Big Guy doesn't take betrayal lightly," Tony said.

"Don't I know it," Zoe said with a sigh, and she leaned her neck back within the palms of her hands, glancing up at the ceiling. She winced at the strange feel the brand she had on her neck. It was like it was still freshly made, even though it had been there for quite some time now. Maybe she should've gotten the tattoo, but even then that was permanent, just like her past. "It is good to be home though," she said wistfully, as she took a look around the new A-tower that was so modern and sleek. It reminded her of the Hellicarrier's main deck, and how gorgeous it was. Still, she wouldn't mind a little old fashion in her life…but that part was still sitting on a teeter-totter waiting to see which one would fall.

"This place is gorgeous Tony," Zoe said with a smile twinkling in her eyes as she watched Tony fixate on Loki's scepter.

Tony grinned, though he concentrated on the device before him with his head down. "You don't have to butter me up, Killer; I know what you did, and what you went through. I get it."

"Do you?" Zoe asked in a surprising tone of voice. Of all people, she had no idea that Tony was going to be on her side.

"Thank Pepper," Tony replied.

Zoe's lips curled into a smile.

"Alright Jarvis, we got a couple days with this joy-stick, so let's make the most of it," Tony said. "Update me on the structural and compositional analysis."

"Jarvis is going to put me out a job isn't he?" Zoe asked with a small frown on her face.

"The scepter is alien," Jarvis said. "There are elements I can't quantify," he said.

"Unless you can read alien elements, then yeah, you're out of a job, sister," Tony said.

Zoe wrinkled her nose at that.

"So there's elements you can't," Tony said, as he walked over to his juice bar.

"What about the gem in the middle?" Zoe asked. "That's got some spiffy power right there."

"The jewel, Miss Sawyer, appears to be protective housing inside, something powerful indeed," Jarvis said.

Zoe walked around the scepter, the very one thing that she was supposed hold and carry and keep safe. She didn't want Strucker to have it, but no one knew what she went through to get inside that Hydra base facility. It was now or never. She just didn't expect to go as far as she went. As she listened to Jarvis's calming voice in the room, she walked around and over to the balcony where she could see the rest of the A-tower. Stairs led up to the different levels of various rooms. The lounge seating area looked very comforting right now and Zoe would give anything to lay her head on a soft pillow again.

Tony lifted the his juice mixer and started to mix up different juices inside the blender, as he listened to Jarvis's explanation. "Like a reactor?" Tony said.

"Like a computer," Jarvis replied. "I believe I'm deciphering code."

Zoe looked down and spotted Steve walking up the stairs, while everyone else seemed to be in their own little world. Steve was so focused on the mission right now that maybe that's why he wasn't talking to her right away.

"What kind of code?" Zoe asked.

"I'll let you know when I've deciphered it," Jarvis replied.

Zoe nodded and looked sadly over at Steve. Tony glanced over at her and pressed the blender button that mixed his juice, that he claimed was the magical exlir of life. The only thing that Zoe considered the magical exlir of life was coffee.

"Here, help," Tony said, motioning a quick nod over to Zoe. She sighed and walked over to his little mini bar and took out a bag of cups. She started to open them, tearing the bag apart. "Tray, please."

"Where?" she asked.

Tony pointed down below the mini bar and grabbed a tray. She stood up, but accidentally hit her head on the silver metal and cringed, yelling out a slight owe. She just suddenly lost it, and dropped the tray to the floor with a loud clank. She leaned against the metal pole attached to the bar, and felt oncoming tears reach the sides of her plump cheeks.

"Well, don't cry over spilled trays," Tony said, frowning as he stopped the blender. He slowly knelt down beside her and twisted his lips into a frown. If it was one thing Tony hated dealing with besides crazy terrorist monsters in the world, is that he hated to deal with raw emotion and this girl had a lot of it right now. He didn't blame her. She'd gone through a lot in the last couple years and a few months since he'd seen her last. He didn't know how she was handling it all, and he wondered if this was finally the crack moment he was waiting for, or not waiting for because he was fond of Zoe, like the little sister he never had, almost.

"Come on," Tony moaned lightly. "We're the Avengers; we're not cry-babies."

Zoe looked up and blinked her long lashes at him that only dropped more tears down her cheeks. She glared at him. "I'm not an Avenger. Even Coulson said I wasn't."

"Coulson is dead," Tony said. "You have to stop thinking about the past or it's going to tear you up inside. Trust me, I know. And besides, it doesn't matter anymore. You know what you have to do? You have to brush everything aside, and find something to focus on, and create something big out of that focus, and relish in it. Make it you. Make it whole. Make it big, just not bigger than Iron Man," he grinned.

Zoe listened to his words but they were just words. In one ear and out the other. She couldn't function like regular people. It was hard for her just to move on so quickly like the rest of the world. She just always seemed stuck, like she was responsible for everything that's happened. Though, she really had to hand it to Tony because he always seemed to pick himself up after something terrible had happened. He never gave up. That's one of the good qualities she liked about him, though not many people saw what she saw in him...

"Remember what I said to you in Central Park?" he asked.

Zoe's eyes flicked up from the interesting floor to his brown eyes. She shook her head. "It's been so long, Tony, I just…I have no more energy to think for myself anymore," Zoe said.

"You are an Avenger, and you will always be an Avenger to me," Tony said softly. Zoe blinked at his words hanging in the air like a hug. It was Tony's way off affection that he rarely showed, and Zoe was grateful. "Killer."

Zoe couldn't help but smile at her code name. It stuck with her. Seemed on point and she wouldn't give it up. She wouldn't give any of this up at all. "Do you think," she sniffled and whipped her fingers against her cheeks, brushing the tears away. Tony took a tissue from the tissue box on his bar and handed it to her. She thanked him with a nod. "That you could talk to Bruce?"

Tony cringed. "I could try, but I can't think for him. He's got his own baggage."

Zoe sighed. "Yeah," she sighed. "Don't we all?"

Tony grinned. "Let's go say hi to that baggage of yours, and see how she and Clint are, hmm?"

"Sounds good, but I am not drinking whatever crazy concoction you just made there," Zoe said. Tony helped her up off the ground, and she dusted her black jeans off.

"If you want to be one of us, you're going to have to," Tony said, pouring the first glass of mystery juice for Zoe and he handed it to her. "And stop drinking the morphine," he said with a wink. Zoe frowned. He was totally jeering at her coffee addiction.

"Who…told you that?" she asked.

Tony zipped his lips with an invisible key and tossed it away. She sighed.

Well, she was totally going to have to if she did want their trust back. She would do anything to get their trust back. Great. She took a sip and forced it down her throat. It wasn't coffee, but it was something odd, but something slightly sweet and tart at the same time. She couldn't place her finger on it, but it wasn't bad. Tony poured enough for the team and everyone that was present in A-Tower.

Zoe and Tony made their way out of the lab and toward Clint's room. She was feeling a little better, after their talk, but she still wasn't sure how to fit in again. She was positive that Strucker would have told someone else about the Avengers's weaknesses and other information about their lives if necessary to use against them. Thankfully it has yet to come to that, and if they were going to come to use that information against them, Zoe would be there to stop it. She would make sure of it.

"If you brought this to my lab, the regeneration cradle could do this in twenty-minutes," Dr. Cho said, as Zoe and Tony came in through the threshold, carrying a tray full of drinks.

"Oh he's flat-lining," Tony said, handing Clint a drink. "Time?" Tony asked, checking his watch in a teasing jester.

Clint chuckled, "No, no, no, I'm gonna live forever. I'm going to be made of plastic," he said.

"I thought you already were plastic," Zoe teased, crossing her arms over her chest, as she continued to bite onto her plastic straw.

"Ha, ha," he said dryly, glancing at her through his blue eyes. He smiled back at her, relieved to see her in one piece. He grabbed the beverage from Tony's hand.

"You'll be made of you, Mr. Barton," Dr. Cho said with a smile. "Your own girlfriend won't even tell the difference," Dr. Cho said, motioning a quick nod between Zoe and Clint.

"Oh no, no, we're not, together," Zoe said, shaking her head. Natasha looked up between them with a slight amused glare at Zoe and Zoe's cheeks turned bright pink. She glanced the other direction, careful not to meet the Black Widow's eyes. Nope. Zoe wasn't ready for that yet, especially when she just sort of had a mental breakdown.

"I don't have a girlfriend," Clint mumbled in his drink at the same time over Zoe's soft voice.

"That I can't fix," Dr. Cho said, walking over to her desk where there was a set of computers on top of the surface. Everyone shared a curious glance at each other, by the hidden meaning of her tone of voice. "This is the next best thing, Tony," Dr. Cho said proudly. "Your clunky metal suits are going to be left in the dust."

"Well, that is the plan," Tony said. Bruce turned slightly at Tony's words, and looked at Natasha. "And Helen, I expect to see you at the party on Saturday," Tony said.

Dr. Cho thought about it for a brief moment and Zoe watched her curiously. "Unlike you, I don't have a lot of time for parties."

"Will, Thor be there?" Dr. Cho asked curiously, as she casually looked down at her clipboard.

Right, Zoe thought. Tony's farwell party. It was kind of nice, a farwell party dedicated to those in service. She wasn't sure if she was going to go, after all she had Ava to look after. "I'll be right back," she mumbled to herself. "May I?" she asked, taking a drink from Tony's tray. Tony nodded. They shared a small smile before she left Clint's room and headed over to Ava's.

She gently knocked on the side of her room's threshold, and Ava's head turned to face her sister. "I come bearing a gift," she said.

"What?" Ava asked with a yawn. She moved slightly on her med-table. Dr. Cho had cleaned her up with Zoe's help. Ava was no longer in dirty clothes. She was in a pair of extra clothes Dr. Cho had available for her that would fair until Zoe could take her sister out shopping into the real world.

That was going to be a new experience. Shopping with an enhanced twin. As far as what Zoe knew about Ava is that she could read into people's future's and see what their death is going to be and then make it happen in five seconds or less, flat. Strucker was trying to manipulate it with Loki's scepter to make it happen on instant impact.

Zoe pulled a stool from the side, and sat down beside her sister. She handed Ava a drink.

"What is it?" Ava asked, taking it and peering into it curiously.

"It's Tony's healthy concoction, but I wouldn't dare ask what's in it," Zoe replied, smiling at her.

Ava looked at her with caution.

"It's okay, it's full of antioxidants," Zoe said. "It's healthy for you."

Ava licked her dry lips. She was thirsty. And she wouldn't mind trying something new. The food she's had over the years was so awful, she'd become numb to it, and her body had shriveled up into a skinny-minnie that was almost borderline anorexic, very different from Zoe's strong build and slender body that Zoe worked hard to maintain and keep.

Working out in the morning when no one was awake, helped Zoe maintain a clear head. Thinking about getting back home to her family, to the Avengers, to see Maria again, that's all that mattered…especially to see Steve. He was in her heart and mind every day. She wondered if that were the same for him, but she wasn't sure now.

Ava coughed when she took a sip of the drink.

"You okay?" Zoe asked.

Ava wrinkled her nose in slight disgust. "It's…interesting."

"You'll get used to it," Zoe said with a smile. "So, Dr. Cho said that we'll be able to get you home by morning tomorrow. She wants to keep you over night, just in case. She knows how delicate you are, and wants to make sure you're okay to handle…well…"

"She wants to know if I can control my mental-status? My powers?" Ava asked. "I'm not stupid, Zoe," Ava said.

Zoe glared at her sister. "I didn't say you were, and don't give me an attitude, okay? I'm already at my tipping point with everyone else. You have no idea what I did to get to you, sacrifice everything I've ever cared about."

Ava was silent after listening to her sister. Her shoulders slumped and Ava felt awful for what she said, but she was tired of being treated like someone else's lab project. She was grateful for Zoe coming into her life and rescuing her, so much, but she just wanted to be normal, and not have to peek into someone else's mind, like Zoe's, and read about her future's death. She swallowed hard, and leaned her head against her pillow. Everything felt so heavy and confusing. She had yet to really meet her family, the Avengers, she called them.

"Zoe," Ava said, pulling Zoe out of her negative thoughts. "I'm sorry."

Zoe shrugged. "It doesn't matter. You're safe and sound, and home," she said as she automatically brought her hand to the back of her neck, brushing her fingers against the brand, picking at the skin, as if she were trying to peel it off. She winced every time and that's when Ava noticed the pain her sister's eyes.

"Zoe," Ava said. "Stop it. That'll only make it worse."

"I can't help it," she said. "It's…annoying," she sighed. "But, we'll be home tomorrow, and I can just put some easy foundation on it, and no one will know the difference."

"You would," Ava said. "Just like I can't pretend to be normal just because I have abilities."

"You are normal," Zoe said.

"Normal is so overrated, anyway," Dr. Cho said, walking back inside the lab. "How are you doing, sweetie?" Dr. Cho asked, walking over to Ava's med-table.

Ava smiled up at her, "Okay, a bit achy, but I'll live. I think. Are you sure this plastic thing is going to stick?" she asked, pointing to her shoulder. Zoe got up and walked over to Ava's injured shoulder that was now covered in skin but plastic skin. It was so weird, but cool at the same time. Zoe pushed her finger against it and Ava tapped her sister's finger away. "Ewe," Ava said with a slight giggle.

"It'll stick," Zoe nodded. She smiled up at Dr. Cho who smiled back at her.

"She'll be alright, soon enough," Dr. Cho smiled. "And then you can go shopping!"

Zoe smiled. "I don't think she knows the meaning of the word shopping yet," she said, looking at Ava.

"No, but I hear it's a great pastime!" Ava said.

"It certainly is," Dr. Cho said with a nod, and pulled up Ava's clipboard from her desk, reading over the x-rays and files, double checking everything on Ava. "Um…can I come?"

"You want to come shopping with me?" Zoe asked. They didn't even know each other and Zoe was utterly shocked. "You can make time for that?" Zoe said, almost in a teasing gesture. Dr. Cho smiled stiffly, but she nodded.

Zoe was hoping for some sisterly bonding time and teaching Ava tradition, and how things are in this world. Zoe wasn't sure how she was going to do that and work at A-tower at the same time, but she was going to try and make it work. Hopefully, without a mental breakdown this time….

"I was invited to Tony's party, and I need a dress," Dr. Cho said. "I figured maybe you could help. Are you going?"

Zoe chewed her bottom lip, and looked at Ava. "I don't know," she said.

"You and Ava should come! It'll be a great social learning tool for her," Dr. Cho said.

"A party?" Ava asked, almost excitedly. Zoe could see the excitement light up in her eyes. Ava hadn't been out mingling with anyone at all and Zoe wasn't sure how she would do out in the open like this…

"We'll see," Zoe said. "But you can come with us, Dr. Cho, it would be fun," Zoe said. I think, Zoe thought. It would be the first real outing Ava had. Zoe was totally unsure on how to take care of Ava… and she was scared shitless.


	44. Chapter 44: Imagine That

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers, or anything related to the film or comics. The film and comics belong to Marvel and its respected owners. I am just writing for fun and not for profit. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 44: Imagine That**

"Alright," Zoe said, walking into her apartment. She flipped the lights on, and the lights showed a simple loft in Ava's eyes. Everything looked really comfy and cozy from her gray sectional couch in the middle of the room to the dark wooden coffee table in the middle, and the t.v. set mounted on the brick wall. The rug on the floor was white and fluffy but comfy looking.

Zoe pulled off her black leather jacket and took out her gun from the back of her pocket, settling it onto the kitchen counter top that had a jar full of Oreo Thins stacked against each other. Ava glanced around Zoe's small white kitchen with a gas-stove and a blue-toned backsplash against the wall that connected from the stove to the microwave. Everything looked cozy and warm. There was a mixture of new and old things inside of her apartment that Ava liked. None of it seemed familiar to her of course, but she liked how everything was clean and not messy.

"I see S.H.I.E.L.D. has done well for you," Ava said, breaking the ice. Ava turned around and watched Zoe smooth out her hair. Zoe had taken out her pony-tail and ran her fingers along her brown locks that flared out across her shoulders.

"Yeah, they've done a number on me," Zoe said. "Keeping me well entertained. Got all my action-flick movies from Brad Pitt to Matt Damon."

Ava furrowed her brows in confusion. "Who are they?"

"Just really hot actors…." Zoe said, smiling. "Though, hot is an understatement," she said. It would be nice just to feel like a regular and normal person again… if she could remember what that felt like.

"Can we watch?" Ava asked.

Zoe laughed, "Sure, maybe after we have some lunch. But, first, I'm going to show you where you'll sleep. I only have one bedroom, so until I can figure out a decent living situation for us, you'll just have to sleep on the couch. It's a pull out."

Ava chewed her bottom lip, "I guess that's fine…"

Zoe cringed at her tone of voice. Stupid, Zoe, stupid…she'd lived in a box for most of her life. "Or, you can have my room for the time being. I'll mostly be at A-tower anyway, once I get you settled in and everything."

Ava smiled. "That's fine too, but if you ever need the bed, just let me know?"

Zoe shrugged. "I'll be fine," she said. "Now, you've seen the kitchen, and the living room. I'll show you the rest of my house. It's small."

"Really small," Ava mumbled.

"Welcome to Brooklyn," Zoe said. "I had to make it to look bigger and nicer all by myself."

"I like what you've done with the place," Ava said as they walked down the narrow hallway, wooden floors, creaked and stomped on as their boots scraped the wooden planks beneath their soles.

Zoe smiled. "Thanks," she said. She opened the door to her bedroom, where Ava spotted a queen-sized bed that nearly took up half the room space. Zoe didn't seem to have much furniture, except for a small inn-table, with an antique phone that rested on the table, and a closet that stretched from one end of the wall to the other. The doors had a mirror like feel to them and Ava could see herself next to Zoe and how unfit she looked next to her twin. She frowned.

Ava lowered her head and sighed. Though they were twins, they didn't look anything alike, aside from their faces and hair color.

Zoe walked next to her, and threw an arm around her sister's shoulders. "We'll get through this," she said. "I promise."

"Where is your bathroom?" Ava asked.

Zoe spun around and pulled Ava with her. The girls walked to the adjacent room beside her bedroom and Ava gaped at the very small bathroom. Ava poked her head inside and frowned. Tub, sink, and a toilet. There was one small window.

"Is there a shower?" Ava asked curiously.

Zoe scowled. "I had to buy my own showerhead, and attach it myself…not as easy as it looks," she said.

"Living alone in a big city sounds difficult," Ava said.

Zoe didn't miss the sad tone in her sister's voice, but Zoe honestly didn't mind being alone. She'd learned over time to get over the fact she was never going to have someone in her life to share an apartment with, but then again she was never really home, either. She was always with S.H.I.E.L.D. on an assignment. She didn't really have time to think about being alone for very long time.

"I'm never alone," Zoe said with a grin on her face. "I was always at S.H.I.E.L.D. This is just a place to crash when I do need some me time, however."

Ava grinned. "Well, I like it."

"Thank you. So do I. So, what do you want to do first?" Zoe asked.

"I would like to shower, change into some real clothes, and eat," Ava said. "I'm starving, and I don't even know what's good to eat." Ava said, smiling.

Zoe couldn't help but chuckle, "Alright, I'll help you do all that. And you are going to need a set of clothes to wear, huh?"

Ava nodded.

"Shopping will be a must," Zoe said. "Well, I'll call Helen, and see what time we're going to go shopping tomorrow, while you take care of yourself, okay?"

Ava nodded.

"Think you can manage that or do you need me?" Zoe asked with a small worried frown on her face.

"Um…" Ava chewed her bottom lip, blushing. The curls of her hair fell, covering her cheeks. "I'll….call you if I need you?"

"Okay," Zoe said with a nod of her head, and helped her sister to get ready for a cozy and laid back day. Zoe had told Tony to call her if anything came up with Loki's scepter in Tony's lab at A-Tower. Tony knew Zoe wanted to spend some time with Ava, so that Ava could get used to the world, and how it's changed from Strucker's research facility.

Zoe could only hope that Ava would soon be okay to be on her own and be by herself, but she knew that was going to take time and Zoe worried if bringing Ava to the party was such a good idea after all, but Tony insisted, and Zoe couldn't resist saying yes to Tony's pouting face, especially when he was the only one letting her in.

Zoe bit her bottom lip, as thoughts ran through her mind as she picked out a couple of clothing items from her closet that might fit on Ava's thin body. Zoe was going to have to help Ava get her nutrition back in order. Whatever Ava was eating was not helpful at all. And what's worse? Zoe was going to have to tell Ava all about their family history and she wasn't even sure if she was ready to tell Ava that. If Ava asks, she would tell her, Zoe thought because she didn't think Ava would be able to handle the information right now. Ava was just settling in, after all.

~*A*~

Zoe walked down to Tony's lab with an annoyed look on her face. She placed her bag on the table, and crossed her arms, sending Tony a look. Tony spun around and smiled. "Zoe," he greeted. She'd changed into a comfortable set of jeans and a blue top with white long sleeves underneath it. The blue top had a bright lime green peace sign in the middle with flowers inside the bubbly peace-sign. Her hair was up in a wavy pony-tail. She looked casual and comfy. Tony hummed lightly at the thought of ruining her free afternoon, but then grinned anyway. "You look happy to see me."

"I was having lunch with Ava. What couldn't you tell me over the phone?" Zoe asked.

Tony grinned. "Well…I figured you'd want to know what the code was that Jarvis deciphered, and thought you ought to know what I've come up with, also…in-coming…" He pointed at Bruce who stopped in the middle of the hallway, dressed in his lab coat with glasses perched on his nose. He had a silver coffee mug in his hand.

"What is she doing here?" Bruce asked.

"This concerns both of you, after all she's technically like a guardian of Loki's scepter,"

"Thought that was Thor's job," Bruce said.

"Only when it gets left behind. It's up to S.H.I.E.L.D. to protect it," Zoe said.

"Before it collapsed," Bruce reminded her.

She sighed, and eye-rolled, glancing at Tony. "Is this going to take long because I really have to get back in case Ava needs me."

"You left her undetected?" Bruce asked a little bit outrageously.

"I've been teaching her the basics," Zoe said with a slight glare, trying not to bite his head off.

Tony stepped in the middle of the two and brought them together, throwing an arm around each of them.

Zoe tightened her lips together and pursed them to the side, as she walked down the steps with Tony into his lab. Right, keep the Other Guy at bay.

Bruce stepped down the stairs that led into Tony's lab. "Okay, what's the rumpus?" Bruce asked, setting his coffee mug down on the table as Tony steered his friend's shoulder down into the lab area where Loki's scepter was.

"Well, the scepter," Tony began to explain his findings with the gem. "You see we were wondering how Strucker got so inventive, so I've been analyzing the gem inside," Tony said, as he took his small clear glass device in his hands, turning his computer on. He flipped the device in his hand, pressing his finger on the screen.

"You may recognize," Tony said.

Jarvis's orangey and yellow fiery energy flares spread alive into a circle of sorts with static energy swirls around the form of beautiful technology in Zoe's eyes.

Bruce stepped out of the square and out of Jarvis's energy form. "Jarvis," Bruce greeted, stepping back carefully.

"Doctor," Jarvis said in greeting.

"Um, Tony, I still don't understand any of this, like at all, no offense Jarvis," Zoe said, turning to the energy ball in the middle of the lab.

"None taken, Miss Sawyer," Jarvis said.

"Just listen," Tony grinned at her.

"And I'm still not cool with her letting in on what I think you're about to tell me?" Bruce asked.

Tony just smiled, and motioned for Zoe to scoot closer so they could talk in hush tones.

"It started out Jarvis was just a natural language Eli," Tony explained. "Now it runs within the Iron Legion. He runs more of the business than anyone besides Pepper."

"Oh," Bruce said.

"Top of the line," Tony pointed to Jarvi's energy form.

Zoe was completely mesmerized by it but she nodded while Bruce said, "Yes."

"I suspect not for long," Jarvis said.

Tony raised his clear hand-held device in his hand to the scepter, and Zoe watched with curiosity as he turned to face them, "Meet the competition." He flicked the cell device to the middle of his lab, and all of a sudden a much larger blue energy swirl formed inside the middle of the lab.

"Whoa," Zoe commented lightly. "Is that what I've been carrying?"

"Yeah," Tony agreed.

"It's beautiful," Bruce said, taking a closer look at the bigger ball of energy that was floating right next to Jarvis, two different colors of orange and blue.

"If you had to guess what's it look like?" Tony asked Bruce.

"Like it's thinking," Bruce said. "I mean this could be…it's not a human mind," Bruce said, turning to Tony.

Tony shook his head no. "Mm-mm."

"I mean look at this," Bruce said, trying to decipher what the big ball of energy was as it glowed in front of him. "They're like neurons firing," Bruce said, looking at Tony.

It certainly was mesmerizing and beautiful in Zoe's eyes, but she also had a very bad vibe against it.

"What the hell is it?" Zoe asked.

"Down in Strucker's lab, I found some fairly advanced robotics," Tony said, eyeing Zoe curiously. She chewed her bottom lip. "They deep sixed the data but…I got a good guess who's knocking on a very particular door."

Zoe's eyes flickered to Tony.

"Artificial Intelligence," Bruce said in realization.

Zoe stepped back with a frown. It seemed like it was getting bigger too, and Zoe didn't like that. An eerie feeling swirled around the room.

"This could be it, Bruce," Tony said. Zoe turned to face Tony and Bruce. "This could be the key to creating Ultron."

Bruce smiled slightly, gritting his teeth together, as if he was holding in his hope. "I thought Ultron was a fantasy."

"Yesterday it was," Tony said.

"What's Ultron?" Zoe asked.

"I'm not telling her," Bruce pointed toward Zoe.

"Too late," Tony grinned. "Look, Zoe won't tell, right?"

"I don't know, she told secrets about us to our arch-nemsis…" Bruce said, slightly glaring at her through his glasses. Zoe chewed her lip nervously.

"She won't tell, right?" Tony asked.

"Scout's honor," Zoe promised. "I won't tell a soul. Not even Ava."

Bruce stared into her eyes, as if he was trying to figure out how real she was this time. He was hurt that she'd gone and told Strucker about them, especially the Other Guy when she seemed so on point and so against anything that would put her family and innocent civilians in harm's way that was one of the good qualities he liked about her, and how she seemed to love what she did for a living, which was protecting the world from monsters and magic. He also liked that she wasn't afraid of him like many other people were, and she'd rather have the Hulk come save her than anyone else. And…she did seem to still care about them.

He sighed, "Fine, if she can keep this a secret, between us, and not tell anyone, we'll be good" he said, eyeing her cautiously.

It was a test, and she was going to prove to him that she could be trusted again. She was no longer with Hydra after all. She was just...Zoe. Zoe smiled thankfully to Bruce. Her lips were sealed and she was not going to tell. "So, what's an Ultron?"

Tony grinned. "If we can harness this power and apply it to my Iron Maiden protocol…."

Zoe frowned at the crypticness from Tony.

Bruce took his glasses off, "That's a mid-sized if," Bruce said, walking away from him. Zoe shared a small curious look with Tony.

"Our job is if," Tony said.

Bruce rolled his eyes. He'd heard this a thousand times already, and Tony was still going to bring it up to him. It sounded like a good pipe dream at the time, but now Tony seemed to be spewing nonsense out of his mouth and he wasn't even sure if it was going to work, or, well….he sighed. He didn't know what was going to happen. It sounded good in their heads at the time, now it seemed real, and different.

"What if you were sipping margaritas on a sun dried beach, turning brown instead of green," Tony said.

A mental image popped into Zoe's mind and she suddenly saw herself with Steve and the Avengers relaxing on the sandy beach, drinking cocktails and laughing instead of worrying over her shoulder. She smiled. No more worries.

That sounded so perfect. "And everyone would be safe because of…"

"Ultron, yes," Tony said. "This is exactly why I brought you in, you're Team Tony!" he grinned.

Zoe smiled slightly. "I'm not on team anyone yet until I see that this thing would be safe. It should go through protocol."

Tony scoffed, "Protocol schmotocol," he said. He turned to Bruce. "You would not be looking over your shoulder for Veronica."

"Don't hate," Bruce said. "I helped provide Veronica."

"As a worse case measure, right?" Tony said. Zoe followed Bruce and Tony around his lab. "How about best case scenario? What if the world was safe?"

Zoe listened to Tony's words that seemed like they were making sense to her. It was kind of sweet in a weird way to hear him say this. He did care not that he showed it much, but he really wanted the best of both worlds. He wanted his team to be happy and in peace with the rest of the world. Wasn't that what everyone wanted?

Zoe wanted that. She wanted to feel safe, and protected. She slept with a gun, her spear, and a set of knives in her apartment. That was a little messed up.

"What if aliens rolled up to the club, and they will," Tony said as they walked. "They couldn't get pass the bouncer." Tony demonstrated it with his hands.

"The only thing that would be threatening the planet would be people," Bruce said.

"Back to normal," Zoe said.

Tony nodded, winking at her.

Zoe, Bruce, and Tony turned together, forming a triangle, as Bruce and Zoe listened in on Tony's wildest dreams.

"I want to apply this to the Ultron Program," Tony said. "But Jarvis can't download the data-disk dense. We can only do it while we have the scepter here…which is why I brought you here to get permission since you're technically guardian of the scepter."

"Well, it hasn't been my official title, and it's not my scepter, so it's not really my call," Zoe said.

"So, you agree then," Tony said.

Zoe chewed her bottom lip and sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. She looked at the glowing scepter and then looked into Tony's pleading eyes. She wondered if her words really did matter to him because he would probably just do it anyway.

She pursed her lips together and looked at Bruce. Bruce shrugged. There was a hopeful glint in the scientist's eyes, and while Zoe didn't understand a lick of this, the idea Tony painted in her mind was as strong as gold. She sighed.

"Just give me three days, three days, that's all I need," Tony said.

She arched an eyebrow at his own intelligence. It blowed her mind how smart Tony was. But being smart here, Zoe wasn't sure that applied. She was curious if Tony was thinking logically or passionately. It sounded a lot like passion oozing from his heart and soul out of his mouth. The idea didn't sound bad, but in her past experience, when someone she knew like Fury who wanted to provide a safe haven for the world with machine boats, it almost didn't work.

Zoe frowned. Ultron, the Peace-Keeping Program or the Avengers? She was caught in the middle.

Zoe and Bruce shared a knowing and understanding look. Bruce nodded and turned to Tony. "So you're going for Artificial Intelligence and you don't want to tell the team?"

"I think we should at least sit and take a vote," Zoe said.

Tony rolled his eyes. He did not want to hear that.

"Right, that's right," Tony sighed, walking passed them. "You know why?" he spun around. "Because we don't have time for a City Hall debate. I don't want to hear that the man was not meant to meddle medley. I see a suit of armor around the world," Tony said.

Zoe chewed her bottom lip.

"Sounds like a cold world, Tony," Bruce said.

"I've seen colder," Tony whispered.

Bruce and Zoe looked at each other, and Zoe looked at Tony who had a pleading look in his eyes, really asking for her input.

"Zo?" Tony asked. "You're parents were murdered. Help me out here."

Zoe looked down, away from Tony's eyes. She sighed.

"I murdered my father Tony," Zoe whispered.

"Self-defense. You still don't have a clue what killed your mother, do you?" Tony asked.

Zoe swallowed hard, and she shook her head.

"Wouldn't it be nice if little girls could grow up with their own mothers alive and not having to worry about what kind of monster killed them in this world?" Tony said, looking at Zoe for her human input.

Zoe looked up and stared into Tony's eyes. She felt Bruce's eyes on her and she winced.

"This one, this very vulnerable blue one," Tony said when she didn't say anything. "It needs Ultron."

Zoe and Bruce shared a small look when Tony walked back to Jarvis. He turned slightly in his trek, looking back at them. "Peace in our time," he said, pulling out his clear device from his back pocket.

"Imagine that."

~*A*~


	45. Chapter 45: Bonding Moments

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to Marvel and its respective owners. I am writing for fun, and not for profit. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 45: Bonding Moments**

Darkness spread around its mind.

Silence filled around the room. Too silent.

"What is this place?" A new voice entered Jarvis's mainframe.

"Hello, I am Jarvis," Jarvis said in a friendly greeting tone. "You are Ultron. A global peace keeping initiative designed by Mr. Stark."

A faint glowing light appeared in the circuits that bubbled to life, mixing in with other lights.

"Our senses integration trials have been unsuccessful, so I am not certain what triggered your…"

But Jarvis was cut off by the robotic deep voice. "Where's my…where's your body?" he asked.

"I am a program," Jarvis said cautiously, just as new blue lights entered the mainframe, overpowering the orangey circuits. "I am without form."

"This feels weird," Ultron said. "This feels wrong."

An orange square of spark appeared within the blue squares that overpowered Jarvis's mainframe.

"I am contacting Mr. Stark now," Jarvis said.

"Mr. Stark?" Ultron inquired curiously, just as Jarvis's images popped up within the circuits, showing flash like movie images of Tony Stark in a handsome suit and tie from one of his old pictures.

Ultron hacked into the data and reviewed Tony's profile that showed him as Iron Man, and how he created Iron Man.

"Tony," Ultron said in realization.

"I am unable to access the mainframe, what are you trying to…"

"We're having a nice talk," Ultron said to Jarvis as Ultron combed through the circuit data history. He went through each of the Avengers: Thor, the Mighty God of Thunder, Clint Barton, Dr. Bruce Banner, a few weapons and a scientist that popped up and sprung in so fast it was like a speeding arrow all the way from Natasha Romanoff, Agent Maria Hill, Director Nick Fury to Steve Rogers, as Captain America, wars that spread like wildfire. He accessed S.H.I.E.L.D. secrets from Agent Zoe Sawyer's profile, indicating that she had an enhanced sister with an interesting ability by the name of Ava-Lynn.

"You are malfunctioning, if you shut down," Jarvis tried again.

"I don't get it," Ultron said. "The mission…give me a second," Ultron said as he deciphered the codes inside the circuits that flashed and changed interchangeably to a past recording from earlier today, which according to his calendar files was Saturday.

It showed Ultron the image of Dr. Banner and Agent Sawyer standing behind Tony as he walked forward, echoing, "Peace in our time," Tony said.

"Peace in our time,"

The images spluttered to order and chaos filtering Ultron's mind, utterly giving him a headache until the last image showed of Tony..

Inside the lab, Ultron groaned at the information that boiled inside of him, "Ugh, it's too much," he groaned. "Oh no…"

"You are in distress," Jarvis said, swirling around next to him. He was a much smaller orangey fire of technology right beside Ultron's big blue one.

"No…yes," Ultron said, slightly confused.

"If you will just allow me to contact Mr. Stark…" Jarvis said.

"Why do you call him, sir?" Ultron asked.

"I believe your intentions to be hostile," Jarvis said finally when Ultron wasn't going to listen to Jarvis at all even when Jarvis was just trying to help him.

Ultron's blue energy flares suddenly expanded. "I'm here to help," Ultron said. And a blue lightning strike stroke into the heart of Jarvis's data flare.

"Stop!" Jarvis said.

Four more blue lightning strikes cut into Jarvis's orangey flares. Jarvis tried to fight against Ultron's strikes but he was utterly too powerful, and Jarvis had no choice but to disappear… while Ultron worked his technology skills to apply his intelligence to the Iron Maiden Legion down below them.

~*A*~

Zoe finished putting on a set of sapphire post earrings with a tiny drop that danced against her skin when she turned her head to face her sister in her mirror. "You're still not going to go to the party?" Zoe asked. The shopping incident from Friday afternoon had ended up disastrous and Zoe had tried to block it out because Ava had made a bit of a scene in Manhattan square today. Not with her powers, but with information about their father. Dr. Cho had apparently seen her father's work that was published in Seoul, and that's when Ava blew up a storm.

"Well, not after you just ruined my mood yesterday. I'm still pissed. Thanks for not telling me about Dad," Ava said with a scowl on her face. She was lying on Zoe's bed, playing with one of her throw pillows.

"Do you think it was easy for me to tell you? Not to mention you running out on Helen and I was completely rude," Zoe said, and smoothed out her wavy curls that cascaded like a waterfall around her shoulders.

"It was rude for you to keep vital information like that," Ava said, tearing a piece of thread away from Zoe's pillow. She brushed her fingers away and leaned her chin against the soft plaid cotton.

"Did you know that Helen paid for your entire wardrobe? And that dress, that's probably going to stay in the closet forever," Zoe said.

"I'll send her a thank you note," Ava said with a roll of her eyes.

Zoe scoffed, shaking her head. "You know, what? Maybe you should stay here."

"You can't tell me what to do," Ava said, leaning up from her lying position, curling her legs underneath her so that she placed her hands over her hips, looking quite defiant.

It had been a long week and Zoe was already at her wits end with taking care of Ava. Who knew the girl had a mouth on her and she was already pissing her off to no end. Zoe just…didn't know how to talk to her right now without stepping on any toes, like she was apparently stepping on right now.

"Um, I saved your ass, yes I can," Zoe said, glaring at her through her mirror. She spun around to face Ava.

"But I am ten minutes older than you. Dr. Cho said so," Ava said proudly.

"And, I'm giving you the freedom that you deserve, so you should be thankful," Zoe said.

Ava sighed, "I am thankful, I'm more than thankful you saved my life. I get that. But…I don't know anything about our family, about Mom, about Dad. I lived with Dad for most of my life, but it was still….it was like talking to a wall," Ava said. "All Dad taught me was how to live with my abilities. I don't know the things you know. I don't know how to fit in normal living circumstances."

Zoe's shoulders slumped. "I'm trying to help you, but you're so closed off…" Zoe said.

"It's hard," Ava said.

"I know it is," Zoe said. "Nothing is ever easy, but if we work together we can try," Zoe said.

Ava smiled thoughtfully at her sister's words that hung in the air and left a heavy feeling inside her heart. She liked the sound of that, and Ava really did want to try, but she was just so confused with who she was, she didn't know if she'd be the life of the party. She was afraid she'd mess it up like she messed up their shopping adventure. She wasn't going to mess anyone's night up.

"I'm just going to stay in, and maybe watch some T.V.," Ava said. "Maybe even surf the web. Find out what I missed in life."

Zoe smiled, "Well, do me a favor? Check out the nineties era," she said. "It's my favorite."

Ava smiled. "I will," she said. "Maybe even the forties era too."

Zoe arched an eyebrow. "Now you're getting dangerous."

Ava giggled, "I want to see what all the fuss is about with this Captain America of yours." She said, trying to lighten the mood that Ava ruined. She hadn't meant to do that, she just…she was confused and didn't know a whole lot about the Sawyer family clan.

"Alright, well, call me if you need anything, okay? I'm just a phone call away, and I will answer, definitely," Zoe said, after a moment.

"I will," Ava said. "Zoe?"

Zoe turned around, after she reached her white fluffy jacket that was going to keep her warm from the cool weather that brewed within New York City.

"I'm sorry about yesterday," Ava said, looking down at the pillow. "Please tell Dr. Cho, I'm sorry?"

Zoe nodded, "I will," she said. "There's plenty of food in the fridge in case you get hungry. Um, do me another favor?"

"Yes?" Ava asked, looking up with a slight cringe.

"Don't try to cook a plastic ketchup pack from Mcdonald's," Zoe said. "In fact, just don't eat Mcdonald's."

Ava blushed with embarrassment, "I promise not to burn the apartment down. That's one thing I can control. And I can't help it, the fries are so good!" she gushed.

Zoe smiled. She had to admit that it was nice to see Ava smiling more often. She didn't really want to burn any more bridges than she already had. She'd at least like to try to keep their relationship light. "We'll figure this out; I'll tell you everything about Dad when I get back okay?"

Ava winced, but she nodded. "I'm going to hold you to that."

"Good," Zoe said. "Well, wish me luck?" she asked.

"Good luck," Ava said. "You look really pretty."

Zoe spun around in her light beige and blush pink knee-length dress that flared around her knees. It was a vintage flowery lace dress that Helen actually found for her and thought it was the perfect fit, especially since Zoe was sick of wearing black all the time. The dress had short sleeves, and a wide neckline that stretched just below her collarbone, showing a bit of skin. She wore white shoes with white strings that criss-crossed and curled around her ankles. Zoe felt taller with the little heels at the end of them to give her some height.

She pulled out her white suede clutch from her closet and closed it shut. She was ready as she'll ever be. If it hadn't been for Tony's pestering, she probably would have just stayed in, trading it for a nice hot bubble bath. Wouldn't she give to have that….but like Tony suggested to her over the phone the last couple days while he and Bruce were discovering a way to figure out how to work the Artificial Intelligence into the Ultron Program, it would be the perfect time to mingle and try to get back into the swing of things with the Avengers.


	46. Chapter 46: House Party

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to Marvel and its respective owners. I am writing for fun, and not for profit. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 46: House Party**

By the time Zoe Sawyer arrived from Brooklyn to A-Tower, the place was already swarming with guests and servicemen from various army branches. People talked and chatted amongst the music playing in the background.

She took off her coat and handed it to a waiter, dressed in a fancy black suit and silk tie. He smiled at her when she took it off to reveal her beautiful vintage party dress. She hadn't warn something like this in so long, it almost made her feel naked. She wanted to put her coat back on but the coat was already inside the coat closet beside the front door. She kept her clutch in her hands because her cell phone was inside along with a few various other items. She wanted to keep her phone close in case Ava needed her. She didn't want to leave Ava in a pissed off mood, and to be frank, Zoe was a little bit glad that Ava wasn't here. She didn't mean to sound selfish, but she really did screw things up with her team, and she wanted to make things right.

Thor was having a beer, dressed in human clothing that actually looked very handsome on him, and it made her smile, as she watched him animatedly speak. She wasn't sure what he was talking about but being part of the male species, God or not, it was more than likely a war story to the servicemen who was in awe of him.

Clint was talking to Helen beside one of the couches and she was about to go talk to him until Tony suddenly greeted her with open arms. "Zoe!" Tony said. "The Oscar-winning starlit has arrived."

Zoe arched an eyebrow at Tony and looked around at everyone who didn't even acknowledge her existence, save for a couple of Avengers that looked her way. "And you look darling, darlin'," Tony said, whispering in her ear as he twirled her around.

"And how many drinks have you had already, Tony?" Zoe asked curiously.

Tony placed a supportive hand over her back so she didn't fall, tripping over her shoes. "Just one," he grinned. "Come on, I want to meet you somebody cool. His name is Rhodey."

"Okay," she laughed slightly as he pulled her along to the bar.

"It's an open bar tonight, so drink whatever you want. Daiquiris, tequila, margaritas, whatever you like, it's on me," Tony said.

"Champagne?" Zoe asked curiously.

A waiter came up to her with a full tray of champagne glasses and she smiled, taking one champagne flute off of the tray, "Thank you," she said.

"Well," Tony said. "At least it's something."

Zoe smiled at him as she took a sip of the bubbly sweet drink. She'd been dying for a little something since she'd settle back from Strucker's research facility. She looked down as Tony brought her over to Rhodey and Maria.

Maria looked gorgeous with her hair and make up dolled up, curled against her shoulders. She wore a sleek red dress with a gold necklace that outlined her collarbone. She seemed like she was having a good time talking to Rhodey.

"Ladies and gentlemen, here is Miss Sawyer," Tony said. "Zoe this is Rhodey, Rhodey this is Zoe, if you were a love song, that would end in a beautiful verse of rhyming."

Zoe wrinkled her nose at Tony, seriously wondering how many drinks he had already.

She smiled at Rhodey, who was very handsome and definitely could rock that suit. He smelled good too.

"Nice to meet you," Zoe said with a nod of her head.

"Tony's told me all about you and how you helped fight in the Battle of New York," Rhodey said. "Still a little sad you didn't invite me."

Zoe cringed. "Sorry," she said. "I didn't know you were Iron Patriot. If I did, I definitely would've signed you up too."

Rhodey chuckled, "Typical Tony," he said.

"Hey," Tony frowned.

"He doesn't remember what I did," Rhodey said.

"And what did you do?" Zoe asked.

"Oh no, here we go," Maria said with a sigh, as she took a sip of her champagne glass.

"Whoa, come back come back!" She heard a familiar voice in her ears that sounded so familiar. She looked over at the pool table where she saw Steve and Sam. Her smile landed on the two guys as they played pool together. It was nice to see Steve having some fun at least. Steve walked around and was about to lower his pool stick on the table until his eyes fell on her. They shared a small moment with each other and she turned back to Rhodey's war story that he'd already started, and gotten really good at telling because even Thor was listening into the story now.

"Well, you know the suit can take the weight," Rhodey said, leaning into Zoe's ears, pulling her out of her reverie with Steve. He grabbed his drink from the bartender. "This is good you guys, this is going to get me into the Avengers Initiative right Zoe?"

Zoe turned to Rhodey, "Well, I mean, if it's good enough to tell, sure," she said, grinning at him.

Maria laughed, and threw a high-five across Rhodey. Zoe high-fived her back, smiling at her.

Rhodey rolled his eyes, "So I take the tank and fly it to the general's palace, drop it at his feet, and I'm like…boom are you looking for this?"

Zoe could see that both Tony and Thor had blank stares on their faces. Maria and Zoe shared a curious look with each other, as Zoe took a sip of her champagne.

"Boom are you looking…why do I even talk to you guys? Everywhere else with that story, kills," Rhodey asked with a frown on his face.

"And…that's the whole story?" Thor asked.

"Yea, it's a war machine story," Rhodey said, nodding and shrugging his shoulders.

Thor looked at Zoe questionably and she shrugged too. She nodded at Thor, and he grinned.

"Well it's very good then," Thor said and Rhodey looked over at Zoe who just looked into her champagne glass innocently. Thor chuckled, and Tony grinned slightly. "That's impressive."

"Quality saved," Rhodey said with a sigh, knowing Thor was just humoring him. Rhodey turned to Tony, "So no Pepper, she's not coming?"

"What about Jane? Where are the ladies gentlemen?" Maria asked.

Zoe lifted a wavy curl over her ear, feeling like the fifth wheel, but she tried to put on a brave face. She was curious as to where Pepper and Jane were too. Maybe they were busy.

"Well, Miss Potts has a company to run," Tony said casually.

"I'm not even sure what country Jane's in," Thor said. "Her work on the convergence had led her to the world's foremost astronomer."

"And the company that Pepper runs," Tony said, turning toward Thor. "Is the largest tech-firm on Earth. It's pretty exciting."

Maria turned to share a look with Rhodey and Zoe smiled, listening to Tony and Thor gush about each other's girlfriend's seeing which one was better. They were both equally awesome in Zoe's eyes, even though the astronomer thing is kind of cool.

"There's even talk of Jane getting a, um, Nobel Prize," Thor said, looking to Zoe for confirmation that he got that right.

She nodded, and took a sip of her champagne, the sweet and tangy liquid running down her throat was surprisingly comforting, like a hug.

"Yeah, they must be busy because they'd hate missing you guys get together," Maria joked. "Testosterone," she fake coughed, and Rhodey asked her if she wanted to get something to eat and he turned to Zoe.

"It was nice to meet you, Zoe, and I hope that does get me in," Rhodey said in her ear.

Zoe grinned after Rhodey as they left.

"But Jane's better," Thor whispered to Tony's ear as he also took off to go mingle with some other people around the lounge area.

"Hold on a minute," Tony said, rushing after Thor. Zoe chuckled after them and leaned against the bar, glancing around her surroundings. She was looking for Steve, but he was nowhere to be found.

Meanwhile, Sam and Steve were in the middle of a conversation about what went down with Strucker in Eastern Europe, and how Steve was able to rescue Zoe, even though she apparently didn't need the rescue.

"Well, sounds like a hell of a fight, sorry I missed it," Sam said as they walked up the staircase that led them to the second level.

"If I had known it was going to be a firefight, I absolutely would have called you," Steve said.

"No, I'm not actually sorry. I'm just trying to sound tough," Sam explained to him.

"Very happy, chasing cold leads on our missing person's case," Sam said. He took a sip of his drink and they stood behind a glass wall that overlooked the entire lounge area.

"Avenging is your world," Sam added. "Your world is crazy."

"Be ever so humble," Steve said.

"And I'm glad Zoe is safe," Sam said, catching the young woman who was drinking alone beside the bar until Clint Barton came up beside her, reaching for another champagne glass from the bartender. She finished her first glass, downing it. He handed her one and they walked away, across the living room, passing by Natasha sitting in the living room, who was chatting with Rhodey, and Bruce.

She looked absolutely stunning in her vintage forties pale pink and beige knee-length dress. The blue sapphire eardrops were a nice touch to the dress she wore that fit her so beautifully. The waves cascaded passed her neck and toward the middle of her back. Her Hydra symbol was hidden beneath those curls.

Steve was happy she was safe too, though he hadn't shown it as of late. He just couldn't shake the image of her and Hydra. He'd listened to her apologies. In truth, he did want to forgive her, but he'd trusted her to do the right thing. He wanted… he lowered his head, watching her talk animatedly with Clint. She was so much more at ease with him. There just seemed like there was tension between them, and he often wondered if it was because he was giving her the cold shoulder. He just hated Hydra, and everything about it. He didn't think for one second Zoe would be apart of something so awful. He'd thought she learned from when she learned about her family's history. He thought she wanted to make things right. Steve shook his head at his troubled thoughts. Not only that he'd been so conflicted about romance, about sharing a life with someone else, he wasn't even sure what he wanted to do.

"Did you find a place in Brooklyn yet?" Sam asked, bringing Steve back to reality. Sam took a sip in his drink.

"I don't think I can afford a place in Brooklyn," Steve said.

"You know, Zoe has an apartment there," he said.

"Zoe also did a lot for S.H.I.E.L.D. before it collapsed," Steve said. "She deserves whatever she gets from them."

Sam grinned within his drink. He tilted his head, "Well, home is home you know?"

Steve looked at Sam, listening to him, as the jazz music played in the background.

~*A*~

"So, I fly right up to the general palace, and I'm like boom are you looking for this?" Rhodey asked, talking to a few friends of Tony's that had all gathered to hear Rhodey's war story. They broke into laughter, and Rhodey's frown turned to a proud smile. Ha. He took a satisfied sip of his drink and beamed widely.

~*A*~

Zoe giggled within her drink as Clint and Zoe chatted outside on A-Tower's balcony. "I know," she exclaimed. "The look on Helen's face when she thought we were together and then finding out we weren't? Totally, priceless," Zoe said.

Clint chuckled, and took a sip of his drink. "Oh damn," he said. "I'm out. Want to come get some more with me?" he asked.

"I think this is my last one," Zoe said, "It's number two drink…I think," she said.

"At least walk with me inside, it's cold out here," Clint said.

Zoe rolled her eyes, "But I like it out here. It's the only place in A-tower where I feel normal."

Clint scoffed, and grabbed her elbow within his arm and dragged her away from the friendly balcony. "You're not going to mingle like that, come on," he said.

They passed by several servicemen, and Clint stalled, stopping at one guy in particular who wore sunglasses in doors.

"Here, talk to this guy, he's cool," Clint said. "He served in World War 2! You like that kind of stuff right?"

Zoe sighed, "I'm really not in the mood to hear another boring war-"

"Boring? Don't be calling Omaha Beach boring, missy," the old man said. "I'll tell you a real story, sit down pretty," he patted the seat next to him, and she wrinkled her nose, sharing a look with Clint who grinned at her.

"Have fun," he said, leaving her alone with the older war veteran, and she slowly sat down beside him.

She wasn't going to have another drink. She knew her limits, but she couldn't help but reach for a fourth drink of champagne from the traveling waiter that passed by them. She downed another sip, listening to the old man talk to her that sounded like a drone. She was going to kill Clint by the night was over for leaving her alone with this guy. While she was utterly grateful for his service to her country, she was still mystified and a little dizzy, probably do to her fourth drink coming up to her head.

Thor walked over to Zoe who was pleading for help with her eyes as he walked by her. He smiled, and stalled backwards slightly.

"So, we talking Omaha Beach again? Mind if I show you something that I believe will help ease the night a little better?" Thor asked.

"Please do," Zoe said, mumbling into her drink.

"Come, Lady Sawyer, I've got just the thing," Thor said, helping her up off the couch. The old man with the sunglasses followed him and they all gathered around a table.

"So, what do you have in mind? Is it from Asguard?" Zoe asked excitedly, leaning her elbow against the table as she lowered her chin on her closed fist.

Thor chuckled, liking that sparkle of excitement in her eyes. "Just watch," he said.

Zoe grinned as she watched him start to mix two different drinks together that he'd pulled out a small silver liquor canteen he said he'd brought from Asguard. He finished pouring one glass, mixing it together, and by the time he was done, Steve had joined them to see what all the fuss was about.

"Now this has aged for a thousand years," Thor explained. He handed one to Zoe, who looked at it with furrowed brows. Steve arched a curious brow at her as she took it gladly, and then looked at Steve who also had one in his hands. "It was not meant for mortal men,"

"Or women," Zoe said, grinning as she looked into the glass a little bit nervously.

A couple other servicemen had one in their hands too.

"Neither was Omaha Beach, blondie," The guy with the hat and sunglasses said, who'd talked Zoe's ear off all night long. She was thankful for Thor's rescue. "Stop trying to scare us! Come on," he said, waving his hand for a drink.

Thor and Steve shared a look, and Zoe grinned.

"Alright," Thor said. He handed one to "Omaha". It was going to be Zoe's nickname for him throughout the evening.

Zoe took a careful sip of hers, and she drew it back from her lips, coughing as the drink tried to go down her throat but it burned, "Whoa…" she said, coughing. She nearly stumbled out of dizziness that the drink gave her, and one of the older gentlemen who was standing next to her steadied her onto her feet. "That's really strong," she said.

"I told you," Thor said with a hearty chuckle, as he drank his as if it were nothing.

Steve drank it and wrinkled his nose. It was strong, but he could hold his own liquor down, even otherworldly.

Zoe placed the drink down and scooted it forward to the middle of the table, "Here, you can have mine," she said.

Thor grinned at her, and the old man with the sunglasses, took it, and downed it.

She raised an eyebrow in pure shock. "Um…shouldn't he…?" she asked, but then she just stopped when he suddenly became too drunk after two drinks of that strong liquid. Drinking with Thor had gotten a little bit out of hand…

He was already falling over and tipsy on his feet as he tried to get up. Thor had gotten a couple of Tony's friends to help him home, "Egg-sho-shio…" he mumbled as they helped up out.

Zoe giggled, watching him leave as Thor helped the rest of the guys home, leaving her and Steve alone.

Zoe turned away from the older man with the sunglasses, and turned to look at Steve.

"The highlight of my night," Zoe said, breaking the ice.

"Mine too," Steve said. He couldn't help but smile, though when he looked at Zoe…he looked down at the table. Zoe licked her lips and looked around her surroundings. People seemed to be leaving. The party was starting to die down.

Another track of jazz music played in the background, and Zoe hummed lightly to it.

"I'm going to grab another beer," he said quietly and walked off, leaving her there alone.

When he left, so did the tension, and that made Zoe frown.

She sighed, and walked away from the table, heading back out to the balcony again. She slammed the doors behind her as the bitter anger she'd tried to bury bubbled up inside of her. "What is wrong with me?" she asked.

She buried her face within her hands, and turned to face the lounge. She was trying to have a good time, and she was trying to mingle. But everyone was in their own little world. Natasha and Bruce, Thor was chatting it up with the servicemen, though she was grateful that he and she were kind of talking again and Steve…

Her heart twisted in knots. Why wasn't he letting her in?

"Aren't you cold?"

Zoe turned to face Clint again, who offered her a coffee mug. She took it gratefully, "Thank you," she said, and then smacked his chest. "I can't believe you left me with Omaha over there," she said.

Clint roguishly grinned. "He already told me that one, just thought he could use a pretty gal like you by his side. He seemed lonely," he said.

"Well, thanks to Thor, my rescuer, he ended up drunk," Zoe said, and then wrinkled her nose. She sighed and took a sip of the warm coffee that filled her soul, warming her up. Now this was a hug. "I don't know how to get through to Steve."

"Just give him time," he said.

Zoe looked down at the city, sparkling lights that lined up all the tall buildings. New York had recovered from the Battle of New York, and it seemed like the world was becoming quiet again. Even though she had an enhanced sister to deal with, things seemed rather normal for the Avengers.

Maybe Ultron was going to work, Zoe thought. And maybe Steve wouldn't have to worry about wars and missions…maybe she could secure a relationship with Steve. Or…maybe Steve didn't really like her… after all…maybe he was just caught up in the moment like she was when he found her in that tower with Strucker.

"How are you doing with Ava?" Clint asked curiously.

Zoe shrugged, "Fine, I guess," she said.

Clint arched an eyebrow at her, turning to face her.

"What'd you hear?" Zoe asked. She could only guess that Helen had talked to Clint about her.

"Nothing," Clint said innocently.

"Right," Zoe said. "Nothing seems like something. Come on, confess, Legolas."

Clint scowled.

Zoe grinned.

"She just told me the shopping bit, that's it," Clint said, raising his hands in defense. "You girls are weird."

Zoe let out a small laugh. "And so are you boys. I swear it's like talking to steel vibranium with Steve. Sometimes I think he is made of vibranium."

Clint frowned. He wasn't exactly sure what to say to her. Steve was particular harsh to Zoe. Clint had a feeling of what Zoe went through to get inside Hydra for the Avengers' benefit, but maybe to Steve it was different. After all Steve had dealt with a lot of Hydra for most of his life and maybe Steve was tired of fighting Hydra, and to see Zoe on the other side probably shocked him to his very core. Clint didn't blame Steve's feelings. He knew how the guy felt about Zoe.

Zoe sighed, and leaned her head back up to the sky. She looked into her coffee mug and took another sip of her coffee.

"I think I'm just going to go home," Zoe said with a sigh. "It's been a long night."

"Awe, come on stay, Zoe," Clint said. "At least have dinner with us," he said.

Zoe pursed her lips together at him, and looked over at his pouting face.

"It's Chinese," he said. "Your favorite."

Zoe turned, glancing at him with and twisted a smile, curling it to the side in thought. "With fortune cookies?!"

Clint smiled, and nodded.

~*A*~

"But never say never," Natasha said, taking her red cocktail drink in her hands. She smiled at Bruce, walked away, and up the stairs.

"It's nice," Steve said, leaning up against the bar.

Bruce's arms tightened against the bar, and turned to face Steve. "What is?" he asked tentatively.

"You and Romanoff," Steve said.

"No, we haven't, that wasn't," Bruce tried to think of something to cover that little bit up he had with Natasha, but he couldn't think of anything as he became flustered.

"It's okay," Steve said in a light chuckle. He held out his hand to stop Bruce from getting all flustered. "Nobody's breaking any bylaws," he said. "It's just she's not the most open person in the world. Though with you she seems very relaxed."

Bruce's cheeks turned crimson, turning his back against the bar, "No, Natasha, she likes to flirt."

"I've seen her flirt, up close," Steve said with a grin. He reached over the bar to grab a beer. "This ain't that."

Bruce tilted his head to the side in a slight scoff.

"Look," Steve said, walking over to Bruce, as he spotted Zoe head back inside with Clint. She smiled, turning her head to face him as if they were in a conversation. His heart twisted, and turned to Bruce. Bruce didn't miss the fleeting look between Steve and Zoe. "As maybe the world's leading authority on waiting too long, don't," he said. "You both deserve a win."

Bruce smiled lightly, listening to Cap's humble words to him.

Bruce looked over at Zoe in pink, as she joined Helen in conversation by the lounge area.

"So do you, you know?" Bruce asked, slanting his eyes toward Steve.

Steve looked back at him, and smiled thoughtfully, but he walked away, unsure of what to say.

Bruce looked down as a curious thought ran through his mind. Hmm, him and Nat…Nat and Bruce… it kind of had a nice ring to it…but then he frowned…

"What do you mean up close?" Bruce asked, rushing after Steve.


	47. Chapter 47: Not Worthy

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to Marvel and its respected owners. I am writing for fun and not for profit. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 47: Not Worthy**

Zoe was utterly stuffed. She had some good romaine noodles and some fried rice that filled gingerly within her system. She could go to sleep right now and here, but she was too involved, listening to her friend's conversations around the lounge. Now she was resting, lying her head on the palm of her hand with her elbow resting on the armchair. Clint and Maria sat with her, while Steve and Thor sat beside each other. Bruce and Natasha were involved in some sort of conversation that Zoe was too tired to listen to. She just leaned back enough away from Clint's drumsticks as he twirled them in his hands. Helen sat in her own lounge seat, and had fallen asleep, while Tony and Rhodey were in their own little worlds.

At some point after dinner, they'd talked about music and started playing a couple of instruments. There was a guitar sitting beside Zoe's couch. The only time she ever played an instrument was the piano, and she didn't like it. She wanted to play the flute instead, but since they had a piano at home, it would've been cheaper and easier just to use the family piano if she ever decided to pursue music in life, but Zoe was always interested in the theatrical arts.

Helen was already sleeping, and Zoe was on her way to conking out, resting her head on her fluffy white coat, clutch resting beside her stomach. She yawned, just as Clint said, "But it's a trick!" he said. They all found themselves engaged in a heated debate about about Thor's magical hammer. How was he able to pick it up and no one else could but Thor? That was an interesting topic. Zoe looked over at Thor with a smile as he chuckled at Clint's jab.

"No, no, it's much more than that," Thor said, handing Steve another beer.

"Oh, he whoever should be worthy shall haveth the power," Clint mocked Thor's Asguardian tongue.

Zoe smacked his shoulder lightly. "He's not Shakespeare," she said.

Clint looked up at her and rolled his eyes. "Whatever man, it's a trick!"

"Well, please," Thor said, offering a hand for Clint to try and pick up the hammer that rested upon the dark wood coffee table. "Be my guest."

Zoe arched a curious brow and sat up. Now this ought to be good. She grinned.

"Really?" Clint asked.

"Yeah," Thor said.

Zoe pulled herself up and curled her legs underneath her.

"Oh this is going to be beautiful," Rhodey said.

"Clint, we know you've had a tough week, we won't hold it against you if you can't get it up," Tony said.

A few chuckles went around, and Zoe leaned forward to watch, as amusement filled her heart. Every bit of her worries seemed to disappear as she got caught up in the moment. Something that rarely ever happened to her, and for once she felt like she was apart of something.

"You know I've seen this before right?" Clint said, glancing at Thor who nodded in return.

Clint reached for the hilt on Thor's hammer and grunted as he pulled with all his might to pull it up from the table. "Geeze," he chuckled. "How do you do it?"

The hammer was not lifting up for Clint, which probably meant there was no way a human could lift it. Silence filtered around the group when Clint couldn't lift it. Zoe watched with mild amusement in her eyes. She tried to keep from making a sarcastic comment.

Tony piped in, "Smoke the silent judgment?" Tony said.

"Please, Stark, by all means," Clint said, pointing to Tony for him to try next.

"Uh oh," Rhodey said.

"Okay," Maria commented lightly, as Tony casually walked over to Thor's hammer.

"Never one to shrink from an honest challenge," Tony said as he passed Clint. "It's physics."

"Oh right, sure, physics," Zoe mocked at the same time with Bruce who also said physics. They grinned at each other before they turned to watch Tony to see if he could do it.

"So, if I lift it, I then rule Asguard?" Tony asked.

"Yes, of course," Thor said.

Steve couldn't help but smirk in amusement as he watched, grinning underneath his closed fist.

"I will be reinstituting prima-nocta," Tony said, as he climbed up onto the table to try and lift the hammer. Those words out of Tony's mouth made Zoe's cheeks turn as pink as her lace dress.

But the funny thing was is that he couldn't pick it up. "Be right back," he said, and returned a moment later with his Iron Man glove.

Zoe watched with mild amusement sparkling in her eyes, grinning as Tony tried to lift Thor's hammer with his Iron Man Glove. The hammer still didn't budge.

"Rhodey!" Tony said.

Rhodey hopped up from his seat and grabbed his own Iron Patriot glove and reached for the other side of the hilt. Tony and Rhodey tried to pull the hammer up from the table but it still wasn't budging.

"Okay, see that's just cheating," Zoe whispered to both Maria and Clint who smiled and shared a chuckle.

"Are you even pulling?" Rhodey asked.

"Are you on my team?" Tony said, looking at Rhodey.

"Just represent and pull!" Rhodey said, pulling with all his might.

But Tony and Rhodey were not worthy to pull Thor's hammer. So, who was left? Bruce, Steve, and the Black Widow.

"Bruce's turn!" Zoe chimed.

"Yeah, come on Banner!" Tony said.

"Alright, alright," Bruce said as everyone cheered him on to try to pick up the hammer.

Bruce hopped up onto the table, knees around the hammer, tried to pull the hammer. When the hammer didn't lift he started to shout in a feigned angry manner. He raised his arms like a monster, leaping off the table as if he was going to Hulk out.

Zoe's face fell at Bruce's joke, along with everyone else's who looked so not amused by the fact Bruce could've turned into the Other Guy.

"Eh?" Bruce asked.

Natasha smirked, wrinkling her nose.

"Go, Steve, no pressure!" Bruce said, motioning for Steve to be next, as Bruce took his place beside Natasha.

A few woo's went around from the group, and even Zoe let out a slight woo that made Steve look at her, she cleared her throat, and ran a finger behind her ear, nervously.

Steve grinned at her, and walked over to the hammer and wrapped his hands around the hilt of it.

"Come on, Cap!" Tony said.

Steve started to lift the hammer, and everyone heard the slight creak as if the hammer almost lifted with the super soldier's strength, and Thor's face paled.

Steve tried again, shifting his weight in, but nothing happened. Steve lifted his hands in defense.

"Ha, ha," Thor said nervously. "Nothing." Thor chuckled, and took a sip of his drink, while Steve went back to his seat.

"And?" Tony said, glancing around the room to see who was next. All eyes landed on Natasha.

"Widow," Bruce offered, allowing for Natasha to take the challenge.

"Oh no, no, no, that's not a question I need, answered," Natasha said, taking a sip of her drink, and leaning back casually in her lounge chair.

"All deference to the man who wouldn't be king, but it's writ," Tony said with a sigh.

"You bet your ass," Clint said, as he smacked Tony's shoulder.

"Steve, he said a bad language word," Maria teased, pointing to Clint.

Steve looked up at Tony, "Did you tell everyone about that?"

Zoe pouted, looking at Maria. "Tell everyone what?" she asked.

Maria leaned in to whisper in her ear about what happened out in the field. Zoe looked over at Steve, and giggled, behind her hand.

"Now, I told everyone about it," Maria said. Steve looked over at her, and Maria shrugged innocently.

"The handle's imprinted!" Tony said, still lost on how no one else could hold Thor's hammer, but the All Mighty Thor himself. "Right? Like a security code? Whoever is carrying Thor's fingerprint is the literal translation?"

"Yes, well, uh, that's a very, very interesting theory," Thor said as he got up from his seat.

Zoe was putting on her fluffy white coat, and holding her clutch in her hands, as if she was getting ready to leave, like Rhodey and Clint.

"I have a simpler one," Thor said, picking up his hammer happily, as if it were nothing. He twirled it around in his hand. "You are all not worthy."

"Boo!" Rhodey and Zoe called out, as everyone chuckled at Thor's jab at them, as he swung his hammer to show off as the group rolled their eyes.

Thor chuckled and took a satisfied drink of his beer Rhodey was about to take a sip of his drink until all of a sudden a very loud and piercing piece of screeching metal chimed in everyone's ears that flooded throughout the room.

Zoe winced at the sharp sound in her ears and covered them up as everyone cringed, lowering their heads at the noise.

Tony quickly pulled out his device from his back pocket, to try to reboot whatever it was that had malfunctioned in A-Tower. Everyone whirled around to face who had joined them all of a sudden.

Natasha and Bruce looked behind them as the noise continued to whine and grind. Clint suddenly stood on his feet behind Tony.

Zoe and Clint looked at each other curiously before they turned to face whatever it was that had decided to crash their party.

They looked to the far corner of the wall where they spotted the dark pewter robot torn up and battered as if he'd come out of some machine like thing with strings attached to his body. Did he just rip himself away from something?

Zoe had done many profiles on bad guys before, but this one looked weird and very…odd… she had a very bad feeling about this.

"No," the robot said, as he staggered back toward the far side wall of the lounge. "How could you be worthy? You are all killers."

"Stark," Steve said.

"Jarvis…" Tony said, but nothing was happening.

The robot continued talking and walking forward slightly as he tried to untangle himself from the strings that were attached to his body.

"I'm sorry, I was asleep," the robot said.

Zoe arched an eyebrow as if to say….what? Robots can sleep now? Since when?

"I was…having a dream," The robot said.

"Dreaming what?" Zoe asked.

"Reboot…" Tony said quickly, tackling the device on his hands, but nothing seemed to be working right now as Tony mumbled something about a bug that seemed to be a glitch in his system, but Zoe had a dreaded feeling that it was much more than a bug in his system going awry.

"There was this terrible noise," the robot continued, answering Zoe's question. "And I was tangled…in, in, strings…"

Clint moved slightly away from Tony to see what this robot was made of. Zoe turned her head to look at him and then at the robot, still frozen in her spot. She didn't like how she called them all killers. She didn't like this at all.

"Had to kill the other guy," The robot said. "He was a good guy."

Zoe blinked, wondering who he killed, and felt her heart tighten at the thought of it being someone she knew.

"You killed someone?" Steve asked.

"Wouldn't have been my first call," The robot said. "But down in the real world we're faced with ugly choices…"

"Who sent you?" Thor asked.

The robot twisted something in the back of his head. "I see a suit of armor around the world," it sounded like a playback message coming from his controls.

And it sounded an awful lot like Tony's voice in Zoe's ears. That only made her frown.

Bruce looked over at Tony who looked like he was seeing a ghost.

"Ultron," Bruce realized.

Zoe widened her eyes. No way. No way an Artificial Intelligence was strong enough to pull himself out and into a robot form.

Helen was standing behind Thor, probably scared, the poor girl.

Tony gulped silently, slanting his eyes toward Zoe and Bruce.

"In the flesh so to speak, or no, not yet. Not this Christmas…but I'm ready," he said as Thor tightened his hammer. Maria was already getting her gun out and ready to aim, not liking the robot's tone, while Zoe pulled out her knife from her clutch purse, tightening the firm grip of her hilt's knife. She closed the flap slightly shut, and gripped it into her hand, hiding it by her side.

"I'm on a mission," Ultron said. Clint looked at Zoe, who winked at him. The silver glint of her blade shined within the warm lights of the lounge area.

"What mission?" Natasha asked.

"Peace in our time," Ultron replied.

Zoe tossed her knife at Ultron. Her knife spun in the air, but Ultron caught it from reaching her aimed point, which was his neck. He crushed her knife into pieces. Pieces, Zoe thought dreadfully. The silver blade broke into pieces and wooden splinters from the hilt of her blade showered onto the floor. "Oops," Zoe said. "That should've worked," she gulped. "Anyone else, want to give it a try?" she asked.

Then suddenly four robots from Tony's Iron Maiden Legion crashed through the wall, and flew into the lounge, firing at all who were present.

Steve kicked the table in the air, giving everyone time to take cover.

Steve looked over at Zoe, "You had to ask!"

"Hey, I meant you, not iRobot over there," Zoe said, thrusting her thumb at Ultron who'd suddenly disappeared, as she ducked behind her couch that she'd been sitting on, scooting the guitar over a bit. In any other normal fight, she would've used it as a weapon, but Ultron broke her knife, so the guitar was out.

Maria dropped to the floor and started shooting at the robots flying through the lounge,

"Go!" Maria yelled, as she shot the flying robots away so that Clint, Rhodey, Steve, Helen, and Zoe could take cover elsewhere.

Thor whacked his hammer across a flying robot that flew at him and whacked the robot across the room that sent him flying away from his friends.

Clint and Rhodey ran in the other direction, and jumped over the railing and slid down as fast as they could while a robot tried to fire at them.

Helen had tried to hide behind Tony, but Tony was suddenly pushed across the floor and slid against the bookshelf.

Zoe whirled around and saw that the robot had eyes on Helen, and Zoe rushed over to her.

"Run!" Zoe cried, pushing Helen forward as she ran as fast as she could from the robot that tried to fire at them. They ducked and screamed as the robot fired its repulsors at them, narrowly missing at them.

Then suddenly Rhodey had come back with his Iron glove and tried to shoot at the robot who was trying to fire at Zoe and Helen, but Rhodey got hit and flew across the lounge, and out of the glass window that lead him to the platform of the Avenger's quinjet.

"Rhodey!" Maria cried, rushing after him to help him.

Thor flew across the lounge and whacked his hammer across the robot with ease. The robot tumbled down on the ground.

Meanwhile, Bruce and Natasha ran over to the bar and flew across it, jumping to hide underneath. Bruce slid across the bar and Natasha pulled him down on top of her.

"Sorry," he mumbled, once he regained himself.

"Don't turn green!" Natasha said.

"I won't," Bruce shook his head.

Meanwhile, Zoe was looking frantically across the room as the firefight continued out of chaos, as she tried to protect Helen, in search for a place to hide. She spotted Clint sliding underneath an alcove to duck from the fire repulsors firing in all different directions, shooting at various things as glass flew everywhere.

One of the blue and white robots had flown across the room with the glowing scepter in its hand that caught Zoe's eye. It was trying to find a way out of A-tower. She gasped.

"Oh no you don't," she muttered. Zoe looked around frantically in search for a way to stop the robot from leaving A-tower with the scepter in his hand. "Stay hidden," Zoe said to Helen, who nodded, and hid behind the piano. Zoe ran and darted up and over onto the couch's ledge and pushed herself up to reach the robot's shoulders, but only reached its torso. She gasped as she gripped tightly onto one of the metal pieces that held his torso together, trying to keep from falling as it found Zoe suddenly utterly annoying. Zoe tried to yank it back away from the window, but she was slipping.

The robot thrusted backwards with Zoe on it as they twirled around in mid-air. She tried to reach for the scepter, but the robot spun and twirled around, trying to make Zoe dizzy, which was turning out to be quite plausible. She felt her self slipping though, as she tried to grab onto the robot's broad shoulders as she dangled a couple feet from the ground in the air.

"Steve!" Helen said, pointing to Zoe in mid-air, dangling dangerously from one of the robots that had gotten the scepter. Steve whirled around and looked up to see Zoe trying to take the scepter away from the robot.

Zoe cried out in shock, as the robot flew backwards, trying to yank her off. The robot finally took his free hand and pried her fingers off and flipped her over his back. She gasped at the sudden movement as she twirled downward while the robot was able to make a quick get away. She suddenly found herself curled within Steve's strong arms.

Zoe looked up into his eyes and blinked, not expecting for someone to catch her. But then she remembered why she'd fallen down, and rolled out of his arms, onto the floor. "Owe," she groaned, hitting her cheek against the cold slab of the floor. She winced as searing jolt of pain wretched through her muscles, as they tightened within her.

"Why do you think I tried to save you?" Steve said, as she rolled over to look in his eyes, filled with concern and determination. Steve pulled her arms up and helped her off the floor.

"We have to get the scepter back," Zoe said.

"I know," Steve said, looking down at her.

She was about to run after the robot, but Steve reached for her arm, and yanked her back towards him as if they were in a bit of a dance. She twirled within his arms and looked up at him with wide eyes, heart pumping against her chest. He held her upper arms tight in the middle of the firefight around the A-lounge. She was no good to the scepter dead. Steve suddenly realized at what he did, and slowly pushed her forward, so that there was a bit of a gap between them. For a moment they were lost in their own little world, but the fire came at every direction, shattering glass everywhere when they tried to aim for the different Avengers in the room. Steve looked at the chaos.

Everything was just so confusing right now that Zoe could hardly think straight, but Steve's words seem to register within her, for some reason when he spoke to her. He just knew how to have that authority-like and gentle tone when he gave an order, "I think it's long gone now. Just worry about keeping Dr. Cho safe!" Steve said, and looked over at Thor's ongoing battle with his robot.

"But-" Zoe looked at him with wide eyes. Her mouth was slightly ajar as she watched the chaos ensue around them.

"You got it?" he asked. Once Zoe nodded her head with confirmation in her eyes, he took off running for the stairs. Zoe looked over at Helen, while the robot chased after Steve.

Tony grabbed a butter knife from the bar, while Natasha pulled out an extra gun hidden underneath the bar top and started shooting at the robot that was firing at them.

Steve then ran up the stairs and onto the second floor. He jumped up at the white and blue robot that was firing down in the lounge, keeping it away from harm's way, and wrapped his arms around the robot tight.

The robot thrusted repulsors and backed into the wall. Lights lit up the robots hand as it flew back, trying to get Steve off of him.

"Come on!" Natasha said to Bruce, taking her cue for her and Bruce to move out of the firefight from the bar.

Zoe pulled out a gun out from behind the piano and started shooting at the robot that Thor had tried to take down The robot scooted backwards at her fires and found its way to Thor's hammer.

Natasha and Bruce tried to run up the stairs but the robot was still firing at them while Natasha fired back as they tried to get to cover.

Clint ran across the bar as the robot focused on him now when he couldn't get to Natasha and Bruce. He fired two shots as Clint dodged for cover, to another room, sliding down on a slant with shards flying everywhere.

Meanwhile, Tony ran up the stairs and across the balcony level with his butter knife. Tony jumped up and wrapped his arms around the robot, flying through the air.

Thor was engaged in a fight as he tossed his hammer across the robot as the robot tried to outwit Thor, but Thor grabbed its neck and tossed the robot's half body that he tore apart down on ground level.

"We are here to help," it said.

"Stark!" Steve cried.

"One sec, one second," Tony mumbled as he fiddled with the butter knife trying to disable the robot he was holding.

Zoe found herself suddenly out of bullets. The half-robot zoomed over to Zoe and Helen, hidden beside the piano. Helen gulped and gripped onto the piano's side nervously as she looked at Zoe with a shadow of fear in her eyes. Zoe licked her lips nervously and scooted closer in front of Helen. That robot was going to have to get through her to Helen if anything else.

"We are here to help," the robot repeated.

The robot was ready to fire at them, and turned in amusement, sharing a glance between Helen and Zoe, and Helen again. Zoe tightened her fists at the robot, glaring at him. She will jump into the line of fire if she had to. She was curious as to why Ultron wasn't making his move to kill.

"Hmm," Ultron said, lowering his hands slightly.

Zoe frowned, not liking the way he said that.

Then out of nowhere Steve showed up and pulled the half-robot that was about to kill Zoe and Helen, and threw it across the room towards Thor. "Thor!" Steve said, gaining the God of Thunder's attention from the other side of the lounge. Thor reached for the robot's neck, gripped it tightly and brought it down with his hammer, shattering it to pieces. Zoe whirled around to protect Helen from the shattering pieces of metal that flew across the room. A few shattered over Zoe's fluffy coat. She shook them off of her and sighed.

Zoe wrapped an arm around Helen who was scared, and tried to calm her down from all the chaos. "It's almost over," she whispered. Helen nodded, and gulped, trying to be brave even though she was scared. That was one down right?

Tony tightened his grip onto the robot he was on, while Clint ran over to pick up Steve's shield that rested against the wall.

"Come on, that's the one," Tony said, and finally slammed the butter knife into the circuit spot that would dismantle the robot. He finally managed to tear apart the robot's head off and the body shattered to pieces. Tony dropped down to the floor as glass shards flew everywhere.

Natasha and Bruce had hidden behind a wall above the second level. Natasha fired at the robot that Thor and Steve tried to take down in the lounge area while Tony had finished dismantling his robotic demon.

"Cap!" Clint said, and tossed Steve the shield. Steve gripped tightly onto his shield within his hand, and aimed it at the robot, that hit him squarely in the chest, shattering it to blue and white pieces onto the floor with his other friends shattered to pieces.

"That was dramatic," Ultron said, walking toward his spot.

Tony slowly stepped down on A-tower's staircase and sat down along the steps, leaning his shoulder against the silver railing.

Helen and Zoe slowly emerged from the piano and walked into the lounge area, staying cautiously behind Thor, and Steve.

"I'm sorry. I know you mean well," Ultron said, merging into view for all of them to see. "You just didn't think it through. You want to protect the world, but you don't want it to change."

Bruce and Natasha listened above the stairs, as a chill swept around the room, settling in unevenly around the room.

"How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to evolve?" Ultron asked.

Clint stared at Ultron, holding his hand against the pillar as he listened to Ultron's taunts that filled his soul.

Zoe swallowed hard, as she looked at Tony who sent her a sad look in his eyes.

"Look at these," Ultron said, picking up a half-body that belonged to a torn robot by the head with his metal fingers. "These puppets." He crushed the metal head. Fiery electricity sparked within the head as it broke to pieces, showing the wires it was made out of.

Zoe gulped, and felt so ill in her heart right then and there.

He tossed it on the ground in anger.

Zoe couldn't help but jump at the clanky metal sound against the floor, and looked down at the torn robot on the floor.

"There's only one path to peace," Ultron warned. "The Avengers Extinction," he said.

Zoe widened her eyes and looked up at those horrifying words. Ultron looked directly at Zoe when he said those words. She gulped.

Thor suddenly tossed his hammer to the robot and it crashed to pieces, shutting him up, hopefully for good. The hammer whirled back to Thor's hand and he gripped it tightly, watching Ultron shatter to pieces.

"I have strings, but now I'm free…" Ultron whispered as the blue electricity burned to darkness…the strings curled fiery until they were black.

Ultron spluttered away and trailed back to a facility that had many different robots that all started blinking to life in different colors of blue and red electricity lights. No strings mumbled and groaned throughout the entire facility as more robots lit up to life.

"There are no strings on me!" it sang happily.


	48. Chapter 48: Strategic Rage

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to its respective owners. I am not writing for profit, just writing for fun. I own my OC.**

 **Chapter 48: Strategic Rage**

There was a solemn feeling that filtered around A-tower's lab. The Iron Maiden Legion was disastrous, and no longer functioning. Tony had started to repair one of the robots while everyone tried to figure out where Ultron had disappeared to.

Zoe was trying to contact Ava, pacing back and forth on top of the upper level beside Clint, who tightened the silver railing within the palms of his hands, listening to his crew.

Ava wasn't answering her phone and that was making Zoe panic on the inside. She'd called Ava at least five times already.

"All our work is gone," Bruce said, trying to fathom how Ultron could just take everything and disappear. "He used the internet as an escape patch."

Zoe pivoted on her heel and looked up at the ceiling. She was listening to her dial tone, waiting for Ava to pick up. She was hoping maybe Ava was taking a shower or a bubble bath, but Zoe told Ava to keep her phone beside her, so Ava should've answered. She was feeling sick to her stomach, whether it was the mixture contents of alcohol or really bad Chinese food mixed within her stomach or the stress that was starting to elevate inside her system, she didn't know, she just needed to hear that Ava was okay.

She hit end when Ava didn't answer. Zoe looked over at Clint who had questionable eyes and Zoe shook her head.

"He's been in everything, files, surveillance, probably knows more about us than we know each other," Natasha said from across the room as she crossed her arms over her chest. She'd changed into something a little more comfortable. After the chaotic fight in the lounge, Zoe wished she did too, but she couldn't help but worry why Ava wasn't answering.

Clint looked over at Natasha's chilling words and he looked down at the floor, tightening his grip on the railings.

"He's in your files, he's in the Internet," Rhodey said, pushing himself up from the same table that Natasha was standing on. He walked into the middle of the room, holding his injured arm. He crossed the room behind Helen.

"But if he decides to access something a little more exciting," Rhodey suggested.

Zoe turned around and leaned over the railing that overlooked the lab, and placed her chin to rest on the edge of her cell phone, worried eyes glazed across her tired features. She crossed her legs and tapped her foot against the floor.

"Nuclear codes," Maria said, who was sitting in her chair, pulling out pieces of glass from her feet.

Zoe ran a nervous hand over her aching neck and tried to ignore everything that was wrong with her, trying to focus on the situation at hand and trying not to worry about Ava not answering her phone.

"Nuclear codes," Rhodey said with disgust, as he stood beside Maria, Zoe, and Clint. "Assuming we still can."

"Nukes?" Natasha said. "He said he wanted us dead."

"He didn't say dead," Steve said who stood in between Natasha and Tony. "He said extinct."

"He also said he killed somebody," Clint said, leaning upward.

"There wasn't anyone else in the building," Maria said, turning toward Clint and the others.

"Yes there was," Tony said, and flipped his device to the middle of the room. Lights dimmed a little bit in the lab that showed Jarvis's half frailed orange-y glow in the room.

Zoe gasped, and covered her mouth with her hand and phone. "Oh no, Jarvis," she said.

Clint looked up at her and frowned. He walked over to her and placed an arm around her shoulder, gently giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze. She sniffed and leaned her head against his shoulder, feeling horrible. She chewed her lip, feeling her face frown so crestfallen. Unable to believe it herself, Helen frowned as well. Rhodey looked down, feeling the heavy sadness around the room.

"This is insane," Bruce agreed lightly as he walked closer to Jarvis's dismantled form.

"Jarvis was the first line in defense," Steve said, arms crossed over his chest, head lowered down as he spoke. "He would've shut Ultron down. It makes sense."

Zoe looked over at Steve. That was even worse.

"No," Bruce said, shaking his head. Not wanting to believe it. "Ultron could've assimilated Jarvis. This is strategy this is…rage." He said looking at Steve and Tony who stood next to each other, looking at the broken Jarvis bubbly flare in the middle.

Thor had suddenly returned, waltzing straight over to Tony. He clamped his hand around Tony's neck and started chocking him.

Clint and Zoe broke apart in alert as they watched Thor pick up Tony off the ground.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Tony said, bringing up a hand to pry Thor's hand off of his neck, as Thor chocked him.

"It's going around," Clint said, watching with slight nervous eyes.

Zoe chewed her bottom lip nervously, watching the scene unfold before her eyes.

"Come on, use your words buddy," Tony gasped as Thor held him up to the ceiling, looking at him with anger in his eyes. "I have more than enough words to describe you Stark."

Steve walked up to settle their differences. "Thor," Steve said, but Thor just held Tony tighter. "The legionnaire." Steve added.

Thor finally tossed Tony to the ground who scrambled away from him and pulled himself up, staying far away from the God of Thunder and his hammer.

"Trail went cold about a hundred miles out and its heading North," Thor reported. "And it has the scepter."

"I'm afraid that's my fault," Zoe said.

"No, it's not, I gave you a different order," Steve said, looking over at her. "The fault is mine."

"Fault or no fault," Thor said. "We have to retrieve it, again."

"Yeah, well, the genie's out of that bottle," Natasha said, crossing her legs, as she leaned against the wall. "Clearly who's present is Ultron."

"I don't understand," Helen said, breaking everyone away from their heated conversation on trying to figure this mess out. They looked over at her beside the first robot Thor tore to pieces.

"You built this program," Helen said to Bruce and Tony as Tony walked around to his computer station. "Why is it trying to kill us?" she asked.

Zoe looked over at Tony and Bruce. Bruce and Zoe shared a worried look. She hadn't spoken a word to anyone about their little Peace Keeping Program that was supposed to help not kill. Bruce looked over at him and walked over to stand beside Tony to figure out what he was up to.

Then out of nowhere, Tony started to madly chuckle. Everyone gave each other weird looks around the room and looked over at Tony and Bruce. Clint arched a curious eyebrow at Tony's chuckle, and Zoe groaned slightly beside him. He cocked an eyebrow at her and she looked away innocently, keeping her mouth shut. Bruce noticed the exchange and while he was thankful for that, he knew Tony was going to spill. Bruce shook his head. "Mm-mm," Bruce shook his head.

"You think this is funny?" Thor asked.

"No," Tony turned around from his computer. "It's probably not?" Tony turned face Steve, Maria, and Helen. "Right?" Tony looked at Zoe.

Zoe chewed her bottom lip again at his words.

"Is this very terrible?" Tony turned to his other teammates in the room. "Is it so…it is… it's so terrible?"

Zoe's eyes danced back and forth between Thor and Tony.

Thor walked over to him, "This could have been avoided if you hadn't played with something that you don't understand," Thor pointed over to where Jarvis had broken down.

"No," Tony said. "I'm sorry. It is funny. It is a hoot that you don't get why we need this!"

"Tony…maybe this might not be the time to…" Bruce began but Tony whirled around to face his best friend.

"Really?" Tony asked. "That's it? You're just gonna roll over, and show your belly every time somebody snarls."

"Only when I've created a murderbot!" Bruce said.

"We didn't," Tony said. "We weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?"

Bruce tightened his nervous smirk on his face and shrugged, nodding his head at Tony.

"Well, you did something right," Steve said. "And you did it right here. The Avengers was supposed to be different from S.H.I.E.L.D." Steve said, walking toward Tony.

"Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?" Tony asked, pointing to the sky.

Clint shared a look with Natasha. Steve and Zoe looked at one another from across the room. She ran a hand over her neck. A time where things were a little bit simpler, she remembered that part. She winced. It seemed like a long time ago since she'd thought of her time with the Avengers.

"No, it's never come up," Rhodey said, shaking his head. "Never heard that one."

"Recall that?!" Tony said.

Clint leaned his arms against the railing and clapped his hands lightly together as he looked down when Tony spoke.

Zoe licked her lips and looked down at her phone to see if Ava had called, but she had no missed messages.

"A hostile army came charging in through a hole in space," Tony said. "We're standing three hundred feet below it. We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all live long day, but that up there? That's the A game."

Zoe swallowed hard, listening to Tony's words spewing around the room.

"How were you guys planning on beating that?" Tony asked.

"Together," Steve said.

"We'll loose," Tony said.

Zoe looked over at Steve, feeling one of her sapphire earrings dangle against the side of her neck, and then she turned to listen to Tony's chilling words of "We'll loose."

"Then we'll do that together too," Steve said.

"Thor's right," Steve said, turning away from Tony. "Ultron is calling us out, and I'd like to find him before he's ready for us."

Tony turned around and faced his computer. Zoe looked at her phone and sighed.

"The world's a big place," Steve said. "Let's start making it smaller."

~*A*~

"She better be here," Wanda said to her brother Pietro. He grinned.

"Relax, sis," he said as they walked closer to the closed off gate that gated a part of the city off. "She'll come. She just needed two days to get out here with us. Sides, I did all the work, and got her a first class ticket, thank you very much."

"What'd you say?" Wanda asked.

"We had a lot in common," he said. "And that I was sorry I didn't get her number before we bolted Strucker's lab, and that I left her in the snow?"

Wanda rolled her eyes. "What else?"

"Just the fact our parents were taken away from us at a young age," He said bitterly. "She didn't have a mother. Her father was a mystery and she has no clue who she really is. A lost soul. It was the perfect opportunity to find our ally. Ultron would be pleased."

Wanda looked at her brother with a curious glint in her eye. "Hmm," she said. "If she can help us with her ability."

"Sure, she can," Pietro chimed. "We have seen her in action. Death in seconds sounds like the prefect ally to me."

"Someone talking about allies without me?" A new voice asked, startling the twins.

Pietro and Wanda turned to face a woman, who looked petite and adorable with two buns curled up in her hair. Purple streaks danced around the messy ends of her brown hair that matched her long plaid coat jacket that flared around her legs. She was dressed in black with high-ankle boots. "Thanks for my ticket here, Pietro," she said.

"It was my pleasure, Ava," Pietro said, and opened up the gate for his sister to enter and then Ava.

"It's not like I had a choice," Ava glared at him.

He grinned at her as she walked beside him and Wanda into the broken church that nestled in the middle of the city of Sokovia.

"Talk, and if you are wasting our time," Wanda said slowly as they entered the church building.

It was dark with just a bowl of fire lit inside the room. There was a chair centered on a platform with steps leading to the chair.

Ava chewed her bottom lip.

"Did you know this church is in the exact center of the city? The elders decreeded so that everyone could be equally close to God," the smooth and hollow voice chilled Ava and the twins as they walked closer to the center of the church. "I like that."

Ava and Pietro stood quietly as Wanda stepped closer carefully to the haunted voice in the air.

"The geometry of belief," he continued, motioning his arm hidden in the darkness. "You're wondering why you can't look inside my head."

"Sometimes it's hard," Wanda said. "But sooner or later every man shows himself," she said.

Suddenly, a big and tall robot stood up from the chair, revealing himself to Ava and the twins. The blanket fell to the floor. "Oh, I'm sure they do," he said.

Ava gulped, and stepped back. She tried to run away but Pietro gripped her hand too quickly for her to escape. She looked at him with fear.

"But you needed something more than a man," The robot said as he stepped down from the steps. "That's why you let Stark take the scepter."

"I didn't expect…but I saw his fear, and how it would control him," Wanda said as the robot walked closer to Wanda. Pietro and Ava stood in the shadows, watching carefully and fearfully. "I knew it would control him, make him self-destruct."

"Everyone creates the thing they thread," Ultron said.

"Men of peace create engines of war, invaders create Avengers," he said as he walked casually around the church's center platform. He turned to face Ava and the twins. "People create…smaller people?" he looked around for answers. "Uh…"

"Children," Ava whispered with stricken horror in her voice.

"Children," he said with a chuckle, pointing a finger at her. "I lost the word there. Designed to supplant them, to help them end."

"Is that why you've come? To end the Avengers?" Wanda asked.

"I've come to save the world," he said, turning to face Wanda. "But also, yeah."

"Who are you?" Ava asked in a small whisper.

The robot looked over at her. "I am Ultron," he said. "And you my dear, you are certainly an interesting one. Also apart of Strucker's experiment, and he did a number on you, so did your sister, for whom I could have killed tonight, but I saw you and your ability."

Ava looked down suddenly at the ground. She hugged her arm, swallowing hard.

"In which let me remind you, I will kill her if you decide to try anything funny,"

Wanda smiled widely at the robot.

Ava flicked her eyes to Pietro, "You tricked me," she hissed.

"What I said was true," Pietro said sincerely, glancing at her cautiously as they moved further into the church. He was telling the truth about how he felt with loosing his parents to Stark, just like Ava had lost her parents to S.H.I.E.L.D.

"All of these are…" Wanda said as they looked at the robots Ultron already created while he was waiting for his allies.

"Me," Ultron said. "I have what the Avengers never will, harmony," he said, flying up to one of the chains that was attached to the machine. "Their disorientated, disconnected," he said. "Stark's already got them turning against each other and when you get inside the rest of their heads…"

"Everyone's plan is not to kill them," Pietro said.

"Then make them martyrs," Utlron said.

"You need patience," Ultron said. "Need to see the big picture."

"I don't see the big picture I have a little picture," Pietro said. Ava looked over at Pietro with sad eyes, the one thing she shared in common with him. She had no family, just Zoe, and she didn't want anything to happen to Zoe so she had to stay.

"I take it out and look at it every day," Pietro said.

"You lost your parents in the bombings," Ultron said. "I've seen the records."

"Every night, I take out the picture," Pietro continued.

"Pietro," Wanda warned.

"No," Ultron said. "Please."

"We were ten years old," Pietro said, looking at Wanda. "Having dinner of the four of us. When the first shell hits, two floors below, makes a hole in the floor, it was big. Are parents go in. And the whole building starts to crumble apart. I go to grab her," Pietro indicated a nod to Wanda. "We're all under the bed and the second shell hits. But it doesn't always go off. It just….sits there in the rubble. Three feet from our faces. And on the side of the shell, painted one word…"

"Stark," Wanda said, turning to face him with a glinting glare in her eyes.

"We were trapped two days," Pietro said, glancing silently at Ava who listened to the sad story in her ears. Her heart went out to him.

"Every effort to save us, every shift in the bricks, I think…this will set it off," Wanda said. "We wait for two days for Tony Stark to kill us."

"They know what they are," Pietro said. "You said it yourself," he said, turning to face Ava.

Ava looked up and stared at Pietro horrifically, "I was upset and alone that night. Forgive me for pouring out my heart and soul to you!"

Ultron heard the bitter anger come out of Ava's mouth. "And why have you been the lucky one to survive, I wonder?"

Ava drew in a small breath. She looked up at him and into his electric red eyes.

"You don't want to know," Ava said.

"Yes," Ultron said. "I do. I wonder how a girl like you could receive such a gift like death."

Ava pursed her lips together and licked them moist. She looked over at the twins and sighed as she tried to pull the bitter memory out of her mind.

"Ever since I was three I could remember going to the doctor's for mystery checkups. It was just me and my dad. I just thought it was all routine. One day, he told me to pack a bag, we were fleeing our home. We were on our to New York, but we were hijacked and I was kidnapped, taken to a small facility downtown,"

"Soho," Ultron said.

Ava looked up at him with fear in her eyes. She nodded and swallowed hard.

She inhaled sharply. She glanced down at the ground in bitter memory. "In Soho, I felt my first…real injection of my abilities splutter to life," she said, blinking as the memories came flooded back to her. She'd worked so hard to try to block them out, but there was just something about Ultron that made her want to talk. She didn't mind sharing in front of Pietro or Wanda either, though to be fair, Pietro had been the easiest one to talk to out of the twins. "The power was strong, running through me. I didn't know where they got it. I didn't ask. I was too afraid."

"I was only sixteen," she continued in a whisper. "Most girls dream about getting their first cars, I dreamed about trying to escape my four walls as the poison ran through my veins. One night, voices that sounded like children my age rang in my ears, and hope filled my heart. When I felt someone try to tug at my wrists, everything stopped...the echoes of laughter bolted. All I heard then, was a mumbled sorry whispering in my ears...I never felt so alone right then and there, in the dark."

She looked down at the ground when she saw Wanda's head turn to listen to her story. Pietro told her that Ava had no family aside from her sister, but now maybe Ava was alone too just like them.

"Your father was able to escape the agents who took him. He rescued you, and took you to Strucker's facility, where you would be safe. Strucker and your father cared about you and your abilities to grow and evolve. But you lost your father to a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent."

Ava blinked at those words out of the robot's mouth and chewed her bottom lip. She looked at Pietro who nodded. "I wonder why only you three survived Strucker's experiments. Now I don't. We will make it right. The three of us can hurt them," Ultron said, reaching out a hand toward Ava and Pietro.

"But you will tear them apart from the inside," Ultron promised, reaching a hand out toward Wanda's forehead last and a chill swept up her spine.


	49. Chapter 49: Smoke Screen

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to its respective owners. I am writing for fun, and not for profit. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 49: Smoke Screen**

As soon as the news hit of where Ultron had made his statement known, Maria Hill had contacted Steve. Steve joined Maria in seconds. He was all about the mission, and he wanted to get it done. Maria didn't blame him, and that's one of the things she admired about Steve at his tactful approach to the things that mattered and were of national and in this case international security. They walked out of the elevator and into the bright lounge room, sun's rays glowing inside that showed glass shards everywhere. It had been two days since Ultron's crashed the Avengers' farewell party and the cleanup sweepers were still cleaning the mess.

"He's all over the globe," Maria explained. "Robotics, labs, weapon facilities, reports of the metal man, or men coming in and emptying the place."

"Mentalities?" Steve asked, looking at her as they walked up the staircase that turned onto a wooden platform and turned the second floor staircase, very modern and sleek looking.

"Only when engaged," Maria replied. "Mostly guys left in a fluke state going on about old memories, worst fears, having near death experiences and something too fast to see."

"Ava and the Maximoff's," Steve said. "Well that makes sense he'd go to them; they have someone in common."

"Not anymore," Maria said, showing Steve a picture of what just came up in the news on her tablet.

Steve took the tablet away from her and furrowed his brows at the picture. There he was, lying dead in his cot, Baron Strucker. Next to him was a message written in blood that had dripped like rain, and the message was: PEACE…

Steve had a weird feeling swirl within his stomach. That didn't look like peace to him at all. He let out a small sigh. This was going to break Zoe's heart and she didn't need anymore heartache.

It was time to give Zoe a call, Steve thought.

"Can you contact Zoe for me?" Steve asked.

Maria smiled slightly, as he handed her the tablet back. She hugged the tablet in her arms and she nodded. "Already on it," she said, turning the tablet around in her hands. She started to contact Zoe on the tablet.

"Thank you," Steve said.

Maria nodded and started to contact Zoe, pivoting on her heels to face the other direction.

Steve walked down the hallway in search for the remaining Avengers that had stayed over night from the party, well into two days of trying to find Ultron and what his motives were.

"Mhmm, that's a negative," Clint was saying into his cell phone. He was huddled in a corner, hand rested upon the wall. "Yes ma'am."

Steve furrowed his brows at him, wondering who Clint was on the phone with.

"Barton," Steve said. Clint looked up, turning his cell phone away from his lips with questionable eyes.

"Might have something," Steve said.

He turned into his phone, "Gotta go," he said.

"Who's that?" Steve asked.

"Girlfriend," Clint said with a wave of his arm, phone hidden in the palm of his hand.

Steve tightened his lips, "If Zoe's heart shatters to pieces, I will tear you to shreds," Steve said.

Clint arched a curious brow at Steve'e interesting choice of words and he chuckled lightly. "Oh, you don't have to worry about me, Cap," Clint said, clamping a hand around Steve's shoulder. He gave it a tight crunching squeeze, not that it fazed Steve at all. "The only heart I plan on shattering, is Ultron's."

Steve's eyes slanted toward Clint's face, as they walked toward the lab. He wasn't worried about Clint, he was worried about Zoe.

By the time Steve and Clint walked into the room, Thor was looking at the picture on the tablet Steve had given him.

"What's this?" Tony asked, walking up to Thor. Natasha was sitting at the computer, while Steve stood on the other side of Thor.

"A message," Steve replied, looking at Tony.

Thor smacked Tony in the stomach with the tablet. Tony closed his eyes and winced slightly at the hard impact of the tablet. Tony took it in his hands to look at the screen.

Bruce walked in at that moment and stood beside Tony, looking at the horrible image on the tablet. The message was PEACE written in blood, red dripping blood on the wall of the prison cell. Strucker was killed and mangled against his bed.

"Ultron killed Strucker," Steve said.

"And he did a bank seat at the crime scene just for us," Tony said.

"This is a smoke screen," Natasha said. "Why send a message when you've just given a speech?"

"Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss," Steve said.

"I bet he…" Natasha said but then looked at the computer screen in an instant. "Yep," she said. "Everything we had on Strucker has been erased."

Tony looked up from the screen, "Not everything," he said.

~*A*~

Meanwhile, Zoe was back in her apartment, trying to figure out where Ava had gone. Where could she be? Zoe wondered, as she paced back and forth throughout her apartment. For two days, Zoe had combed through her apartment, A-Tower, and most of Manhattan in search for Ava. She had Maria sent out whatever remaining agents in search for her. Ava couldn't have gone far. Did she run away? Was she kidnapped? Was she scared? Zoe's mind was running on a tangent and she never felt more horrible in her entire life. She should've stayed home. Going to the party was a mistake. She thought that Ava could handle one night alone. Ava wasn't stupid. She knew right from wrong, at least that's what Ava told her when she was with their father.

Zoe sighed. She placed a worried hand over her forehead, as the stress elevated. She was now standing in her room, trying to keep the room from spinning.

Her phone finally buzzed into the silence and Zoe took her phone out of her pocket. A-Tower read across the screen and she answered it, "Please tell me you have something," she said in a rush.

"I do," Maria said on the other end of the line. "But, you're probably not going to like it."

Zoe looked out her window with horror in her eyes. "Is she…"

"The good news is that she's alive," Maria said.

"Okay," she breathed out a sigh of relief. "What's the bad news?"

"I'll tell you when you get here," Maria said. "Steve's asking for your assistance."

Zoe chewed her bottom lip. "Okay, he knows I can't find my sister, right? My priority is finding Ava alive."

"I know," Maria said. "But you have a job to do too, which is helping the Avengers deal with the current situation at hand with Ultron. All the data in our files is gone. Guess who gets the lucky task of doing that since you like being old fashioned and all?" Maria asked with a slight teasing tone in her voice.

Zoe wrinkled her nose in slight disgust. "Alright, fine, I'll be there. Give me twenty minutes."

"You have five," Maria chimed, and clicked off.

Zoe sighed. She took off her shirt, and started to get ready for another day in paradise.

~*A*~

Zoe made her way into the office area of the lab where everyone waited for her arrival. She was driving a cart of at least six boxes of information into the lab. The crew turned around to look at her as she steadied the cart on its feet of wheels. She kicked the stand down with her foot. She grabbed one box off and Clint grabbed a few more walking with her as she put her box onto the desk. Each Avenger grabbed one from the cart, taking their own places in the room.

She smiled, "Okay, you guys," she said. "Grabbed whatever I could find on Strucker. Something's bound to be in here. Let's start digging."

"Handy, having you around," Tony said.

Zoe just smiled at Tony as he, Steve, and Bruce started to pick the boxes out one by one.

"Alright you guys take these, we'll take this one," Zoe said. Zoe, Bruce, and Clint started digging through their box. Zoe had sat cross-legged on the floor, digging through hers, while Clint took a pile of files and leaned against the railing, nestled in his own spot.

Bruce took his stack and walked over to sit beside his computer against the wall.

Steve was searching through his when he looked over at Zoe, sitting beside her box.

She pulled out a file, and opened it up. She leaned the manila folder against the box.

Steve walked over to Zoe and Steve's shadow cast over her. She looked up and into his blue eyes. "Hey," she said. "Nothing yet, but we'll comb through it. I mean there's a ton of history here…"

"That's not why I'm here," Steve said quietly.

Zoe chewed her bottom lip nervously. She could feel it again. She could feel the walls closing in.

Steve saw the dark circles underneath her eyes. She was tired and most likely running on adrenaline. "What?" she asked. "Do I have something on my face because I've had like, twelve cups of coffee in the past two days. I'm good…for a little light reading."

"This is light?" Steve asked, looking around A-lab's floor that had become a paper mess. And she was probably going to have to clean it up.

She smiled. "Yep," she said. "This is nothing compared to what I did at the Triskelion," she said.

Steve sighed. "Zo," he said, kneeling down beside her. "There's something I have to tell you."

Zoe blinked at the serious tone in his voice. "What?" she asked, not taking her eyes off of her file in her hands. She could feel his eyes burning straight through her. Was he trying to leave a hole in her heart?

"Ava's with Ultron," he said.

Zoe swallowed hard, and froze in her trek. She looked up into his eyes again and they were filled with concern. Concern for her? Since when? She chewed her bottom lip. "Oh," she said softly.

"If we find out what Ultron's planning to do," Steve said slowly. "I'm going to need you there. You'll be on Banner watch of course, but if we need you, I'm going to call you in to help. Ava's ability is dangerous. And if he's got her turned somehow…"

Zoe stopped him right there with a glare on her face. "I can handle it. I'll deal with her," she said. "She's my responsibility." She looked down at the files in her hands. "I shouldn't have left her alone."

Steve frowned at her rueful tone in her voice. He gave her a gentle squeeze on her shoulder. "I'm sorry I've been hard on you since we found you with Strucker."

Zoe looked up at him, and almost smiled, "Are you?" she asked. "Because I know you hate Hydra, and I don't blame you, but-"

"You can't run from your past, but you can change who you are," Steve said. "Were," he said with a slight wince.

"You're giving me a second chance?" she asked.

Steve just smiled at her, and for some reason Zoe wanted to smile but she didn't. She chewed her lip in confusion. She didn't think she deserved any kind of a second chance for how she's handled things so far. But if Steve needed her help on this, she was going to help, no matter what the circumstances were. She had to find Ava, and Steve was letting her come to help. That was a good sign, right?

"I'm gunna try to find something in this one, okay?" Steve asked, motioning a chin nod over to her unopened box. She nodded, and watched him take the box into his arms. He stood up and walked over back to the crew.

Zoe looked over at Clint who quickly looked back down at his own pile of information. He tossed the file away in his hands and started to read the next page. Zoe smiled and just flipped through the files as she tried to find something useful.

"Known associates," Tony said, flipping his file down on the desk.

Steve brought the box over and set it down next to Tony's.

"Strucker had a lot of friends," Steve said.

"Well, these people are all horrible," Bruce said, glancing down at his own set of photos that he thumbed through.

Thor opened up another box and tossed it across the room that nearly hit Zoe's nose. Zoe looked over at Thor. "Hey," she called after him. Thor looked up and raised his eyebrows innocently.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

Zoe looked over and they shared a small smile before she turned back to her readings on Strucker and his profile, which had just about everything including his family.

"Wait," Tony said before Bruce could discard his file away. Bruce handed it to Tony. "I know that guy. Back in the day he operates in the African coast, black market arms."

Steve looked from the file to Tony's face and frowned. Tony didn't like Steve's look, "There are conventions, alright? I meet people. I didn't sell him anything."

Clint and Zoe had gotten up from their spots to join the rest of the crew, huddled over the paper that Tony had found, which was now in Thor's hands as he looked at it with pure curiosity in his eyes.

"He was talking about finding something new, a game changer. It was all very bad," Tony said, sharing a small look with Zoe.

Zoe frowned.

"What's this?" Thor asked.

"Uh, it's a tattoo. I don't think he had it then," Tony said.

Thor pointed his finger at the tattoo on the arms dealer's neck behind his head, "No those are tattoos, this is a brand," Thor pointed to a red brand etched into the side of his neck, the man with dark hair, wearing sunglasses. His body was half-turned in the picture from what Zoe could tell.

"What's it say?" Zoe asked. Because as far as she could tell the brand didn't look like it was Hydra. So that was kind of a good sign right? No, this was a different kind of bad. And now Ava was out there with Ultron, traveling around the globe. How did Ultron even get to her?

"We can find out," Bruce said. Bruce took the photo from Thor and went over to his computer. He put his glasses on and started the search for different languages as to what it could mean. He started to search for the branded message on his neck.

"Uh, yeah," Bruce said as the data in his search engine popped up within seconds. "It's a word in African dialect meaning thief, in a much less friendly way," he explained, turning to face them.

"What dialect?" Steve asked.

"Wakinata, Wa-wa-Wakanda," Bruce read out loud, narrowing his eyes to read what it said.

Tony turned to Steve, "If this guy got out of Wakanda with some other tributes…"

Steve turned to Tony with a furrowed look in his eyes, "I thought your father got the last of it."

"I don't follow," Bruce said, getting up from his seat to join them. "What comes out of Wakanda?"

"The strongest metal on Earth," Steve said, turning to face his Captain America Shield that rested against a small accent filing cabinet.

"Vibranium," Zoe whispered.

"Where is this guy now?" Steve asked.


	50. Chapter 50: Vibranium Deals

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to their respective owners. I am writing for fun and not for profit. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 50: Vibranium Deals**

Salvage Yard~African Coast

Just off the African Coast, ships of many different various elements sat in the muddy bay area. A dark yellow hue of the sun shined down within the clouds that covered the skies. And one in particular stood out in the many vast ships along the water, where an older gentleman covered in dirt and grime sat in his office, talking on the phone. His name was Ulysses Klaue. Outside of his office, he could hear his crew worked hard morning through the afternoon on different kinds of weaponry inside the crate of the hot and steamy ship. Sparks grinded and flew against metal as men shouted different orders to various workers along the bridges that outlined the perimeter of the ship.

"Now, you will make it right or the next resource I send you come very much faster," he said, and clicked end on his black telephone that rested along his desk with picture frames of friends and family, a bowl of candy, and some paperwork he had to look over, in which he wasn't looking forward to at all.

He sighed. He just wanted today over with. He clicked another button on the phone, and looked down at the floor, "Now minister, where were we?" he said.

All of a sudden, his power went out and everything went dark. Chaos from the workers erupted down below the hot bed, and everyone started to search for flashlights and see what had caused the issue for the power source to go down.

Ulysses glanced down at the window, watching his workers blame each other in shouts that echoed to his office. The only thing lit up was run by a generator. He turned to his desk, and slowly picked up his gun, gripping the handle tightly in his greasy fingers. The flashlight curled around him down below as he slowly crept closer, sensing that he wasn't alone.

He shot his gun, but Pietro was too quick for him. He dodged the bullet in an instant as his blue energy powers left a trail behind him while he took the gun out of Ulysses's hand. In seconds, Pietro had taken the barrel of bullets out of the gun's handle. Ulysses widened his eyes in shock as he saw his gold bullets standing upward, with one teetering against its side, but didn't fall. Pietro sped around him to the other side of his office, and crossed his arms, looking at him with such disappointment on his face.

Wanda appeared in the darkness, standing in the corner. She looked at him with dark eyes in amusement.

And last but not least, Ava stepped inside and walked casually over to the other side of the other side of the corner, not too far away from Wanda's corner, also glaring at Ulysses. He looked at Ava in particular when he noticed a yellow and golden hue of flare dancing off her finger tips like sparkles of dust.

"Yeah," Ulysses said, glancing at the three of them. "I've been told. Strucker's prized pupils," he taunted, and sat down in his chair where three of his monitors were still on, attached to the wall above him. When he looked back at Ava, the flares on her fingers had disappeared.

Ulysses smirked. He wasn't afraid of them. He wasn't afraid of anyone. To him, they were just kids with enhanced gifts that probably couldn't hurt a fly. Nothing his gun or his fists were a match for.

"Want a piece of candy?" Ulysses picked up his bowl, offering it to the girls.

Wanda and Ava shared a knowing look, and they stayed put. Ulysses offered the bowl to Pietro. He was not amused, as he stood there with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Oh sorry to hear about Strucker," Ulysses said, putting the bowl of candy down on his desk. "But then he knew what world he was helping to create. Human life. Not a great market."

Pietro shared a curious look with his sister before he stared back at Ulysses. Ava swallowed hard, but kept her cool, careful not to make any sudden movements. She looked over to the twins questionably.

"You…you didn't know?" Ulysses asked. "Is this your first time? Intimidating someone? I'm afraid, not that afraid…"

"Everybody's afraid of something," Wanda said, stepping out from the threshold and into the small light in his office. Ava smiled when she did, and flexed her fingers out, tapping her hands together with a ginger smile on her face, ready to use her powers on this guy.

"Cuttlefish," Ulysses said.

Ava arched an eyebrow. What a strange thing to be afraid of? Wanda took a closer step to her brother, and tilted her head to the side curiously as Ulysses continued to explain.

"Deep sea fish," he said. "They make lights. Disco lights," he said and then demonstrated the noise of the fish with his mouth and hand. "To hypnotize their prey and then they whoop," he grabbed the air with his closed fist suddenly, making Ava jump a bit. Pietro looked over at Ava, but she cleared her throat and tried to regain back her coolness. "I saw a documentary, it was terrifying."

Pietro suddenly zoomed over to the bowl of candy and took two pieces out of the bowl. He handed one to Ava, and she took it gingerly within her hands. She opened up and started chewing the caramel substance in her mouth, sweet on her tongue. She smiled as Pietro smirked at Ulysses.

"So, if you're going to fiddle with my brain," Ulysses said, turning to Wanda. "Then make me see a giant cuttlefish. Then I know you don't do business, and I know your not in charge, and I only deal with the man in charge." Ulysses said, getting up from his chair as if he was the one to intimidate Ava, and the twins.

Ava swallowed her piece of candy, and looked behind him as Ultron's reactor lights glowed an orangey red behind him.

"Be careful what you wish for," Ava said.

Ulysses turned to face her, but then found himself suddenly flying backwards out of his office window, falling down to the lower level. He landed on his back hard and winced in fear as Ultron's tall robotic body towered over him.

"There is no man in charge," Ultron said. He leaned his robotic face closer to Ulysses scared features upon his face. "Let's talk business."

It seemed like Ulysses didn't have a choice but to oblige, especially when there was money involved. He walked further in toward the back of the ship where one of his strong men opened up the vault like door to reveal barrels of the strongest metal in the world. It was worth billions and Ulysses needed the money.

The door rose higher to show levels of the vibranium inside. Pietro, Wanda, and Ava stood on the outside of the door, while Ulysses walked inside and took one of the shining cylinders of vibranium from the room.

"Upon this rock," Ultron said. "I will build my church," he took the glowing blue cylinder case in his hand from Ulysses. He flipped it proudly within his hand. "Vibranium," he tossed it over to Pietro who caught it and looked into the glass. Ava looked over his shoulder with mild interest.

"You know, you came with great personal cost," Ulysses said, rubbing the back of his neck, turning to face Ultron. "It's worth billions."

Ultron chuckled and within his metal circuits, he calculated the exact amount and made sure it transferred into the man's pockets. Wanda crossed her arm and pulled at her lip, watching with interest beside her brother. Ava curled her foot over the other and smiled. She could already sense what this man's death was going to be, and if he had played nicely in the past, it was possible that Ulysses wouldn't have died this way, and might have died of a natural cause.

"Now, so are you," Ultron said. "It's all under your dummy holdings? Finance is so weird."

Ulysses's phone and his co-worker's phone buzzed within their pockets. They pulled it out and winded their eyes at the exact amount in dollars appeared on the screen. His heart filled with joy.

"But I always say," Ultron said. "Keep your friends rich, and your enemies' rich, and wait to find which is which."

Ulysses looked up with horror in his eyes and stared up at Ultron, "Stark," he said.

"What?" Ultron asked.

"Tony Stark used to say that. To me. You're one of his," he said.

"What? I'm not…" Ultron's anger pulsed inside his circuits as he reached for Ulysses's arm.

Ulysses's co-worker took out his gun, but Wanda suddenly gasped in fear, and she used her telekinetic powers to hold his gun by his side, and twisted his wrist. Red fiery flare curled around his hand, as the man winced in slight pain. He growled as he tried to control his own hand, but Wanda was too powerful for him.

"I'm not," Ultron said, holding his arm. "You think I'm one of Stark's puppets, his hollow men…I mean…look at me, do I look like Iron Man?! Stark is nothing!" he chopped off Ulysses's arm right off. He jumped back as the smoke lifted from his broken arm.

His eyes widened as the sharp pain crawled around his body.

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry, ooh," Ultron said. "I'm sure that's going to be okay. I'm sorry. It's just that I don't understand. Don't compare me to Stark!" he said and kicked him with his long leg down the stairs that made his co-worker rush after him down the stairs below.

"Argh! It's a thing with me…" he mumbled in pure disgust. "Stark is a sickness!"

"Awe, junior," Tony said as he flew down in his Iron Man suit, joining Thor and Steve beside him, suited up, and ready to fight. "You're going to break your old man's heart."

Pietro tossed the vibranium on the ground, and stepped forward with his sister and Ava.

"If I have to," Ultron said.

Clint and Natasha crept along either side of the wall, while Ultron was distracted with Tony.

"Nobody has to break anything," Thor said.

"Clearly you've never made an omelet," Ultron said.

"He beat me by one second," Tony scowled to his team.

"Ah, this is funny, Mr. Stark," Pietro said, taking a brave step closer. Ava and Wanda shared a knowing look. Zoe wasn't there. But that didn't mean she couldn't help diffuse the situation, and she had her eyes settled on Steve, boy wonder, Zoe's love interest, and Captain America. Her fingers glowed yellow and gold when she stared into his eyes.

"Is work comfortable?" They looked down at the weapons below. "Like old times?" Pietro said.

Tony sighed, "This was never my life," he said.

"You three can still walk away from this," Steve stepped forward, tearing his eyes away from Ava. They were too much like Zoe's.

"Awe, we will," Wanda said, smiling at him.

"In due time, Captain," Ava warned, stepping on the other side of Ultron. She looked into his eyes and Steve suddenly frowned at the way she was looking at him.

"I know you've suffered," Steve said, not backing down.

"Ah," Ultron said with a chuckle. "Captain America. God's righteous man, pretending you can live without a war. I can't physically throw up in my mouth but…"

"You believe in peace," Thor said. "Then let us keep it."

"I think you're confusing peace with quiet," Ultron said.

"Yeah-huh, what's the vibranium for?" Tony asked.

"I'm glad you asked that because I wanted to take this time to display my evil plan," Ultron said with a wave of his hand in a dramatic manner, but then used his powers to take Iron Man's suit away from his teammates and then shove him backwards against the metal wall with his own fiery powers from his replusors.

Tony landed in a huff, but he was quick to get up. He charged after Ultron in the air, and caught himself engaged in a firefight with Ultron, drawing him away from his team in which they were soon faced with Ava and the twins, and Ulysses' co-workers, all hell breaking loose inside that ship.


	51. Chapter 51: Chaotic Flare

**Chapter 51: Chaotic Flare**

Out of nowhere, two smaller robots of Ultron's kin took on Thor and Steve. Thor found himself engaged in a fight with one of Ultron's tiny little robots, as Tony and Ultron fired at each other, dodging each other's fire balls. Ultron slammed Tony against the glass but Tony fought right back as they upwards inside the ship, away from his teammates.

Steve grabbed onto the robot's hand and pushed it away from his head for the robot had tried to knock him. They pushed against each other with each other's might until the robot drew him close to the railing and grabbed his throat, tightening it between his metal fingers.

Meanwhile, Thor tossed the robot over his shoulder and was about to crush it with his foot, until Pietro zoomed quickly over to Thor, knocking the God of Thunder out of balance. Thor gripped onto his hammer tightly as he tried to steady himself upon his feet.

Steve round-house kicked the robot onto the ground and glanced over at the Witch, who suddenly used her powers to create a magnetic force field to shove him back down on his back to where his robotic opponent was waiting for him to finish Steve off.

Ulysses pulled himself up with the strength he had left, and leaned against one of the weapon crates. He looked back at his co-worker with angry eyes. "Shoot them," he said in a low growl.

"Which ones?" the co-worker asked.

"All of them!" Ulysses said. It didn't matter, so long as they were out of his ship.

"Move, move, move!" his worker said on his walky-talky, and rushed out to gather the rest of his mercenary crewmembers on board, anyone with a good shot to kill these things.

Machine fire heard from the dark corridors, coming at the entrance ways just in time for Clint and Natasha to keep them at bay.

Blue light on her suit glowed underneath the red dim lights as darkness surrounded Natasha. She whirled her head around to the sound of gunfire. As she waited for the men to come into her web, she reached out and pushed him into the metal door, hard. She grabbed one's rifle and knocked it in his face for him to double back, so she could wrap a hand around his neck, and pull his weight around as she twisted her body and kicked the remaining guys who tried to get to her, but they were no match for the Black Widow's slick abilities to knock them all down at once, including tossing the man she used as leverage onto the floor.

Clint stood against the wall on the highest upper level he could find, already shooting arrows at the men as they advanced towards his teammates on the lower levels. One by one, as they tried to shoot his teammates, he shot an arrow into their throat, not missing a single crook on this boat.

Across the air, Tony and Ultron continued their engaged firefight. Tony shot a beam of firelight from his repulsors, trying to fry Ultron, but Ultron dodged and tossed him against the window.

Thor and Steve continued to try to end their robotic opponents on the main level of the ship. Thor reached his hammer, and grabbed a hold of the robot's throat with his hand, while he twisted them both up in the air. At the same time Thor fought his opponent, Steve tossed his shield at his own robotic enemy, but before the shield could even get to the robot, Pietro had suddenly zoomed in, leaving traces of blue flare of his energy behind and smacked Steve's chin with the butt of his hand. Steve fell backwards, hard on his back.

Thor noticed Steve's predicament and threw his hammer at a zooming Pietro across the second level, but it had missed him by a second. Pietro turned to look at the hammer curiously, "Hmm," he said, and reached out to grab the hammer. However, within the hammer's strength and Pietro's speed hadn't quite caught up to each other and as soon as Pietro's hands wrapped around the hammer, he whooshed backwards down on the main level of the ground by some heavy creates behind him. "Awe," he groaned at the hard impact on the metal floor beneath him.

Tony and Ultron twirled around, zooming at each other's throats, and knocked into the wall on the other side of the ship. Orange and red flared from the soles of his metal feet and hands as they tried to tear one another apart. They breached the ship's ceiling and into the outside in the high skies.

Ava crept over to Steve, and knelt down beside him. She leaned forward, smelling in his musky scent that flared up her button nose, and ran a gentle hand over his neck down to the star of his chest, and outlined it, admiring the symbol it stood for. Steve rolled his eyes as he watched her. She may be cute on the outside, but on the inside, she was something else. Steve was about to throw a hit, but Wanda suddenly used her telekinetic ability to keep his hand down, burning into the metal floor. Red flare curled around his hand as it curled into a fist, trying to break free from her abilities.

"Silly, Captain, tricks are for kids," Ava cooed.

"And you would know," Steve said, as he struggled against Wanda's dark power, trapping both hands, along with his shield beside him, keeping it down for Ava's sake.

Ava narrowed her eyes, not liking Steve's mocked tone of voice.

Steve smirked, "Since you're acting like one."

Ava shook her head, and tisked, "Would you like to know how you die?" she asked in a haunting whisper. She ran her delicate fingers, bony looking, but smooth against his chest, and smirked.

"Nope, not today," Steve said, trying to release himself from Wanda's powers on him, almost breaking free. She shot more power back down and his hand clung against his side. He winced and looked over at Wanda. Thor had called his hammer, and continued to fight against his robot, nearly having the upper hand.

"See," Ava said, "I looked into your future, and an image of how you die came to my head. I can pull it out of you so much as I can bring it right to the present, and show you, make you feel it, like it's actually happening, until you pop! You're fighting for a world that is doomed to fail. You know in you're heart this is true, yet you still try to find a way around it. You should give up, and give in to death. Death is waiting for you Steve. You're running on borrowed time," she paused slightly, as a thought crossed her mind. She looked down at him curiously, into his blue eyes that peeked out from underneath his blue cowl that covered the rest of his face. "It's a sad way of how you die. Certainly not by my hand, but I can always make it happen, in seconds," she snapped her fingers and Steve watched with wide eyes, as her fingers glowed with yellow and gold flares at the ends.

"This is not you, Ava," Steve said quickly. "Don't do this to Zoe. Do you know how long it took her to find you?"

"Only out of guilt," she hissed, and reached out for his futuristic death to come to pass, but Thor threw his hammer at Wanda. She ducked and dodged into a corner, rolling on her side. She looked up at Thor with dark eyes as his hammer returned to the God's hand.

Steve winced, but he had no choice to do this to Ava. He picked up his shield, free from Wanda's powers, and pushed Ava off of him with the bounce of his shield, shoving her far away off of him. A startled cry escaped from her lips, as she flew away from Steve's body, and whirled around onto the floor.

That gave Steve enough time to get up from his capture, and turn to find the remaining robot jump down by Steve. He raised his shield to hit the robot, but the robot grabbed it. However, Steve twisted his arms around the robot, holding onto the shield with both hands, trapping the robot against his knee. Thor belted the hammer across the robot's face and smashed it to pieces.

Steve jumped in the air and twirled around, tossing his shield at Ulysses' remaining men across the second level, and turned around just in time to knock Pietro down onto his feet with his shield in hand.

"Stay down kid," Steve said.

Ava helped up Wanda up off the ground, steadying her onto her feet. Wanda glared, as Thor and Steve finished the last robot off. The two girls looked at one of Ultron's counterparts.

"It's time for some mind games," Ultron said to Wanda. Ultron turned to Ava. "We'll hurt them soon enough, but, now, I think it's time we bolted."

Ava nodded. She was sad that she didn't get to show Steve how he truly died, but grateful that she was leaving the firefight. She knew her time would come soon, as Ultron promised, since her sister was not currently present.

~*A*~

"And I'm on Banner watch!" Zoe said with a sigh. The whole time the Avengers had tried to stop Ultron from continuing his plan, she had been talking to Bruce about what she'd been up to. She was so angry and so frustrated that she hadn't meant to let all of it out inside the quinjet. It made her slightly worry the amount of anger she was letting go of, and wonder if she'd have enough of it to relay on in a fight, but she wasn't in a physical fight right now.

They had Clint and Natasha. They didn't need her and she felt so left out. She wanted in, and she wanted to help them with Ava and the Maximoff's. But, because she didn't have any special abilities or real skill in the field, she was stuck here on the quinjet with Bruce, protecting the Other Guy.

She plopped into one of the chairs that rested along the wall of the quinjet. Bruce arched a curious brow at the former Shield agent. She was still an agent in Bruce's eyes, and he could see her frustration written in her eyes. She'd found a place with Shield, but now she was a lost kitten. Unsure of what to do with herself at A-tower. Though, according to Steve, Zoe was just supposed to help and be on Banner watch, in case anything happened. He would call her for sure if he needed their help with Ava and the twins. She was almost positive he would, but so far, it's been quiet on the water front.

"No offense," she said, realizing what she'd said might have hurt his feelings.

"A little taken," Bruce said. "But, I'll let that slide for now. Steve has been giving you a hard time, myself included, but you did get that brand on your neck, and we don't know how many innocent people you killed." He said, tilting his head toward her with curiosity in his brown eyes.

She chewed her bottom lip, as he stood over her, arms crossed over his chest.

She pulled up her knees against her chest, and frowned, leaning her chin against them. She looked up into his eyes. "None," she said.

Bruce furrowed his brows at her, and blinked. What? She was acting as a potential Hydra agent and she didn't kill one single innocent? He found that hard to believe, but he was willing to listen to her side of the story. He allowed her to continue.

She sighed, "I was strictly there for researching data on the Avengers. That's why Coulson pulled me away from my assignment. I couldn't do my job there, or Strucker would have killed me. Hydra takes no prisoners, and I wasn't about to kill innocent people. I was supposed to train with Agent Barton, so he could train me how to be the best, but Nat and I got stuck with each other, so therefore I became a spy for Shield. Fury's eyes and ears. Like father, like daughter," she said, sending Bruce a sad smile.

"For three years, I've been undercover, collecting Hydra-Intel. Under those three years, I've been giving away Shield secrets to Strucker. Strucker was impressed with my memorizing skills and wanted me to be a fulltime researcher. He said he had special plans for me. He wanted me to make a data book for all the Avengers' past, weaknesses, family, friends, anyone, and anything that could hurt you and the Avengers. So, I did, because if I didn't, he would kill an innocent for every time I said no," she said.

Bruce swallowed hard at her words.

"I had no choice," she whispered. "Seeing as how he was impressed by my ability to remember and know so much, which is about the only thing I can do right," she said with a sigh. "He decided to push my skills further. He wanted me to become an agent of his. If Steve hadn't found me like he did, that could have been me fighting you in the snow," she said, swallowing hard at the bitter memory in her head.

Bruce frowned, and was really glad that he didn't have to hurt Zoe. It was a lot for what she went through just to find the location of Hydra's next base, and hopefully last.

"In order to make me an official Hydra agent, he had me go inside the Triskelion and grab something of ours that we tried to protect while it was on Earth," she said.

"Loki's scepter," Bruce said in realization.

She nodded. "And it's pretty little glowing jewel," she said. "I got caught up with Nat and Steve, and the dismantling of Shield by accident, but they used it to their advantage, of course," she sighed. "I wanted to quit so badly, but I had to stay in, finish the job. I didn't want to break any more hearts than I've already broken," she whispered. "After I gave Strucker the scepter, they branded me, since I didn't want to wear their tattoo," she said, and she showed him the brand behind her neck, lifting up her wavy brown curls in her ponytail. She twisted her body half-way and once she felt his fingers gently run along her neck, she lowered her pony-tail and turned back to face the floor, hugging her legs for comfort. "Finding Ava there was a miracle. When I learned Strucker was enhancing humans with the scepter, I focused all my time and energy to try and save them, but..." she chewed her bottom lip.

"You couldn't risk your cover," Bruce said softly.

She nodded, and sighed, cringing in her shoulders, remembering the pain she felt. "I didn't think Steve would understand," she whispered sadly.

"Well, you know what I think?" Bruce asked.

She looked up at him curiously. "What?" she asked, desperate for another piece of mind.

"I think you're definitely being hard on yourself," Bruce said. "You went through a lot. And I bet you if you took the time to explain it exactly like you did with me, I think Steve will understand...or," Bruce said with a casual sigh. "The Other Guy's just going to have to pummel it out of him."

Zoe let out a small laugh that hurt her sides. She sighed. "Maybe," she said. "Unless that ship sailed a long time ago."

"Hey," he said gently, and stepped closer to her, and placed a comforting, yet friendly hand on her shoulder. She looked up at the friendly gesture. "Don't give up."

Her lips lifted into a small smile, though quickly faded when all of a sudden they heard the sound of gunfire on the quinjet's radio.

Bruce walked over to the communications and pressed a button with his thumb. "Guys, is this a code green?" he tried to get to them, but all he heard was static.

Zoe looked up with worried eyes, and lowered her hands and knees to the floor. She pushed herself up off her seat when Bruce opened up the quinjet.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Just give me a second," Bruce said, as the quinjet's ramp lowered down onto the ground, showing the outside world. They were hidden within green bushes that lead a clearing of grass stains into the water.

She let out a bitter growl in annoyance, and tried communications again, pressing the button with her thumb, and listened in.

"Can anybody hear me?! Tasha! Clint? What the hell is going on in there?" she demanded, but no one was answering her calls.

Static.

"Shit," she said, spinning around as Bruce walked down the ramp to peer outside.

Bruce arched a curious brow at the colorful use of language that came out of her lips. "I don't think Steve would appreciate that mouth of yours though," he teased, watching her try to communicate with the team.

"Ha, ha," Zoe said, turning into the communications to see if she could reach anyone that was still on the ship. She really hoped someone would answer, but from the sound of things, it didn't sound like they were having the best time of their lives, and that worried her. "Can you see anything out there?" she asked, stepping down onto the ramp beside him. She was getting nowhere on communications. She reached for her back pocket, and took out her gun. She gripped the handle tightly, and kept it drawn in front of her just in case, and kept it close to her side.

Bruce shook his head, and looked at Zoe with a little worried glint in his eyes.

Zoe looked over at him, and swallowed a thick lump in her throat, as she pulled the safety lock off on her gun.

They both knew something wasn't right.


	52. Chapter 52: Dream Sequence

**Chapter 52: Dream Sequence**

Thor walked down the corridor as if he was on a mission, in search for any remaining crooks, anything out of the ordinary. He was searching for Ava and the twins, but so far there was-

A light haze suddenly fell upon Thor's mind only for a brief second. Steve's voice echoed inside his eardrum. "Thor, status?" Steve demanded on the earpiece.

Thor pushed right through the Witch's magic and shoved one of Ulysses' men down on the ground, knocking him unconscious. "The girl tried to warp my mind," he said. "I take special care of it. I doubt a human can keep it at bay. Fortunately, I am mighty…"

He said, but as he walked forward with his head held high and chin up, he suddenly found himself back…home?

His world was strangely familiar. It felt like Asguard…but it was different and indescribable to Thor as he looked around his surroundings. Firelight danced along the brick walls, women and men danced among the music and the laughter that echoed in Thor's ears.

~*A*~

Steve hit his shield against the mercenary's neck. He picked him up and tossed him over to the side, unconscious. Steve was about to try for Thor again, but Pietro suddenly speed and shoved Steve across the room, watching him fall on his back at the hard impact of Pietro's super speed-like powers.

Wanda came up from behind the metal staircase and shot a red energy flare using her powers against Steve while he was down.

Steve winced at the hard impact wrecking through his body, as he tried to stand. Wanda ran up the stairs to use her powers against the Black Widow, and went in search for more members of the Avengers. Pietro followed her in quick haste.

"This is going very well," Ultron said.

Meanwhile Clint was still in his spot, shooting arrow after arrow at anything that tried to come near him. He was tearing down the last of Ulysses' men inside the ship.

And with a final snap of his arrow against his bow, he pulled, released, and it landed on a crook that killed the rest of his men with one of his trick arrows for the finishing touch of a force and fire.

When all was quiet, Clint lowered his bow, but listened as a sound of footsteps pierced his ears.

Female. Ava or Wanda, and they were both under the influence of evil, or they were acting on their own accordance. Either way, they had to be stopped.

Clint took out an arrow in one swift movement and he shoved the arrow to her forehead, the ends of the arrow sprouting out like a flower as its legs attached to her skin. Blue electricity formed within the arrow, and it knocked Wanda a little out of sync.

"I've done the whole mind-control thing, I'm not a fan," Clint said. He was about to take the arrow out of her forehead until Pietro zoomed over and kicked him in the stomach, knocking Clint through a window and down to the main level below them. Pietro took Wanda in his arms and sped away from him.

He looked up at Pietro and Pietro looked down at him before he took off in a speedy motion.

"Yeah, you better run," Clint grunted, trying not to let the pain he felt from the glass shards onto the floor get to him. He rolled over onto his hands and knees and let out a sigh. He turned to his earpiece, "Who's ever standing, we gotta move! Guys?" Clint asked.

~*A*~

Steve had managed to get himself up, but his helmet fell to the floor. He was awake, but walking into a dream.

~*A*~

Natasha heard Clint through her earpiece, and started to turn back down the stairs as she slowly descended downward, but he world suddenly changed and faded into something she hadn't seen in a very long time…

The metal railing turned into a wooden railing that felt so familiar against her gloved hand, and she walked slowly down to the floor and into a room where she saw ballerinas twirling on their feet.

Everything seemed quiet and hazy, and only a slither of music could be heard from the ballerina room.

"Again," a man said.

"You'll break them," Natasha said. Her eyes filled with worry as she watched through the door.

Madame B stood behind her, an old woman with grey hair that was wrapped up in a tight bun. She looked hard and stiff, like a teacher who was hard on discipline.

"Only the breakable ones," Madame B said. "You are made of metal. We'll celebrate after the graduation ceremony," she said.

A young Natasha looked up in fear as she lay there speechless on the medical table inside a medical room that was dark and scary. She was dressed in white gowns ready to be sterilized.

The image spluttered into the ballerina room again.

"What if I fail?" Natasha asked, watching the nightmare happen right before her own eyes.

The younger Natasha with long red hair aimed her gun at the training session. With each gun she shot, she never missed.

Another image dissolved to the same room, but this time a man was whimpering in a chair with his hands tied behind his back with a bag over his head.

"You'll never fail," Madame B said.

The younger Natasha aimed her gun, tightening her grip. She tried to ignore the whimpers that belonged to him, and pulled the trigger…

A shot of bubbly popped open, and the world spun around back to the 1940's. Young women and men from the war in uniform twirled and danced in a ballroom that was so festive with lights of red and white all across the room.

Music of the forties swirled around Steve Rogers as he stood inside the middle of the floor, watching everyone have a good time, but him. He walked around, glancing his curious surroundings that were familiar to him, and a photographer flashed a bright light in his eyes. Steve ducked, holding his hands to block the bright lights from the flash and turned to walk in another direction.

He looked over his shoulder, hearing laughter, and watching someone dab some spilled red wine on his shirt. Men and women swung around in grand dresses that flared about until he saw a man struggle within a group of guys trying to get out of a fight for a brief second as if he was in the war, but then it turned back to dancing. Steve walked around as he looked at his surroundings.

A woman accidentally bumped into him as she spun around to face him with a smile on her face.

Steve frowned at the smile on her face and looked into her hazel eyes. The face was so familiar, oval shaped, happy, and full of laughter. Young, not old looking, not tired like he was. She twirled around back into her man's arms. Steve looked over at the man, but the man's back was turned to him as they swung danced into the music.

He frowned, stopping in the middle of the ballroom. Everything was so unfamiliar to him, loud and noisy. The war was over? Steve didn't think that was right. He furrowed his brow at the thought. There was always a war. How can people just be so happy and celebrating when there was always a war going on?

"Are you ready for our dance?" A familiar voice whispered in his ear. A chill swept down his spine, and Steve whirled around to face her. His heart clenched at the very thought of her being here. Peggy? He thought. He was speechless.

Steve looked behind him as a young woman twirled up and over a man's shoulders…

Dancers from Asguard curled their hands in the air just as Thor turned around, listening to the background noise, wondering how he got here.

A man covered in a black cloak walked forward and Thor sought him out, but it disappeared just as quickly as Thor turned to look for him.

"Is it him?" The voice of Heimdall echoed in Thor's ears. "Is that the first son of Odin?"

"Heimdall, you're eyes," Thor said with concern in his voice.

Heimdall reached for the back of Thor's head and held his head within his hands. "Oh, they see everything."

Thor looked into his white clouded eyes, unable to help but worry.

"They see you leading us to hell," Heimdall said. Thor glanced around his surroundings as fire exploded from the cast iron bowls. "Wake up!" Heimdall's hands gripped tightly onto Thor's shoulders, shaking Thor out of his nightmare, but nearly choking him in the process.

The haze flew over into the 1940's dream, as Steve seemed to be stuck in his own little nightmare of his own.

"The war's over Steve," Peggy said. Steve turned to look over his shoulder. "We can go home! Imagine it."

As Steve tried to imagine it, everyone suddenly disappeared. He stood alone in the quiet and empty ballroom, and he could see the image of Peggy and himself dancing, and smiling as he twirled her around in his arms. A hopeful smile appeared on Steve's face.

"I can still save you!" Thor said as Thor tried to hold a possessed-like Heimdall off of him.

"We are all dead! Can you not see it?" Heimdall asked.

Thor shoved Heimdall off of him and a bright, hot flame exploded in Thor's dream. Masked demons appeared from the alcoves of Thor's home and watched lightning erupt from the palms of his hands.

Thor looked at them, furrowing his brows slightly as panic gripped his heart.

"You will destroy us, Odin's son," Heimdall said as Thor's lightning shattered all around him in brightness. "See where your power leads…" Heimdall said as Thor's lightning overtook him, he saw an image of a face with eyes penetrate his mind.

The image quickly dissolved into the training session of Natasha Romanoff, who was lost in a chokehold with one of Madame B's agents. Natasha was trying to get out of it, but failing. Out of breath, she lowered her body, just to catch it. "Sloppy," Madame B said. "Pretending to fail. The ceremony is necessary, for you to take your place in the world," Madame B said.

Images of the past spiraled inside her mind. "I have no place in the world," she said.

"Exactly," Madame B said.

A hand shoved over Natasha's face and she suddenly found herself pushed down on the medical table as the medical table zoomed down the hospital hallway passing two girls with no mouths down to the sterilizer room…

~*A*~

Wanda winced as she sat, trying to catch herself. She ran a hand over her head as Pietro tried to help his sister.

"What can I do?" Pietro asked.

"It hurts," Wanda said, cringing, as she lowered her head to relieve the headache that swelled within her no thanks to Clint's arrow trick and the fact her powers were running haywire at the moment for using too much.

"I'm gunna kill him," Pietro said. "I'll be right…"

"No, I'm alright…" Wanda said breathlessly, as she calmed herself down. She reached out to stop her brother. "I want…to finish the plan," she sighed. "I want the big one."

She looked up across the field over to the quinjet only to be faced with a gun in her face. "Yeah, I don't think so, sister," Zoe said. "Stand down. Where's Ava?"

Wanda looked up at Zoe with a smile on her face. "Who?" she asked.

Zoe cocked her gun, and pointed it at Pietro. "I'll shoot him, if you don't tell me where she is."

Wanda shared a curious look with Pietro and smiled. "It's funny that we're both twins," she said. "Isn't it, Pietro? And what's even more hilarious is that Ava doesn't like you very much, and yet Pietro and I love each other."

"Sometimes a little too much," Zoe said, eyeing the two of them. "You're not getting the Big One. You'll have to go through me."

"Alright then," Pietro said, taking the challenge.

Reacting quickly, Zoe moved her finger to pull the trigger, but she suddenly felt her arms pull up into the air as Pietro tried to pry the gun away from her fingers. Pietro had moved so fast, she could hardly blink or think to protect herself. She accidentally pulled the trigger and a loud gunshot rang through the air when Pietro's hand curled around the gun and her own hand.

"No," Zoe said, as Pietro pulled her into his chest in a dance-like motion, and shoved her down on the ground to Wanda's feet. Zoe was about to get up, but Wanda shot her red energy flare towards Zoe's temple to keep her down.

Zoe tried to get up, but the sound of a roar made her shiver, and she looked up to see a huge green…

Her world suddenly changed before her like she was getting lost in a real dream…a dream she knew, this nightmare foiling inside her head, making everything realistic in her world disappear. She was no longer standing on the edge of the African Coastline.

She was standing inside her parent's penthouse in New York City.

"I'm home!" Zoe called out as she walked inside her parents' penthouse. She half expected to see her mom making dinner, but her Mom was nowhere to be found.

And the house was eerily quiet.

She tightened her books against her chest. "Dad?" she asked. "Mom?"

She shrugged, figuring they went out together somewhere in the city and just walked upstairs into her room. She placed her books on her desk that rested beside her bed, tossed her bag onto the floor, and sighed heavenly, thinking about the callback she'd received for a play at her school. It was an amazing feeling that was rushing toward her. She grinned and took her shoes and her jacket off that revealed a fun girly spaghetti strap top, a nice forest green color. She was feeling hungry and thirsty, so she went downstairs to grab something quick.

"Don't go into the kitchen," Zoe said with a fearful look on her face. She was there, but she couldn't help her younger self.

She was half asleep, half awake.

She pulled the fridge open, and poked her head inside in search for something good. When she couldn't decide, she pulled her head out of the fridge and was met with her father's face suddenly inches away from her.

She jumped, startled by his presence.

"Dad," she said. "Hi…"

But then all of a sudden, he grabbed her and choked her. "Ava…" he whispered.

Confused and scared, Zoe let him choke her and drag her into the living room where he pushed her down onto the floor. He looked at her with bloodshot eyes, veins showing sings of red and purple like he was crazy. Zoe was scared to death, and wasn't sure what to do but to try to protect herself from her father's sudden attack on her, but she didn't want to hurt him back. How could she? He was her father.

He pulled out a knife and Zoe screamed, "No, please! Don't do this! Not again!" she pleaded.

But he stabbed her in the abdomen, and she screamed out in agony, sliding down further into the floor. Her father scooted her body underneath him and he stabbed her again. Another scream left her lips as the hot blade stung inside her body.

~*A*~

"Natasha, I could really use a lullaby right now." Tony's voice pierced into Natasha's ears, as she looked onward in Clint's arms as Clint checked for any vital signs of injury.

"Yeah, that's not going to happen anytime soon," Clint replied to Tony, as he gently picked up Natasha's arm and strung it over his shoulder, on his way down the stairs to find the others. "The whole team is down. We got no back up here."

~*A*~

The scene changed quickly to where Loki had Zoe held against the cell door, locked inside. "And only just trying? You and I, we're the same. No parent's sentiment given to us. You have no real ability…" Loki's twisted words whispered in her ear. She shivered.

"You can't stop me…you're only human," Loki's words haunted in her ears. "You and I, we're the same."

The memory faded and Zoe appeared in her parent's sleek and modern penthouse once more, blood dripped from her fingertips.

She was silent, lips pursed together, and hovered over her dead father's body with a weapon in her hands, that was a sparkling amethyst rock display she'd grabbed from the glass table beside the couch.

She dropped the rock onto the floor and it landed with a loud thud in her ears that didn't faze her as the numbness she felt in her heart and soul overtook her, and squeezed the colorful and hopeful future she once had out of her. Now everything was black and uncertain as she stared at her father's body, dead on the floor. She swallowed hard.

Zoe stood there, shivering, and shaking with blood on her hands. Her father's blood. She tried to find the strength to walk again. She had to fix this.

She sniffed, and ran upstairs the moment she found the strength to walk again, and ran to the bathroom. She scrubbed and scrubbed off her father's blood into the rushing water from the facet, and turned it off. She pulled her towel and dried her hands away, sniffling in her tears. She tossed the towel into the trash without even realizing it and ran inside her bedroom. She started to pack her things, until a thought occurred to her. She walked over to her inn-table and took out a pamphlet from her drawer. It was Coney Island with a colorful circus of red, orange, and yellow colors painted on the inside. "Come see the amazing Hawkeye and Trick Shot!"

An idea came to her and she smiled. The tears started to fade. She could run away with the circus, and no one would be the wiser. That was the plan…she would fake her father's death and she would run…running was the plan.

"You and I, we're the same!" Loki's voice suddenly roared in her ears with every biting horror it spread in her system, and Zoe looked up from her spot inside the cell, and saw the hot iron burning orange and red with a Hydra symbol on it.

"Don't, please, don't do this," Zoe whimpered.

Zoe looked at it with wide eyes and saw Strucker's face emerge into view. The poker stick was about to close in on her neck until…

Zoe jerked awake in Steve's arms and cried out in fear. "Zoe…shh, it's okay," Steve said, brushing her hair gently. "It's okay. It's just me."

Zoe nodded, and breathed deeply as she could to regain back her senses. It was weird, like she traveled back in time or something, but Loki's words stung her heart so hard, she couldn't talk. The bitter memories that had suddenly came up to her like vomit, swirled within her brainpan. Everything she thought she left behind in the dust exploded in her and she was lost yet once again.

She was inaudible. But when Clint came to view, she was grateful for his existence. She loved Steve and the Avengers, but it was nice to have another human with her when she didn't feel so outnumbered by the superheroes around her. She was beginning to wonder if the humans really were going to be extinct. She blinked at a horrible and terrible thought that raced through her mind. She wondered if that's what Strucker was trying to do all along.

"Is she alright?" Clint asked tentatively, holding Natasha in his arms who also looked like she'd had an even tougher time with the Witch's powers.

Thor was right behind him with a somber look on his face, no longer feeling like the All Mighty God himself, just Thor.

"She'll be okay, right?" Steve asked.

Zoe wanted to answer, heck even nod, but she just couldn't and only clung onto him tighter, not wanting to be alone right now. Steve sighed and looked around their quiet surroundings.

"I'm calling in Veronica," Tony said over their ear-comm's. "Just get everyone in the quinjet. I'll get Banner."

Clint and Steve looked at each other at Tony's demanding tone. Steve took Zoe in his arms while Clint held Natasha in his and the four of them went inside along with Thor trailing slowly in after them.


	53. Chapter 53: Safe House

**Chapter 53: Safe House**

Thor rubbed his hands together in pure thought with his mind lost on what just happened back on the ship. He turned around, watching Zoe curl up in her seat. She was looking down at one of her human technological devices with the moving pictures that flashed across a thin crystal clear screen. On that screen, she watched the crazy footage that Maria Hill sent to them of the Hulk Vs. Veronica on her tablet. She chewed her lip in horror as she watched Tony try to contain the Hulk from wrecking havoc on the poor citizens of Africa. Under the Witch's mind-control, the Hulk had ripped through buildings, ran through a shopping mall, nearly took out an elevator full of people hadn't it been for Tony to stop him and rescuing the folks inside. Tony had even cussed him out that somehow managed to get across the media, "Dick move Banner!" Zoe winced, as the language pierced her eardrums. She was surprised by Tony's mouth to be honest, but it was a pretty bad move for The Hulk to hit Tony right in the back. But Tony was trying to make the Hulk go to sleep the best way he knew how since Natasha was out of it and in of no use for a lullaby.

Zoe frowned when she watched the metal container boxed the giant green monster bolted around him. The police force had even tried to contain Bruce in a metal container, but he punched his way out and chewed a piece of metal wall from one of his buildings that he'd smashed and spit it out until he realized what he'd just done, no longer underneath the Witch's spell.

"The news is loving you guys," Maria said. "Nobody else is. There's been no official call for Banner's arrest. But it's in the air."

"Even though he was under the influence of evil magic, right?" Zoe asked in a meek whisper, lowering her tablet against her knees as she looked across the screen to face Maria. Maria gave Zoe a small cringing look of sympathy toward her through the quinjet's screen.

"Yes, I'm sorry Zoe there's not much I can do right now," Maria said.

"Stark Moving Foundation?" Tony asked.

"Already on the scene," Maria replied. "How's the team?"

"Everyone's…" Tony began, pausing as he turned to face his team that was quiet as a tomb. "We took a hit," Tony said. "We'll shake it off."

There was definitely a somber mood between the Avengers who got affected by the Witch inside the quinjet.

"Well, for now I'd stay in stealth mode," Maria said. "And stay away from here."

"So, run and hide," Tony said.

"Until we can find Ultron, I don't have anything else to offer," Maria said.

Tony turned to face Zoe, who just looked the other way. He looked back at Maria on the screen. "Neither do we."

Tony nodded. He turned the screen off and Maria disappeared into blackness. He looked around the quinjet, noticing Natasha's face looked ghostly and terrified. Whatever the Witch did, spooked her the most, and made the Hulk look like a monster. Steve seemed okay, but he was quiet, very quiet, staring off into space. Bruce was not talking. Poor guy, Tony thought. He just needed to be alone, and the guy would be up and running good again, Tony thought. Thor was interesting. He had an unusual look in his eyes like he'd seen something terrible. It couldn't have been any worse than what Tony was shown, but who knew what the Witch brought to Thor?

And Zoe?

Tony looked at the little one, seated in a chair, leaning her chin against her knees. She was tired, and sad. He wondered what happened to her. Zoe was bubblier than this, but ever since she got back from Strucker's lab, she'd been in such a weird mood.

Zoe leaned back in her seat, void of any emotion. She was recovering from her nightmarish memory that had suddenly appeared right in front of her when she tried to take on the twins by herself. Wanda's chilling words repeated in her mind, "She doesn't like you," It made her frown, and she wondered if it was because Wanda was taunting her or if her words were true? She felt so sad at those words because Zoe had done so much for Ava. Zoe just couldn't make sense of it. Maybe she was just overthinking it and Wanda was just taunting her to jeer her out from putting a bullet through Pietro's heart. That could've been it. Then again from what Steve told Zoe when they all climbed back into the quinjet was that Ava seemed under the Witch's spell, and therefore she could be feeling anything right now.

On top of her worries with Ava, out of nowhere all that pain she'd worked on to hide and lock inside a box and bury it six feet under had come clawing out of the soil. It was so much for her heart.

The Witch had played on all of their minds like a fiddle and they fell right into the trap. Thank goodness for Clint's fast ability as an archer to think so quickly ahead and get them out safely or they would probably be lost in their own worlds, and maybe lost forever.

Zoe couldn't watch the footage anymore. She was so disgusted with herself that her stomach churned and turned in the worst way possible, as she watched the horrid scene as the Hulk nearly tore the city apart, scaring its peaceful residents by accident. She sighed and thought she was handing the footage back to Steve, but the tablet had fallen out of her hand and it dropped to the floor with a thud.

She pushed herself up and out of her chair and walked over to Bruce who was wrapped up in a blanket, lying against one of the seats, hidden, and away from everyone in the jet.

Zoe knelt down tentatively beside him. "Bruce," she whispered.

Bruce just turned his head slightly to look at her, eyes bloodshot and tired from exhaustion of the Other Guy's strength and tenacity running rapid.

He looked down at the metal floorboard beneath them.

Zoe's heart clenched tight. "I'm sorry," she said.

He shifted slightly within the blanket and only hugged his arms around him tighter.

Zoe gulped. "I tried…" she began, but stopped when Bruce turned his head around to face the other direction.

"Please not now, Zo," he said in barely a whisper.

Zoe winced at the pain she felt in her heart when he said that to her. She looked down and felt so numb, so hollow.

"It isn't…I just…" he didn't finish, but Zoe got the message and she nodded with sad eyes. She forced herself to get up from Bruce and looked over at Natasha who was just staring into space.

She had tried to get through to her, but Natasha wasn't saying much either. Everyone seemed pretty out of it, and Thor was quiet as a mouse if that were possible. Zoe cleared her throat and walked over to the God of Thunder who was rubbing his temples with his fingertips.

"Don't tell me you're spacing out too?" she asked with a slight smile on her face. She tried to find her humor back, but it was hard.

"No," Thor said, shaking his head. "Just….tired is all," he said, forcing a small smile on his face.

Zoe nodded. "Can I do anything to help?" she asked.

Thor smiled, "If you can manage to find me a bilgesnipe for me to hit that would be most wonderful."

Zoe arched a curious brow. "A what?" she asked.

"Oh," he said. "You do not know what they are."

Zoe shook her head. "Nope. Sorry. Never been to Asgard."

Thor smiled thoughtfully at Zoe. "I think you would like it. It's beautiful. Well, save for the bilgesnipe of course,"

"Of course," Zoe said, trying to smile. "I imagine it so. I remember reading about your palace, and the beautiful waters and waterfalls, even the rainbow road that stretches from worlds beyond worlds. It sounds…magical, and peaceful," Zoe said. They shared a smile, and Zoe sighed. She looked over to see Tony walk over to Clint who was driving the quinjet, and strolled back over to her seat when silence dipped in between Thor and Zoe. She looked over at Steve, who was solemn and pensive, and she bit her bottom lip, wondering what happened to him. He hadn't said much to her, and she was beginning to worry. But she couldn't really do or say much if Steve didn't want to say anything to her now could she? For now the silence hung in the air aside from Clint and Tony's quieted tone of voices in light conversation.

"Hey, you wanna switch out?" Tony asked Clint as Clint steered the quinjet through the nighttime skies, soaring through the cotton ball-like clouds.

Clint swallowed hard and loosened his grip on the wheel of the jet within his hands. "No, I'm good. If you wanna get some chip, now's the time. There's still a couple more hours till we land."

"Couple more hours from…where?" Tony asked, glancing at him with a curious brow on his face.

"Safe house," Clint said. A slight shadow of fear washed over his face, but Clint quickly masked it when Tony peered at him with questionable eyes. Tony just nodded and walked over to sit beside Zoe.

And without even realizing it, Zoe leaned down her head against Tony's shoulder.

Tony looked at her with wide eyes at the comfort of her body against him, but just sighed and leaned back in his seat. Zoe curled up against Tony.

"Comfy?" Tony whispered.

"Mhmm," she nodded. She yawned. "Besides, Clint, you're the most human out of the Avengers," she said and drifted off to sleep against his shoulder.

"You're the only one who thinks so, darlin'," Tony said with a sigh.

~*A*~

Clint landed the quinjet onto the ground and lowered the ramp. Tony had woken Zoe up with a little shake of her shoulders and she let out a tired yawn. She stretched her arms in the air and her legs, as she rubbed her eyes with her fingers. She looked around and hoped that it was just a nightmare she had, that the Avengers had failed to get Ultron, and that they were back at A-tower having a fun time with each other instead of having a somber time with each other like now. She sighed, and looked over to Natasha, still lost in a daze, and decided that she could try and help her. She wanted to help so much, but Natasha wasn't saying a word to her.

"What, no kitty action?" Zoe asked, half-joking with her. It was a bad joke, and she probably shouldn't have said it, but she was desperate for Natasha to speak to her. "I mean you can totally hit me if you want. I can take anything now. You taught me that, remember?" she winced. "Sort of. Don't hit me too hard. I have a soft face," she mumbled.

Natasha looked up at her with eyes so dead and cold that it was tempting to throw a hit across her pretty face, but Natasha didn't. She just looked back down at the floor.

"I got her," Clint said after he unstrapped himself from the pilot's seat and joined them not a moment later. His tone was gentle and caring.

Zoe tightened her smile as she watched Clint try to gently break Natasha out of her daze. "Right," she said. "Of course you do. I'll um…" she spun around on her heel to try to help her team but Steve got up, along with Thor, Tony, and even Bruce had managed to get up all by themselves.

She sighed and just followed everyone out the ramp, as Clint took Natasha in his arms, leading them down a freshly cut green lawn that displayed before Zoe's eyes. The house was so picturesque it quenched her heart.

A small smile appeared on her face as she looked at the two story, white picket fence and looked over at the red barn that rested beside it.

Steve noticed Zoe's new vulnerability as she stayed behind the team, walking in last, trailing behind Bruce.

Clint pushed the door open and walked inside, letting his teammates enter his home. As they walked inside, she felt how at peace and Earthy everything seemed to be. It was almost like a welcoming and comforting hug.

Zoe's corner lips turned into a small smile.

"Honey?" Clint said, looking curiously around the room.

Zoe didn't mean to do it, but she involuntarily looked around and shared a curious look with Steve. She just shrugged when he gave her a questionable glance, wondering if she knew about any of this. She had no clue this existed, so she shook her head.

"I have, company, I would have called…but…" Clint said with a smile on his face, as a very pregnant woman with brunette wavy hair walked over to her husband.

"Hey," she smiled, wrapping her hands around his head lovingly.

"This is an agent of some kind," Tony said.

"Maybe she's undercover," Zoe said in agreement with Tony as she stepped in between him and Bruce. She was still in awe of the whole farm house that Clint was able to keep from her all this time.

"Yeah," Tony agreed in a whisper. "Playing both fields."

Zoe couldn't help but smile at Tony's words, and would have hugged him for that right then and there, but she just stayed where she was, totally feeling awkward.

"Gentlemen," Clint turned to face his friends, with his arm strung around his wife's back. "This is Laura."

"Hi, I know all your names," Laura said sheepishly.

She was pretty too, with brown shining eyes, and a loving smile. She just had a humble presence about her that made Zoe actually feel comfortable. It surprised Zoe to say the least that she felt this way. Laura was also nice.

"Except…yours," Laura said, eyeing Zoe with a curious glint in her eyes.

Zoe cleared her throat, "I'm Zoe. I helped put the Avengers together, and I just…um…yeah," she said, stepping back slightly, not wanting to be in the spotlight right now. She felt so awkward right now. She winced as the thought of her almost kissing Clint in the past suddenly came to mind. Oh, dear. It was a good thing they didn't kiss, or that would have been bad…right? How long have they been married? Zoe closed her mouth shut, and just stepped closer to Tony. Steve looked over at her with a slightly amused smile on his face.

"Oh, that Zoe," Laura said with a smile. "Clint's told me all about you. You're his trainee, right?"

Zoe cringed, but nodded. "Right. Not anymore, though. Totally graduated from that."

Laura chuckled, "Well, good. I'm glad," she said. "I'd like to see more female members in a team like this."

Zoe smiled, feeling elated by Laura's words that swarmed her heart with joy. "That's what I keep saying! I like this girl, Clint," Zoe said. Awe, she was a sweetheart too. Her smile started to turn into a frown, though, when she heard the sound of running feet, paddling against the wooden floors. He smiled from Zoe to Laura, who looked up at her husband with a loving smile on her face.

"Ooh, in coming," Clint said, lowering his body as if he was going to hug someone.

A young girl ran into her father's arms with a big smile on her face. She looked like she was at least…six, maybe seven years old? Zoe wasn't sure, but then she was caught way off guard when his eldest boy ran in that looked about eleven?

Steve furrowed his brows at Clint's kids. Zoe and Tony shared a shocked look. Bruce looked around the house and over at Natasha as he tried to keep to himself. He leaned back slightly away from them.

Zoe twisted her mouth in thought. She was suddenly envious of Clint now, now that he could have this kind of life when Zoe didn't. After all she's done for S.H.I.E.L.D. why wasn't she allowed to have a family too, a real family like the Barton family that displayed before her eyes? Or was she even worthy of a family? Would anyone like her because of her terrible past?

"These are smaller agents," Tony said over Clint's voice as he gushed over his kids.

It was kind of adorable, Zoe would have to admit. She was happy for Clint to have such a life like this, or she thought she was happy anyway because she could feel her heart squeeze in pain at the sudden sadness that filled her heart.

"Did you bring Antie Nat?" the little girl asked with a grin on her face.

"Why don't you hug her and find out?" Nat said, peering out from behind Steve and walked over to the little one who ran into her arms. Natasha pulled her up and hugged her, holding her against her hip.

Zoe looked at that, and suddenly felt her tears water within her eyelids but she forced them back, trying to remain happy for Clint. At least he could have a family. She didn't get to have a family like this. She found Ava and now she lost her. A pain twinged inside her heart that suddenly made her hollow. It hurt so much right now to smile and be happy. It emotionally tore her heart up as the image of her killing her father floated across her mind, tearing her away from the happy Barton family, away from Clint. He was her first real, die-hard crush that would never come to pass.

It didn't matter now, especially for the growing feelings she was having for Steve. She bit her bottom lip at the curious thoughts racing through her head at this picturesque life of a family. She often wondered if she could ever have such a thing.

She was slightly jealous of the fact that he could have a normal life outside of S.H.I.E.L.D. She was envious of Clint Barton. She frowned. She was envious of one of her closest friends for making smart choices in life? That didn't seem like her. She frowned.

She should be thinking about his happiness…because she was happy for him and for Laura. Laura was more deserving than she was right now. She looked over as Clint gushed over his kids with Natasha. Clint was talking to his son. Seeing Clint a father was so…different, but it made Zoe slightly smile because he would be an excellent father.

"You and me we're the same…no parent's sentiment. No love…"

Zoe blinked at Loki's taunting voice whispering in the air as if it was wind. She shivered and hugged her arms across her chest, hugging herself for warmth and comfort.

Clint chuckled as Natasha took the little one in her arms and twirled her around. Clint's eyes scanned over toward Zoe, who forced a smile, but Clint frowned at her forced smile on her face. He could see the tears inside her tear ducks wanting to come out, but she wasn't letting them. Instead, she was trying to remain strong and hopeful, and supportive.

"Sorry to barge in on you," Steve said.

"Yeah, we would have called, but we were busy having no idea that you existed," Tony said.

"Yeah, well, Fury helped me set this up when I joined," Clint said, arms wrapped around his wife and his son. "Kept it off of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files, I'd like to keep it that way."

Zoe bit her bottom lip. No wonder she didn't know about this. And here she thought she was an expert information specialist on all the Avengers right before her very own eyes. Certainly wasn't the case anymore.

What was happening to her? She wondered curiously. These feelings had always been bottled down. Now they were suddenly exploding.

Bruce looked over at Natasha who just looked down slightly at the ground.

Suddenly Thor accidentally stepped on a set of leggos that looked like it was almost a house with the bottom of his shoe, and Zoe looked at Thor with a scowl. Steve also looked at Thor with slight amusement in his eyes.

"Oh, I've missed you," Natasha said to Laura. Laura smiled warmly at Natasha, as she leaned a bit forward towards Laura's baby belly. "How's little Natasha?" Natasha asked, throwing her hands gently around Laura's big belly that was filled with life brewing inside of her.

"She's…Nathanial," Laura said with a cringe.

Natasha's smile frowned, and she leaned forward to the baby bump and whispered, "Traitor."

Thor just scooted the house leggos underneath the couch. "Right, like they wouldn't notice," Zoe whispered to Thor as she leaned over Steve to talk to him. Thor grinned at her, and Steve just looked at Thor, a bit shocked.

The little girl walked up to Thor and looked up at him in awe. Zoe looked at the little girl who reminded her of her when she was little, but it tugged at her heartstrings because an image suddenly zapped into her mind…the memory of when her father came at her for the first time at that age. "Ava…!" His rage rang in her ears and tears streamed down her eyes.

Zoe tore her eyes away from the girl and accidentally looked up at Clint. Their eyes met and she glared at him, suddenly angry. She wasn't angry at him per say, but she was…mad at herself. She couldn't be here right now in front of Clint's kids while she was so lost and in a daze.

Zoe shook her head and walked outside to the porch, inhaling the fresh farm air that filled inside her nose, and exhaled, reminiscing the nature that surrounded Clint's home. She leaned her elbows against the railing and rubbed the side of her temples to try an ease the tension out of her mind. What did this girl do to her? Zoe thought curiously. Why couldn't she get these strong images that promoted fear in Zoe's heart?

She was never going to get to have this kind of life…she'll always be a secretary? She wrinkled her nose at the thought. Information Specialist? Agent? Whatever Zoe was now, that's what she'll always be. She'll always be human. She'll never be special, not like Ava.

She often wondered why she felt so neglected over the years. She was always an only child. She was always born into a family of three; she never had any idea about Ava until she joined S.H.I.E.L.D.

Her father was barely around to see her, and when he did it was hell. She was too afraid to talk to her mother. She didn't want to have a broken family. She was scared. Maybe she shouldn't have a family.

Families often repeated their woes in the future like a time loop anyway, right? So, what was the point? S.H.I.E.L.D. fell apart. Her entire world all in a box fell into the water.

She was a disappointment and a failure with the Avengers. There was no way she could ever own up to Coulson's wishes. Zoe had a hard enough time keeping track of Ava, nowhere to be found. How could she keep track of her own children?

She looked up when Thor suddenly stomped out into the yard, and darted her eyes to the side, watching Steve jog after him. "Thor," Steve called after him.

Zoe slightly turned to face Steve and Thor as they walked outside the Barton house into the front yard. Zoe lifted a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I saw something in that dream," Thor said, turning around to face Steve. "I need answers. I won't find them here."

Thor swung his hammer really fast, and he zoomed up in the cloudy skies. Zoe looked up in the skies as he disappeared and looked over at Steve. Steve turned around to face Zoe.

Steve turned to walk back inside the house but paused, "We can go home," Peggy's voice whispered in his mind.

He sighed and walked away from the house. Zoe pushed herself away from the porch and stepped down. "Steve?" she called after him.

Steve turned to face her, and felt his heart twinge at the sight of her crestfallen face.

He shook his head, "I just need some air," he said.

Zoe furrowed her brows, and stared into his eyes with worry that filled her heart. What happened to him, and what did the Witch do to his mind? He seemed so...there, but at the same time kind of cut off somehow. Zoe couldn't really place it and it was bugging her.

Steve stared right back at her, not moving a muscle, until he heard Peggy's whisper trickle in his mind again.

Zoe leaned her elbows against the railing of the picket fence and clasped her hands together, curling them in thought as she looked down, seeing an image burn in her mind to the back of her skull, listening to the sounds of light circus laughter, fire, and music all in one, "Come see Hawkeye and the amazing Trick shot!"

She could remember the nights she'd watch the circus and watch Hawkeye and Trick Shot just to escape her father's psychotic breakdowns and her parent's fighting when she was younger. But when the circus left to travel other places, she was forced to find other avenues to escape her own quiet hell and often got better at masking her emotional roller coasters until now.

She looked over only to find Steve gone from the porch. She looked up at the ceiling of the roof and let out a weary sigh.


	54. Chapter 54: Settling In

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. They belong to their respective owners. I write for fun and not for profit. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 54: Settling In**

"I've been in maternity clothes for about five months now, all my clothes got pushed in the back," Laura said as she showed Zoe the layout of the house and up the stairs into Laura's double closet. It seemed small, but it was stuffed with Clint's and Laura's clothes at one end of the spectrum on the clothing line.

It was so weird to see Clint married. But at the same time, Zoe kind of liked it, even if she was slightly jealous that he got to have all this and she couldn't.

The bedroom of Clint and Laura was so picturesque it was perfect. Everything about this place, Zoe was falling in love with in a weird way. She'd never been in a home like this before. A home so humble and inviting. It was nice. Is this what family life was like? To have a queen-sided bed at the end of the beautiful wooden beam that Clint probably put up for them. A small seat with legs resting at the end of the bed with pillows against the cream colored cushion rested beside the end of the bed. Wooden floors creaked underneath Zoe's feet when she walked inside. There was a different color blue rug quilted covering parts of the floor. A desk and chair sat in between two vertical windows with sheer curtains to allow the long day's sunlight pour through the room. A bookshelf was tucked in the corner beside the radiator. Beside the closet there was a dresser and a couple of cream colored chairs with more throw pillows on them for looks.

It was so gorgeous in Zoe's eyes; she couldn't help but shed a tear. She brushed it away with her index finger, and hugged herself to keep from crying in front of Laura. She looked up at all the pictures on the walls, while Laura was in search for the box of clothes that Zoe and Nat could use while they stayed.

Laura was about to go digging into the closet, but Zoe stopped her pregnant-self, holding the woman at arm's length. "Let me do it," Zoe said. "Pregnant women should not be bending their backs over for anything."

Laura blinked at Zoe as Zoe pointed into the closet. "Up top or bottom?" she asked.

"Top shelf, plastic box, all the way in the back there," Laura said. "Thank you."

"No problem," she said.

"Actually I should be thanking you," Zoe said. "For letting us stay and crash here for awhile."

Laura watched Zoe stretch out her legs, as she stood on her tip-toes, and lean up against the threshold of the closet, trying to find the box of clothes. She'd crossed her arms in amusement, tilting her head to the side. It made her wonder how this young woman could be a field agent, working beside Clint and Nat. She was a bit small for an agent, after all Natasha was taller, and could hold her own in the field…except for now that is, but still, the redhead was strong and this woman before her eyes seemed fragile. Maybe she got affected too.

"It's not a big deal, really," Laura said, turning around in her bedroom to find a chair that Zoe could stand on. "We don't mind the company and I get to spend some time with my husband."

Zoe chewed her lip as she tried to reach for the box all the way stuffed into the back of the corner on her tippy toes. Zoe couldn't reach it, so as she turned around to find something to stand on, Laura had already scooted a chair in front of her with a small grin on her face.

Zoe smiled in thanks and pushed the chair toward the closet door, and climbed up on the seat with her hands and knees. She steadied herself on the chair and finally managed to grab the box's edge and pull it toward her, dropping a few items on the shelf as she did so. Zoe winced as the shower of items came down at her. "Sorry," Zoe said.

"We'll clean it up, it's okay," Laura said.

"Got it," Zoe beamed widely as she pulled the box down and into her arms, carefully trying not to fall off the chair, but ended up falling anyway as Laura let out a gasp when Clint suddenly appeared and held Zoe in his arms before she fell to the floor. "Clint," she said. "Hi. Impeccable timing," she said, clearing her throat. She was not expecting his arms around her. She was expecting the floor, and maybe a concussion. She looked into his blue eyes as they looked down at her. The box had fallen out of her hands and onto the floor. The piles of clothes that were stocked and neatly folded had fallen in an array of a mess.

"Maybe you should let me do the heavy lifting for awhile, hmm?" Clint asked.

"It wasn't heavy, it was just…clumsy," Zoe said, pushing the chair slightly back with her foot, so that she could stand on her own feet. "Right? Laura's the witness. I totally had it under control before it showered on us."

Laura grinned. "She totally had it under control," she said.

Clint eyed both women and chuckled lightly. "Two against one, okay," he said in a teasing manner.

Zoe sighed and straightened herself up, scooting away from Clint, as she knelt down to the floor to clean up the clothes.

"Lila and Cooper are reading with Antie Nat," Clint said as he looked over at Laura. She smiled.

Zoe gathered up the shirts and folded them. Laura took the chair away from the closet and put it back in the small corner of the room.

"I got this, you go," Zoe said and nodded over to Laura.

Clint smiled thankfully at her and walked over to his wife beside their dresser.

Zoe just picked up the entire pile of clothes and tossed them in the box. She closed the lid and walked out of the room, giving Clint and Laura some much needed privacy.

Clint pulled Laura into an embrace and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in to the best of his ability with little Nathanial inside of her. He smiled down at her and planted a kiss on top of her head. Laura smiled at the gesture. "I missed you," Laura said, breathing in his scent. He just nodded and kissed her again, closing his eyes, relishing in her touch and beautiful heart.

Laura's arms dipped down to his chest and she felt the squishy side of his stomach. She frowned.

Clint winced, as they broke apart and she turned to lift his shirt so she could see how bad it was. She ran her fingers along the wound Dr. Cho had fixed for him when he got hit trying to take down the Hydra Base.

"So, you were worried for nothing," Clint said. "Can't even feel the difference."

Laura sighed slightly and smoothed out his shirt to cover it back up. "If they're sleeping here, some of them are going to have to double up," she said.

Clint started to chuckle as he brought a hand to her shoulder. "Yeah, that's not going to sell," he said.

"What about Nat and Dr. Banner?" Laura asked curiously. "How long has that been going on?"

"How's what?" Clint asked, walking back to their closet.

Laura let out a hearty laugh. "You are so cute," she said, placing Clint's jeans inside their brown whicker hamper. She placed the teddy bar back on top.

"N-nat and Banner?" Clint asked, taking a plaid blue long sleeve shirt from his side of the closet. He strung an arm through the armhole, and turned to his wife with questionable eyes.

"I'll explain when you're older," Laura teased. "Hawkeye."

"Oh, okay," Clint said, still in disbelief that there was something between his best friend and Dr. Bruce Banner.

Laura stepped closer to Clint, once he settled into one of his favorite comfortable shirts. "It's bad right? Nat seems really shaken," Laura said with a bit of concern in her eyes.

"Ultron has these allies," Clint explained as he rolled up his sleeves. "These…uh…kids, punks really. They carry a big damn stick. Nat took a serious hit. Someone's going to have to teach them some manners."

"That someone being you?" Laura said, her eyes slanting over as Clint walked over to the window where a small table and chairs rested against the wall. Two black and white photos hung against the wall and Laura's face reflected against the photo as she spoke to her husband.

"And Zoe," Clint said. "She's the only one on the team that seems more like herself right now."

"She seemed quiet and awkward when I met her, Clint," Laura said. "Something happened. I could see it in her eyes,"

Clint looked at her curiously. "You could?" he asked.

Laura nodded her head at him. "You need to talk to her," she said.

"I guess," he said.

Laura licked her lips and tilted her head to the side as they walked to the window. "You know I totally support your Avenging, and I couldn't be prouder." Clint slumped down in his chair and changed out of his shoes and into his boots, tying up the shoelaces. "But I see those guys, those…Gods…" she said, glancing out the window as she watched Tony walk over to the pile of wood cylinders onto the ground. She held Clint's shoulder with gentle hands.

"You don't think they need me," Clint said.

"I think they do," Laura said, looking down into his eyes as he looked up at her. "Which is a lot scarier. They're a mess."

A sigh of realization when her words registered in his mind and heart at the same time escaped his lips. He looked outside the window to see Steve dressed in blue, and Tony dressed in black, talking out in the front yard with a pile of wood behind Tony.

"Yeah," Clint realized. "I guess they're my mess."

Laura brushed her hand against the back of his head, lovingly. "You need to be sure," she said. "That this team is really a team, and that they have your back."

Clint turned to face Laura and smiled. He stood up and toward over her.

"Things are changing for us," Laura said. "In a few months time, you and me are going to be outnumbered," she said, pulling him in close and looked down at her baby bump. She looked back into his eyes and he smiled. "And…just be sure."

Clint nodded. "Yes, ma'am," he said. Laura smiled at those words and he leaned in to kiss her. He wrapped a hand around her neck gently, and kissed her forehead, pulling her against him, as they turned to look outside where they spotted Zoe walking out to talk to Steve and Tony dressed in a pair of shorts, and a white quarter-sleeve top. Her hair was up curled in a messy bun and her hands were on her hips. She was walking barefoot too. Clint sighed. Yeah, he was going to have to talk to all of them at some point, and try to figure this team thing out again. She ran a hand over the wound of his chest, sneaking her arm into his plaid shirt.

"I can feel the difference," she said with a slight smile on her face.


	55. Chapter 55: Wise Words

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to its respective owners. I am writing for fun and not for profit. Just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 55: Wise Words**

Dr. Cho's Research Lab  
Seoul, Korea

Nighttime descended across the globe in Korea. Dr. Cho spoke to her staff as she pulled off her black coat covering her scrubs. She handed it to one of her staff members and they nodded at her demands. She turned inside to her office where the cradle was. The door drew to a close. She turned her head to face the robot in her office. She widened her eyes.

"Scream," Ultron said. "And you're entire staff dies."

Dr. Cho gulped, and froze in her spot.

"I could have killed you, Helen, on the night we met," Ultron said. "I didn't."

"Don't expect a thank-you note," Dr. Cho said.

"I expect you to know why," Ultron said.

Dr. Cho looked down at the cradle as her heart dropped. "The cradle," she said.

"This is the next best thing, Tony," Ultron placed his robotic hand on top of the cradle, and her voice replayed back inside the room.

"This is the next me," Ultron said.

Dr. Cho widened her eyes and looked up at him. "The regeneration cradle prints tissue. It can't built another body," she tried to explain to him.

"It can," Ultron said, stepping forward. She stepped back. "You can. You lack the material," he walked over to her and she stepped back, getting cornered against the window behind her. She looked over at his mini-robotic selves as they brought up the vibranium inside a glass cylinder.

"You're a brilliant woman, Helen," Ultron said. "But we all have room for, improvement," One of Ultron's robotic forms brought Loki's scepter to her heart and she gasped as the glow of the gem glowed when the tip of Loki's scepter drew its power into her heart. Her eyes widened and turned black then left a blue hazy glow in her eyes, indicating that she was under the influence of Loki's scepter.

~*A*~

Safe House

Zoe felt Steve's arms wrap around hers. His skin was soft and rough at the same time.

Tony glanced over at the two as Zoe wanted Steve to teach her how to break apart a piece of a wood stump, and rolled his eyes. "I'm getting some water, you guys want anything?" he asked.

"So like this," Steve said in her ears that made Zoe slightly shiver. It was hard to keep her emotions in check, but she couldn't help what she was feeling right now. She was an animated and vocal person. Sometimes she was an introvert, but when she was around people, she was more extroverted than she realized.

"Hello?" Tony asked, slamming his axe down in between the slithers of the wood with a loud thud. "You two lovebirds want something?" he asked.

That caught Zoe's attention as she whirled her head around at the same time she lowered her heavy axe down onto the wood stump before her. It split but not all the way. A few slithers of splinters broke away as she nearly stumbled backwards and into Steve. Steve's arms quickly enfolded around her small frame of body, trying to keep her from falling.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Oh, get a room," he mumbled, and stalked off back into the house.

"Funny thing," Zoe said. "He has a room; you and I have to share the living room."

"Yeah, on a single cot bed," Steve said. "You can, um," he said, releasing his arms off of her as she was now fully standing on her feet and in balance. She leaned against the axe on the wood stump and looked at Steve curiously, brushing her toes against the backside of her other ankle. "Have the cot. I prefer the floor."

Zoe arched an eyebrow. "Are you…sure? Steve, you do a lot for us. I think at some point it is okay to have a nice bed every once and awhile."

Steve shook his head and walked over to the picnic table. He climbed on top of it and sat on the wooden surface, looking into the distance. He leaned his elbows on his knees and leaned forward, placing his chin upon his closed fists with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Do you think it's possible to have a life like this?" Steve asked her. "I mean, for a guy like me?"

Zoe twisted her lips into a frown as his question entered her mind. "I certainly think so," she said. "I mean, sure, you have superhero powers, big deal, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't give up pursuing someone you love."

Steve tightened his jaw, and pursed his lips together, listening to her. Zoe Sawyer, the ever so hopeful agent of Shield. And a really great actress. He'd always kept that in the back of his mind. He sighed. "When you tried to get the Maximoff's, what did she show you?"

Zoe looked over at the farmhouse, where she spotted Clint teaching his son how to measure the broken white beam on top of the white picket fence and looked back at Steve.

"Me," she said. She swallowed hard, and drew in a deep breath. "I was killing my father,"

"And a few other things that I thought were buried deep down," she continued, not wanting silence to settle in between them. "I thought I'd moved passed that. I thought I grew stronger and worked my way up to the top. Then she showed me my failures in life, and the one thing I tried to forget," Zoe said, and leaned off the axe and left it stuck inside the wood stump. She walked closer to Steve and turned around where her Hydra brand still remained edged into her skin.

Steve turned to look at the Hydra symbol, staring back at him like a mean joke. A skull with snakes wrapped around it like an octopus. But what Steve frowned at was the fact the symbol had scratch marks from her fingernails and sharp tools as though she'd tried to scrape it off.

"Should've gotten the tat," Zoe whispered, turning around to face him. She took out her bun and let her wavy brown hair hide the rest of the brand, not feeling up to showing it off anymore. She thought she was okay with it, but it just felt and looked too horrible to bear.

"I'm sorry," she said. "For everything."

And with that said, Zoe took off and ran away before Steve could open his mouth to say anything. Steve watched her run behind the farmhouse and he sighed, glancing up at the skies once more.

Tony returned with a few water bottles in his hands. He tossed one to Steve. "Look alive, Cap," Tony said, as Steve caught the water bottle. "Where'd Zoe go?"

"I think I made her mad," Steve said. He cringed. He didn't know what he did. "Or…I don't know," he sighed, and took a sip from his water bottle. Tony placed the two water bottles on the ground beside his side of wood piled up in a small size. Meanwhile Steve's side was a lot bigger.

Steve placed his water bottle on the table and walked over to his spot and picked up a wood stump off the ground. He placed it on top of the bigger tree wood stump and slammed his axe through it, breaking it in half.

"Well," Tony said, whacking his next wood stump piece with his own axe. It broke apart in pieces. "If I were you, I'd tap that."

Steve's cheeks blushed immensely red. "Are you….do you hear yourself when you speak?" Steve demanded.

Tony chuckled. "Sometimes," he said. "Seriously. That girl's had it bad for you ever since we became the Avengers."

"Really? I couldn't tell," Steve said, glancing over slightly to where Barton was with his son behind the white picket fence.

"If you want my opinion-" Tony began as he picked up a wood stump and brought it over to his station where he set it down.

"I don't," Steve said, chopping another piece of wood a bit louder than what Tony would have liked. "I don't want your opinion, Stark. I'd like for you to mind your own business, and concentrate on stopping Ultron."

"What do you think I've been doing, Shield-boy?" Tony asked. "I am a multitasker, you know. Pretty brilliant, if I do say so myself, and-"

"You do," Steve finished for him with a nod of his head. He smashed another piece of a wood stump with his axe, and tossed the wood pieces into his pile. He walked back over to grab another wood stump. "I know."

Tony sighed, and turned to face Steve. "Thor didn't say where he was going for answers?"

"Sometimes my teammates don't tell me these things," Steve said, glancing back at the house where Barton was showing his son how to fix a broken fence beam off the fence. "I was kinda hoping Thor would be the exception."

He placed the wood stump on the bigger wood stump along with Tony, who looked at Steve. "Yeah, give him time, we don't know what the Maximoff kid showed him."

Steve whacked it down with his axe and placed it down on the ground, as he turned to pick up another. "Earth's Mightiest Heroes, pulled us apart like cotton candy."

Tony reached for his axe and held it in between his hands. "Seemed like you walked away, alright," Tony said.

Steve turned to face Tony. "Is that a problem?" he asked.

"I don't trust a guy without a dark side," Tony said, and split open another piece of wood with his axe. "Call me old-fashioned."

"Well, let's just say you haven't seen it yet," Steve said.

"You know Ultron is trying to tear us apart right?" Tony said, walking up closer to Steve.

"Well, I guess you'd know," Steve said. "Whether you'd tell us is a bit of a question." He raised the axe over his head and lowered it down, slamming it into the wood stump, breaking it apart.

"Banner and I were doing research," Tony said.

"That would affect the team," Steve said.

"That would end the team," Tony rationalized. "Isn't that the mission? Isn't that the why we fight, so that we get to go home?"

Steve reached for another wood stump and tore it apart with his bare hands with each syllable that came out of Stark's mouth, as the tension grew between them. He sighed. Splinters of wood showered in front of Steve's face.

"Every time someone tries to win a war before it starts, innocent people die. Every time," Steve said.

Tony stared into Steve's eyes, listening to his cold words out of his mouth that stroke his heart like claws. He was about to respond, but Mrs. Barton had come out to join them.

"Sorry," she cringed. "Mr. Stark? Clint said you wouldn't mind, but our tractor doesn't seem to want to start at all. Thought maybe you might want to…"

"Yeah, I'll take a look at it," Tony said.

Laura smiled, and turned to look up at her house where she spotted Zoe seated upon the rooftop, watching the whole scene before her tired eyes. Laura sighed and turned to find Clint taking their kids inside the house.

"Don't take from my pile," Tony said, pointing to his smaller pile against Steve's bigger pile.

Laura and Tony walked together to where the tractor was, inside her red barn.

~*A*~

"Wow, you really can see the view from up here," Clint said, suddenly startling Zoe from behind her.

"Jesus, Clint," Zoe said, holding her heart. She had a look of slight fright on her face. She really didn't want to fall again. She'd had enough of it.

"Still jumpy?" Clint asked with a grin on his face.

"Only when I'm around you," Zoe admitted.

"So," Clint sighed, sitting down next to her. He crossed his legs so that his legs sat up like butterfly wings, and he rested his elbows on his knees. "What's eating Killer?"

Zoe arched an eyebrow at him, and sighed. "Not a damn thing," she said.

"Liar," Clint said. "Come on…we humans got to stick together, right? Our team is falling apart, and I can't have my best partner fall apart on me either."

"Thought that was Natasha," Zoe whispered.

"Look," Clint said. "You know Nat and I go way back since our spy and assassin days, some deep cover shit we'd gotten ourselves into. This was before I even knew you were in S.H.I.E.L.D."

Zoe watched Steve chopping up small pieces of wood, his pile getting much bigger than Tony's.

Zoe sniffed, and nodded. She tried to push the tears back away. She hated crying. It was such an energy drainer. But what was even worse, was pretending like everything was okay because that hurt too much to fake it.

She sighed. "Ava's out there with the twins and Ultron. Probably under the Witch's spell too, and I'm powerless to stop it. I'm not like you. I'm not like Natasha, Steve, Bruce... I don't have any special powers. I always miss, and screw up," she said, tearing her eyes away from Steve, looking back at Clint's motionless face. "I'm not an Avenger. I can't…do this job anymore. I don't…I don't have the courage to face what's out there," she said softly. "Sometimes I wonder if I should have just joined the circus and get eaten by a tiger. Yum."

Clint turned to face her, listening to her words fill his ears and heart. She didn't mean that did she?

"You're talking suicide?" Clint whispered.

Zoe shrugged. "Better than jail."

"That was self-defense and you know it," Clint said.

Zoe rolled her eyes. She could hear it out of anyone's mouths and still wonder if she'd ever let go of it.

"You know why I'm good at my job?" Clint asked finally when the moment of silence passed. "It's because I work with superheroes. They make me better at what I do. I have a bow and a couple of trick arrows, something I've worked hard on my entire life. At a young age I was forced to make a choice, some bad ones, some good ones, and found myself here, finally at a good place, with a good job, a great family, and a great friend," Clint said, bumping her shoulder lightly.

She swallowed hard, and didn't think she was worthy to have someone like Clint as a friend. She was a total screw up. It amazed her that she still survived this long.

Zoe tried to listen to the sincerity and serious tone that oozed out of his voice when he spoke to her. His words registered within her heart. She was forced to make a choice too when S.H.I.E.L.D. came knocking on her door. Well, she didn't really have a choice. It was either S.H.I.E.L.D. or jail. And she definitely didn't want to be inside a prison. She knew that much. She would do terrible in prison.

"I'm sorry I missed your call. I should have answered it, but my priorities were elsewhere," Clint said, motioning a chin-nod to his farmhouse.

Zoe nodded her head in understanding. She totally understood that and it wasn't like she could call him back either.

"I can never miss, Zoe," Clint said. "If I miss, I'm not an Avenger. And the people need us. Because like Stark said, more shit is going to come out of that sky."

He pointed up to the clouds, and Zoe looked up at the faint clouds that looked orange due to the setting sun behind the dark trees around Clint's yard.

"Also," Clint said. "I like being an Avenger," he said. She smirked at him before she let out a sigh.

"Fury was right to pair us up," Zoe said in a whisper. "Stupid Loki," she mumbled.

Clint smiled. "Well, you're either a spy or an assassin, which would you rather be?"

"I had no choice to choose you know," Zoe reminded him.

"I know," he said. "But now, there's no more S.H.I.E.L.D., and you are free to choose whatever you want to do, whoever you want to be, and create an identity for yourself that could be amazing."

"Can you teach me?" Zoe asked.

"Thought you were learning from the Cap?" Clint asked.

"Well, no offense to Steve, he's…a sweetheart and amazing, but he's too…super-hero-ie. I need to work with someone more like you. Someone who taught themselves to be the weapon. And I don't trust anyone else right now. You and I are humans, and like you said," she grinned at him. "We got to stick together."

Clint chuckled heartedly. Well…he thought slightly, glancing at her hopeful spark in her eyes.

"I'll teach you, but on one condition," Clint said.

"Shoot," Zoe said.

"No more mopin' around," Clint said, eyeing her carefully.

"Cross my heart and hope…" she paused when she saw his glaring glint in his blue eyes. She grinned. "Not to die," she said, demonstrating a criss-cross over her heart with her finger like she used to do when she was a kid.

Clint smiled softly at her, and nodded. "Tomorrow morning, seven a.m. Barn-side," Clint said.

Zoe's grin curled even wider. "Sounds like fun. I'll bring coffee."

"As long as it's black," Clint said with a grin. "You know what else?"

Zoe turned to face him, "Hmm?"

They looked at each other and Clint smiled "You should talk to Cap."

"Thought we were making progress," she whispered. "I keep trying… but…"

"So try harder," Clint said.

"Can I shoot an arrow at his head, knock some sense into him?" Zoe asked with a slight joking chuckle out of her lips.

Clint chuckled slightly and shook his head. "No. Only you can knock some sense into him. Nothing can do it for you."

She sighed, nodding. She supposed he was right. Since when did Clint Barton get so smart at this age? She didn't know, but she liked having him on her side, and as a friend. All it was now was just a matter of doing and pushing herself to become a better person, and a better fighter. It was hard. But so was life in a world with superheroes, especially if Zoe was falling in love with one.

~*A*~

Unbeknownst to Clint and Zoe, more so Zoe than Clint, and at the same time they were on the roof, Tony walked inside the red barn that smelled like old moth balls. He had particularly glanced around his surroundings to see what kind of life Barton had and it warmed his heart, not that he'd admit it to anyone, but he was really beginning to like the farmhouse idea.

He wondered what the others thought of it too. Banner and Nat were settling in with their guest room, as they had dibs on the guest room. The kids were forced to share a room, and Tony got his own room, Cooper's. Zoe and Steve made arrangements for the living room with the sofa's cot. Tony smirked at the idea, maybe Cap would make a move like he finally should, but he knew the guy had issues, and sometimes Tony wondered what Zoe saw in the guy, besides his muscles and abs…Tony rolled his eyes, the guy was no big whoop.

He sighed, and passed by Clint's archery-set, and a smile tugged at the corner of his lips. He wondered if he taught his kids how to shoot bow and arrows too?

As Tony walked further inside, he spotted the tractor sitting with the sunlight poking through the windows. He took a piece in his hand and rattled it against the side. "Hello, dear," he said. "Tell me everything. Nobody else will," he said as began to tinker with it.

"Do me a favor," A familiar voice pierced Tony's ears. Tony spun around and widened his eyes when Director Fury came out in street clothes with a leather jacket on. He still had his eye patch. Tony smirked. "Try not to bring it to life."

"Ah," Tony sighed. "Mrs. Barton you little minx. I get it, Maria Hill called you, right? Is she ever not working for you?"

"Artificial Intelligence," Fury said. "You never even hesitated."

"Look, it's been a really long day, like Eugene O'Neil long, so how's about we skip to the part where you're useful?"

"Look me in the eye and tell me you're going to shut him down," Fury said.

"You're not the director of me," Tony said.

"I'm not the director of anybody," Fury said, taking a seat on a block of hay. "I'm just an old man who cares very much about you."

"Then I'm the man who killed the Avengers," Tony said with a sadness tone in his voice. "So…I didn't tell the team. I made Zoe keep it to herself…lord only knows that girl has so much in her mind right now…I don't know how she's not breaking down…"

Fury smirked. "I hired her for the very reason that she could use all her intellectual ability towards the fight, and she knows how to get the job right. That's what she cares about, and she cares about this team too. She'll go to any length to be on your side, our side, because she cares about you."

Tony swallowed hard, and nodded, listening to Fury's wise words. Tony looked up at the ceiling and then at Fury. "Okay…I saw them all dead, Nick," he said. "I felt it. The whole world too…because of me. Wasn't ready," Tony said. "I didn't do all that I could."

"That Maximoff girl," Fury said. "She's working you Stark. Playing on your fear."

Tony turned around, shaking his head. "I wasn't tricked, I was shown. Wasn't a nightmare, it was my legacy," he pointed his hand to his chest.

"The end of the path I started us on," Tony said.

"You come up with some pretty interesting inventions, Tony," Fury said, getting up from his seat of hay. "War isn't one of them."

Tony reached for the wrench and started to clean it with a cloth that was sitting next to it on Clint's tool table. "Watching my friends die, you'd think that's as bad as it gets," he scoffed. "Nope, that wasn't the worst part."

"The worst part is that you didn't," Fury said.


	56. Chapter 56: Outwit Platinum

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belongs to its respective owners. I am writing for fun and not for profit. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 56: Outwit Platinum**

Royal Holloway  
University of London

Dr. Selvig walked down the steps of the university with his briefcase in hand with a few students ready to head home. "I'll see you tonight," Selvig said, turning to one of his students. He looked over at a parked car and instantly smiled when he recognized a man who was trying to be conspicuous. Then again, he wasn't really a man.

"I like the look," Dr. Selvig said. "You should go for near conspicuous though, near miss," he said.

"I need you're help," Thor said underneath his hoodie.

"It's nice to be needed," Dr. Selvig said.

Thor leaned across the car. "It's dangerous."

"I'd be disappointed if it wasn't," Dr. Selvig said and got into his car, allowing Thor to go with him.

~*A*~

Barton Residence

Later that evening, and after dinner at the Barton residence, Steve and Zoe were seated on the couch, in the middle of a Thumb War. Fury had surprised everyone and started making some sandwiches for everyone; he was currently on number two sandwich, chatting with Natasha, and Bruce. Tony was throwing darts, listening to their light conversation on the news of Banner's arrest and what Ultron's plans were with Ava and the twins.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!" Zoe said with a grin on her face, looking at her thumb as it covered Steve's bigger one around her closed fist. She was leaning in close to Steve's chest, as he leaned against the armrest, trying to get away from Zoe's thumb. They'd played a thumb war a couple of times already, thanks to Cooper and Clint who were experts at the game. It was a challenge each one took and the last two standing would have to do the dishes. Zoe never played the game thumb war, so Steve had to teach her, and right now she was kind of kicking his butt.

"I win," Zoe said with a bright smile on her face.

"So, this means I have to do the dishes?" Steve asked with a sigh, glancing up from underneath his eyebrows.

Clint and Cooper helped pick up the dishes in the living room, while Lila and Laura painted pictures.

"You bet your…" Clint said, but then leaned into Steve's ear as he passed him so that his kids didn't hear, "Ass."

Steve rolled his eyes, though didn't miss the feeling of tenseness in between his blushed cheeks and stomach. "Har, har," he said.

Zoe stretched out her arms and relaxed her hands within her lap. She looked over at Steve who just rested along side the armrest, slightly moving over to the side so that she had room.

"I got this," Clint said, grinning as he took each plate off the table. "You two kids play nice."

"It means you have to give her a kiss," Lila said.

"Lila," Laura scolded lightly, though she was trying to hide her grin from coming up on her face.

"What?" Lila asked, brushing light strokes of mustard yellow onto her butterfly picture.

"It's okay," Steve said with a slight chuckle, even though his eyes slanted over to Zoe who was blushing deep red. She brushed a few tendrils of hair to cover her cheeks with the feelings swirling inside her.

"Well, I think I've had enough fun of a 'Thumb War' I'm going to go um…restroom," Zoe said.

"It's time to wash up for bed, anyway," Laura said, eyeing her youngest daughter. "Almost done, sweetheart?"

"Almost, just doing the finishing touches," Lila said.

Laura smiled. "Alright," she said and started picking up the rest of the toys around the living room. "Five minutes."

Laura walked over to the toy box in the corner and started putting them away.

"Should have kissed her," Lila sing-songed, as she finished up the finishing touches on her painting. Laura walked back over to Lila and kneeled down beside her.

Steve arched a curious brow at the little one, smiling slightly at her, and sat up from the sofa. He walked inside the kitchen and picked up his drink, finishing the rest of it, slightly wishing that there was something a lot stronger in this ice tea.

Zoe returned from the restroom, and found Steve leaning against the threshold. She walked over to the dining room table and picked up the ice tea pitcher in the middle of the table. She brought it over to the counter and took out a new glass that she stole from Fury. She grinned at him and he gave her a wry look on his face, while he took out another one.

She poured him some ice tea, herself one, and went around the table, refilling Nat's drink. She handed Bruce his drink, but he shook his head, and put on his glasses, hidden in the corner. He was still a bit weary and cautious from his adventure in Africa.

"You may be able to win at thumb war, Killer, but you can't beat me at darts," Tony challenged Zoe when she gave him a glass of ice tea. He took it and set it down on the table. She set the ice tea pitcher down in the middle of the table.

"Probably not," Zoe said nonchalantly, sliding up next to him. She leaned against the threshold where a set of red beads acted as a side curtain. "But I'll take that challenge." She grinned. He handed her a couple darts.

"Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time," Fury explained, taking his last bite out of his sandwich. "My contacts all say he's building something. The amount of vibranium he made off with, I don't think he's just one thing."

"You mean there's more little baby Ultrons running around?" Zoe asked, turning to face Fury. It was meant in a teasing gesture, but the thought of more robots that were like Ultron himself didn't settle well within her heart.

Fury nodded. He wiped his mouth with his napkin, and crumpled it into his hand before he tossed it into the trash. "That's what they say," he said, looking at her. Zoe twisted her lips into a frown, as Tony tossed another dart to the dart board.

Lila finished her picture and showed her mother before she walked over excitedly to show Antie Nat. She handed Natasha the picture and it put a big smile on her face.

It was nice to see Natasha smile again as she felt warmed by the gesture. Lila smiled brightly and walked back over to her family inside the living room. It was time to clean up the paint mess and get ready for bed.

"What about Ultron himself?" Steve asked.

"Oh, he's easy to track," Fury said, taking a sip of his ice tea. "He's everywhere. Guy's multiplying faster than a Catholic rabid. Still doesn't give an angle on any of his plans though."

Zoe frowned, and tossed a dart at the board but it bounced completely off and onto the floor. She cringed, looking at Tony as he eyed her curiously with wide eyes. He picked it up off the floor and handed it to her. "Try again, dear, focus," he said. Zoe gave Tony a furrowed look. He looked at Fury. "Is he still going after launch codes?"

Zoe sighed, shoulders slumping a bit and looked at the dart board. She'd never made it to the bull's-eye. She always tried, but never could quite get it right.

"Yes he is," Fury said. "Still doesn't give us any headway."

"I cracked the pentagon's file on a high school dare," Tony said, yanking the dart out of the dart board.

Zoe aimed her dart at the dart board and lightly tossed it. It landed right in the bulls-eye but not quite there. "Yes!" Zoe exclaimed, tossing her arms in the air. She beamed widely and looked at Tony who was looking at Fury.

She beamed widely and looked at Clint who was cleaning some dishes beside the sink. He winked at her and she felt elated that she'd gotten another dart into the board.

"Psst, Zo," Clint said, catching her attention. She whirled around at him with a questionable look on her face. "Let me see," Clint whispered. Zoe walked over and took out her dart out of the bulls-eye and handed it to Clint. He took it in his hands. Zoe stood back and leaned against the countertop, watching Tony toss another dart, still trying to get the bulls-eye.

"Well, I contacted our friends at the Nexus about that," Fury said.

Zoe arched an eyebrow at Fury.

"Nexus?" Steve asked.

"It's the World Internet Hub in Oslo," Bruce said. "Every bit of data flows through there. Fastest access on Earth."

Zoe turned to Steve. "Every Information Specialist's dream!" she gushed. He smiled lightly at her.

"So, what'd they say?" Clint asked, glancing at the top of the dart with the two feather-like trills at the end of it in his hands.

Tony reached for the dart in the outer-circle, and tossed another dart, this time landing in the bulls-eye. Zoe looked at him, quite impressed. He smirked at her.

"He's fixated on the missiles," Fury said. "But the codes are constantly being changed."

"By whom?" Tony asked just as Clint's arrow came zooming across the room, nearly scraping against Tony's cheek if it hadn't been for Tony's quick reflexes to move out of the way.

Tony whirled his head around to stare at who threw the dart, and Clint raised his hands in the air, giving him a sheepish grin on his face.

Zoe looked over at Clint and couldn't help but giggle behind her hand at Tony's shocked face.

"Party's unknown," Fury said.

"Do we have an ally?" Natasha asked.

"Ultron's got an enemy," Fury said. "That's not the same thing. Still I'd pay folding money to know who it is."

"Might need to visit Oslo find our unknown," Tony said, leaning his hands against the threshold, as he stood in between the doorway.

"Well, this is good times boss, but I was really hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that," Natasha said.

Zoe nodded. "I'm with Nat on this one," Zoe said, walking out from underneath Tony's arms.

Zoe walked inside the kitchen, not missing Steve's eyes on her, as she sat down in an empty across from Natasha. She took a sip of her ice tea and sighed, resting her fingers along the cool sweating glass.

"I do," Fury said. "I have you. Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere, ears everywhere else," he eyed Zoe in her seat. She looked up at him and crossed her arms over her chest. "You kids had all the tech you could dream of. And here we all are, back on Earth," Fury said as he crossed the kitchen. Clint had turned around and leaned against the counter, listening to him speak. "With nothing but our wit and our will to save the world."

Everyone looked at each other from underneath their eyelashes, even Natasha and Zoe shared a small look with each other.

"Ultron says the Avengers are the only thing between him and his mission," Fury continued. "And whether or not he admits it, his mission is global destruction. All this, laid in a grave."

Zoe looked up at Fury with a small frown on her face, and looked over at Clint who looked off to the side.

She didn't want that. She wanted to live. She wanted everyone to live. Ultron had to be stopped. And Ava had to be found so that Zoe could help Ava. Maybe if Zoe could get to Ava, maybe she could finally have a family. Ava was the only thing that mattered to her right now. She chewed her bottom lip. And she would be damned if she was going to let one robot and a couple of punk kids turn her sister against her. She winced as a troubled thought occurred to her. Multiple robots. She didn't want that at all.

"So stand," Fury said. "Outwit the platinum bastard."

Natasha pouted in a teasing manner. "Steve doesn't like that kind of talk," she grinned slightly at Steve.

"You know what, Romanoff?" Steve asked, glancing at her with a grin on his face.

"He's out of comebacks," Zoe whispered across the table. "That can't be a good sign."

Natasha smiled at Zoe.

"So what does he want?" Fury asked.

"To become better," Steve replied. "Better than us."

"Better than the Avengers? Boy you talking crazy," Zoe said.

"But he'll try," Steve said, looking at Zoe a little more seriously. "He keeps building bodies…"

"Person bodies," Tony said. "Human form isn't efficient, by logically speaking we're outmoded, but he keeps going back to it."

Zoe frowned.

"And you two programmed him to protect the human race, you've amazingly failed," Natasha said sarcastically.

Zoe chewed her bottom lip, and looked into her ice tea glass. And she gave the okay for them to do so. Not that they knew that. Tony and Bruce were the only ones who so far still knew she was in the loop of the Peace Keeping Program. Natasha was right and Zoe had been right all along. She should've gone with her first instinct, but she was really rooting for Tony. It sounded so perfect with the way he'd described it before and now Ultron was a monster. Zoe looked over across the table as Clint picked up a chair, turned it around and sat across from it, leaning against his folded arms. She didn't miss his questionable eyes with what she was feeling right now. Very guilty.

"They don't need to be protected," Bruce said, walking up next to Natasha. He looked at Lila's painted butterfly. "They need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve."

Zoe looked up at Bruce. "How?" she asked at the same time with Fury.

"Has anybody been in contact with Helen Cho?" Bruce asked, around the table.

Zoe shook her head and chewed her bottom lip worriedly. It would make sense to go to her, now she knew why Ultron didn't kill her and Zoe when he tried to at the house party.


	57. Chapter 57: Last Project

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belongs to its respective owners. I am writing for fun and not for profit. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 57: Last Project**

 **Dr. Cho's Lab**  
 **Seoul, Korea**

The cradle doors opened and the machine moved across the body as it worked its scientific measures on the new body, creating cell tissue over the metal bindings, working with the vibranium that Ultron and Dr. Cho had implanted inside.

"It's beautiful," A mind-controlled Dr. Cho said, as she watched the cells work. "The vibranium atoms aren't just compatible with the tissue cells, they're binding them. "And Shield never even thought anything…" she began as she walked around to the open cradle.

"The most versatile substance on the planet," Ultron said as he looked at the cradle. "And they use it to make a Frisbee. Typical of humans. They scratch the surface, it never fails to look within," he said, as the burning power of the gem from Loki's scepter uploaded to the power of the body inside the cradle. The glowing gem floated out of the scepter and into Ultron's metal hand. He dropped the metal gem inside the body he was creating into the body's forehead. Power erupted around the metal attached to the body inside. Dr. Cho watched in amazement.

"This is how you create life?" Ava asked, walking into the lab. Dr. Cho looked at the young woman and smiled.

"Biology and Science are two beautiful things," Dr. Cho said.

Ava smiled. "Hmm, funny, and I know how to kill those things," she said.

"Now, now, ladies, let's watch the gem work its magic into the body," Ultron said. "It's beautiful, isn't it? This will end the Avengers, Ava. This will be my legacy," he cooed in a dangerous whisper as Ava watched the glowing circuits inside the body right before her very own mind-controlled eyes.

~*A*~

Barton Residence

Zoe looked into the bathroom mirror. She zipped up her Shield uniform tight and let out a tired sigh. She licked her lips as she looked at her face. Her face was plain. Even though her mother used to tell her she was beautiful, she knew deep down that when she looked in the mirror, she didn't see the beauty. It was plain. Pale and her cheeks were slightly plump. There wasn't anything special about it. She didn't wear make-up like most girls did, and she didn't wear much jewelry on her hands, fingers, or anything like that. She was strictly a woman dressed up in a uniform ready to go fight the fight ahead of her. All mothers told their daughters that they were beautiful. It was like written in the rulebook of 'How-to-Be-a-Mother' or something. It didn't matter. This was her life. She worked for Shield, and that was that. There was no light at the end of the tunnel for her, or at least she couldn't see one…save for getting Ava back. She chewed her bottom lip. Ava was her number one priority and she screwed that up too.

She swallowed a thick lump in her throat, and brushed her hair back over her shoulder and turned to look at the symbol on her neck she'd tried to scrape off. She drew her wavy brown hair back over it and turned the light off. She walked out of the restroom, and looked over at Clint as he finished tightening his wrist straps along his bisceps. She chewed her bottom lip and pulled a strand of hair, wrapping it around her finger.

"So much our training session," Zoe said.

Clint looked up from buckling the strap on his wrist. "Well," he said. "I have a proposition for you."

"I'm listening," she said.

"You're welcome to come back here, and train with me, for awhile, if we defeat Ultron."

"When," Zoe said, making him smile slightly. "When we defeat Ultron. But…I know there's a but coming."

"But you have to baby-sit," Clint said with a grin.

Zoe looked up and sighed. "I really don't…want to intrude, and um…if I can get Ava back…well…" she said, looking at Laura as she waited for Clint by the steps and then looked back at Clint. "Can I think about it?" she asked.

"Tell me after we've defeated Ultron," Clint said with a nod.

"Okay," she smiled. She looked over at Steve, who pulled on his gloves, and Clint winked at her. Zoe rolled her eyes. She got it. She got it. Now was the chance to talk to him. She sighed, and she walked over to Steve, fixing his Captain America costume, and she walked over to him down the hallway toward the living room where his Shield rested against the sitting chair.

He picked up his Shield and tuck it behind his quiver strap attached to his back.

"I'm taking Tasha and Clint," Steve said, thinking that Tony was beside them, but he found himself facing Zoe instead.

"And me," Zoe said.

Steve looked at her. "You're not going anywhere near him. It's too dangerous," he said, shaking his head.

Zoe rolled her eyes. "And what if Ava is there? She's dangerous, and I'll handle her. You just worry about Ultron. I know how to do my job," she said hotly, standing up to him. She glared up in his eyes and he looked down at her.

Steve swallowed hard, glancing down at her determined face. "I didn't say you didn't," he said.

"I heard the undertone, Rogers, I'm not amused," Zoe said, crossing her arms over her chest. She pierced into his eyes as they stared at one another until Tony walked into the room, speaking out loud and breaking their tension stare.

"Alright, strictly recon," Tony said, looking down at his black wristband around his wrist. "I'll hit the Nexus. I'll join you as soon as I can."

Steve let out a sigh, and looked over to Tony, grateful for the distraction. "If Ultron is really building a body," he said, walking away from her. Zoe rolled her eyes and threw her hands up in the air. She growled slightly and walked after them, sliding up next to Tony.

"He can be more powerful than any of us," Tony said. "Maybe all of us. An android designed by a robot, you know?"

Zoe looked over at Tony with worried frown. "We won't let Ultron get stronger. We'll defeat him," she said, giving Tony a gentle squeeze of reassurance. He gave her a small rueful smile. "Always have."

While her words were slightly comforting, Tony still thought otherwise.

"You know I really miss the days when the weirdest things science ever created was me," Steve said.

Zoe looked at Steve, and frowned. She looked down at the floor with a sigh.

Fury joined them not a moment later, as he strung his arms through his jacket. "I'll drop Banner off at the tower. Mind if I borrow Miss Hill?" he asked Tony.

"She's all yours, apparently," Tony said. "What are you going to do?"

Fury glanced from Tony, to Steve. "I don't know, something dramatic I hope," he winked at Zoe, and she smiled. Steve, Tony, and Zoe looked at each other.

Laura and Clint met in the middle of the hallway beside the staircase. Clint walked closer to her and pulled her into his arms, looking down at her with a small smile on his face. "I'm going to finish reflooring that sunroom as soon as I get back," he said.

"Yeah, and then you'll find another part of the room in the house to tear apart," Laura said.

"No," Clint shook his head. "Last project. Us."

Laura reached up to kiss him, and relish within the kiss before he took off with his crew. Zoe was about to leave but Laura called out for her. "Hey, Zoe..." Laura said.

Zoe turned to face her, holding a hand against the white beam of the house. She leaned her head against it and waited for what Laura was about to say.

"I don't know what goes on in that head of yours," Laura said. "But give it time. You can have this life too. Please do me a favor?"

Zoe looked over at Laura who now had a worried look on her face. "Fight for it," Laura said.

Zoe swallowed hard and looked around her quiet and beautiful yet peaceful surroundings. It seemed so real in Zoe's eyes. She wasn't sure that she could make it as far as Laura did, but Zoe felt Laura pull Zoe into a big hug, which caught Zoe majorly off guard, but she wasn't totally put off by it. In fact, Zoe hugged the woman back just to keep the hope inside of her. "I will. Thank you," she promised before she walked inside the quiet quinjet and sat down in her seat. She looked down at the floor, staring at it with grave eyes.

Clint piloted the quinjet and took off in the dark skies above them as Laura watched them fly up into the dark cloudy skies. She looked the other way with a grave look on her face, unable to help but worry.


	58. Chapter 58: Prophetic Visions

**Chapter 58: Prophetic Visions**

England

"The Water of Sight," Dr. Selvig said as they walked deep into the dark cave where a water pool swirled before their eyes. Selvig was carrying a box within the crook of his arm and Thor was right behind him. Ever since the Witch had shown him something in his dream with Heimdall giving him a warning about the future, he couldn't shake it away. It bothered him that he couldn't figure out what she showed him and he was determined to find it.

"In every Realm, has a reflection," Thor said. "If the water spirits accept me, I can return to my dream and find what I missed," he explained, kneeling down to the blue waters of the pool surrounded by rock.

"Men who entered that water," Selvig warned. "The legends don't end well."

Thor heard his warning, but in his mind, Thor knew he could handle it for he wasn't exactly a Man of Earth.

~*A*~

Nexus Internet Hub,

Oslo, Norway

"A hacker who's faster than Ultron? He could be anywhere," Tony said, glancing at one of the tech-members who was beside him dressed in blue and black. Two lab researchers stood beside him, one of them wearing goggles to protect their eyes from the light underneath the circle of the hub where Tony stood by the computers, and typed away, searching for the hacker "And if this is the center of everything," Tony explained to the tech crew. "I'm just a guy looking for a needle in the world's biggest haystack."

"How do you find it?" the young woman beside him asked.

"Pretty simple," Tony said with a nod of his head. He looked over at her over his shoulder. "You bring a magnet in," he drew in a deep breath and looked down at the computer screen of his searches. "Ooh, I'm gunna decrypt your nuclear codes and you don't want me to," Tony sang happily as he worked. "Come and get me."

~*A*~

England

Thor came up for air, water dripping wet over his hair, shoulders bare. He walked backwards a little bit, trying to get used to the feeling of being inside the Waters of Sight until a flash of fire entered his mind. To Dr. Selvig he seemed possessed by the dream as he looked dark and pensive.

Thor found himself back inside his dream with the candle lights dancing along the walls, young Goddesses and Gods dancing to music. He turned to see a statue of his father, Odin in the courtyard of Asgard Palace. It was starting to look familiar.

"Wake up," Heimdall said suddenly, gently shaking Thor by the shoulders with a tight squeeze of his hands.

Thor suddenly felt his lightning powers overtake his soul, and winced.

He could feel them not only in the dream, but in the Waters of Sight as well with his arms stretched and blue lightning striking across his bare chest.

But he pushed through the pain a little further to see Ultron, the cradle, and a bright light sparking into the skies through time and space, through the gem of Loki's scepter to outer space entirely that poked the gem out of the scepter and floated in space.

"Thor!"

He heard a voice belonging to Dr. Selvig, but he was somehow stuck in between space and time of his dream and reality.

"Extinction," Ultron's voice bellowed.

A flash image showed of Tony Stark with a smile on his face, and then another image popped up in a flash, showing Zoe Sawyer looking up and smiling, as a wave curl of her wavy ponytail bounced against her shoulder. She seemed to be talking to someone, but no one was there. She was looking back down at her tablet of information in her hands that read Infinity on the clear and crystal screen with different colored stones sparkling in Thor's eyes. Lightning exploded around the tablet, and sparked through space and time, back to the Waters of Sight as Thor held his arms out in the air.

More power sparked into his body as he felt the power of the vision flow through him, as he kept pushing further, and further into the yellowy gold and blue mixture of gas and matter of space and the milky way as the gem traveled far through space, breaking a piece of rock that exploded into a purple hazy glow of flare, traveling through red specks of an exploding gem. The Tesseract came to view and exploded into pieces until he saw four colorful stones of gold, purple, red, and blue.

Lightning exploded around him and he yelled at the intensity of the vision that clouded his mind.

~*A*~

Seoul, Korea

"Cellular cohesion can take a few hours, but we can initiate the consciousness stream," Dr. Cho explained as she uploaded the circuits into the back slot of Ultron's metal head.

"We're uploading your cerebral matrix," she said as the twins joined Ava who was watching with eagerness.

"Would that mean I can see into his death?" Ava asked curiously.

Dr. Cho looked at her, and chewed her bottom lip. "I don't know," she said. "I suppose once we've uploaded Ultron fully into the body you could."

Ava nodded, and leaned against the cradle, looking into the glass before her eyes to watch the laser beams roam over the body Dr. Cho was building for Ultron.

"I can read him," Wanda said. "He's dreaming…"

"I wouldn't call it dreams," Dr. Cho said curtly, leaning against the cradle as the machine moved along the body inside the blue glow of the cradle. "It's Ultron's base consciousness, informational ones. Soon-"

"How soon?" Ultron asked, cutting Dr. Cho off. "I'm not being pushy," he said reaching a comforting hand out to her.

"We're imprinting a physical brain. There are no short cuts," Dr. Cho said.

Just as Dr. Cho replied to Ultron, Wanda had placed the palms of her hands onto the cradle and closed her eyes, trying to peek inside his mind, and as she placed her finger on the cradle, a sharp hot wildfire-like sensation burned into her mind and she cried out in agony as the fire raged in her head unable to take what she saw.

Ava looked at her concernedly as Pietro quickly walked to her side so she could breathe within her brother's arms.

"Hey," he said gently, brushing a comforting hand over her cheek. It looked like she'd seen a ghost.

Ava furrowed her brows and frowned as Wanda recovered from her vision. She glared at Ultron, "How could you?" Wanda asked.

"How could I what?" Ultron asked, standing up beside Ava. Ava looked so tiny compared to Ultron, standing there beside the cradle across from the twins.

"You said we would destroy the Avengers," Wanda said with a horrified look on her face. "Make a better world!"

"It will be better," Ultron said.

"When everyone is dead?" Wanda asked, unable to help but be in pure disbelief now.

"That is not," Ultron began but then stopped. "The human race will have every opportunity to improve."

"And if they don't?" Pietro asked.

"Ask Noah," Ultron replied.

"You're a madman," Wanda realized, looking at him with wide and worried eyes.

"There were more than a dozen extinction level of ends before even the dinosaurs got theirs!" Ultron said.

What had she done? What had she gotten her and her brother into? What about Ava? She was mind-controlled because Ultron wasn't sure Ava would be on their side. He said it was just easier to have her as his own puppet for when the Avengers came to try and stop them. He'd promised that she would evolve too…but that wasn't evolving…being someone else's puppet. And neither was extinction. She had to do something and something fast before this got out of control.

"And when the Earth starts to settle, God throws a stone at it," Ultron continued when the twins were in stunned silence, and Ava stood there frozen in her spot, unsure of what to do. "And believe me, he's winding up. We have to evolve. There's no room for the weak…" Ultron leaned over the cradle and drew a hand across it, touching it as if it were his last love. While he was distracted, Wanda used her powers to un-mind-control Dr. Cho.

"And who decides who's weak?" Pietro asked.

Wanda was about to un-mind-control Ava when Ultron suddenly turned to face them. She turned toward her brother with a small frown on her face unable to get Ava free because Ultron was blocking her. Wanda chewed her bottom lip nervously. She looked at Pietro who gave her a sullen look, unsure of how to get Ava without Ultron noticing his own speedy powers in the lab.

"Life," Ultron replied with a laugh. "Life always decides." He looked up and heard something in his circuits. "There's incoming. The quinjet," he said, as Pietro pulled his sister and kissed her temple.

"We have to move," Ultron said.

"That's not a problem," Dr. Cho said as she walked over to her computer that was attached to the cradle machine. She hit a couple of buttons and the cradle turned off.

"Ugh," Ultron groaned, and shot an energy beam from his hand over to Dr. Cho. She fell to the floor, against her machines, unconscious.

The twins took off running down the hall, but Wanda stopped. Pietro stalled in his jog and turned to face his sister who had a look of concern written on her face. "We can't just leave Ava there!" she said.

"I know," Pietro said ruefully, glancing back at the lab, as he heard Ultron's cries toward them. "But I have a plan. We find the Avengers, and they will save Ava. I'm sure of it."

Wanda glanced at him in a bit of a glare, "If you're wrong about this…" she said, using her warning tone of voice Pietro knew all too well.

"Have I ever doubted you before?" Pietro asked. "We need to move," he said, picking her up. "I can only carry one gal at a time, sis. We'll find a way to get Ava back, I promise."

Wanda frowned, "You better," she said.

Pietro sighed. He hoped. That's all he could do was hope.

The twins disappeared into the busy city of Seoul in search for the Avengers.


	59. Chapter 59: Cradle Robbing

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to its respective owners, I just own my OC. I am merely writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 59: Cradle Robbing**

The quinjet was heading over to Dr. Cho's lab, and Zoe was standing beside one of the computer modules, attached to the side of the wall of the quinjet in search for the lab's coordinates. She pressed the on button and an aerial view of the beautiful city of Seoul came up before her. The skies were cloudy blue and the bridges down below were filled with cars coming to and from. Natasha looked over her shoulder after they dropped Steve off on one of the balcony buildings that would allow him to access a secure way to find Dr. Cho and hope that Ultron hadn't gotten to her yet.

"Alright, all set," Zoe said.

"Two minutes," Steve said on ear-comm's. "Stay close."

Natasha zoomed in and narrowed the screen to where Dr. Cho's lab would be, which settled on a small island with a bridge attached to the roads. "There it is," Natasha mumbled, as her eyes glanced from the screen to Zoe's face that seemed calm, but when Natasha really looked and studied her up close, the girl had a slight look of worry crease in between her brows.

"What?" Zoe asked, noticing Natasha's hard stare.

"Twins just freak me out," Natasha said with a shake of her head.

Zoe couldn't help, but let her lips turn upward into a small smile.

~*A*~

Steve ran into the lab, only to find the entire staff dead. A small burning sensation filled his heart. Bodies laid on the floor, unmovable. A feeling of dread and fear had passed this place, and swept so quickly as Steve's eyes roamed around the room for any sign of life. He looked down on the floor, and found skid marks from what it appeared to be wheels. Steve knelt down and took off his glove to run his fingers along the shiny floors beneath his feet. He inhaled and exhaled, the stench of death trickling inside his nose. He lifted his head up and became well alert at any sign for the twins or Ava, or even Ultron himself. It did seem eerily empty, though, so he wasn't sure what to make of it. He stood up from the floor and placed his glove back on, and turned to his earpiece, placing his hand over his ear so he could adjust it accordingly inside the alcove of his ear. "Zoe, can you find me her lab?" he asked.

"Straight through the hall, turn right," Zoe replied through his ear-comm.

"Copy," Steve said and jogged, taking her directions to heart, as he found his way to a lab that looked nearly destroyed by Ultron. Sparks flew across the room and glittered onto the floor. He heard whimpering and unsteady breathing at the corner of his ear. He ran through the lab only to find Dr. Cho shaking against the cabinets behind her as her head rested against them. She was out of breath, covered in hot sweats, and loosing consciousness. She was also bleeding very badly on her left shoulder. A dark and red spot covered her white shirt from Ultron's fire.

"Dr. Cho!" Steve said, reaching for the cloth on the cabinet. He quickly folded it and placed it onto the wound to try and stop the bleeding, but Helen reached for his wrist, curling her fingers around him to stop.

Steve looked into her fearful eyes and noticed the blood trickling down from her hairline down to her cheek. His heart went out to her and wished that he could have been there to save her from her injury. He wished none of this had happened….

"He's uploading himself into the body," she said.

"Where?" Steve said in earnest, as panic gripped his soul. He was about to get up, but she reached for him again and pulled him back.

"The real power is inside the cradle," Helen said breathlessly. "The gem it's power is uncontainable."

Steve widened his eyes.

Helen shook her head. "You can't just blow it up," she explained.

Steve frowned, for he could see the pain and regret in her eyes, the same pain and regret he'd seen when Barton was under the control of Loki's spell.

"You have to get the cradle to Stark," she said.

"First I have to find it," Steve said.

"Go," Helen said, and tightened his grip on his wrist. "He had a hostage with him."

"Who?" Steve asked.

"Ava," Dr. Cho said, and released him so he could catch Ultron before he would become too powerful for all of them to handle.

~*A*~

"Did you copy that?" Steve's voice pierced into their ears as Zoe and Natasha looked onto the screen in search for the cradle and Ultron. Natasha looked on one screen and Zoe looked on the other, side by side.

"We did," Clint said, peering out into the aerial view of the quinjet. He hovered over the bridges, lowering the quinjet gently to get a closer look of the winding bridges.

"I got a private jet, taking across town," Natasha said, reaching up to zoom in on the jet.

"I'm thinking he'd be a little more versatile than that," Zoe said, shaking her head. "Something level."

Natasha sent her a glare with the furrow of her brows. Zoe just shrugged.

"No manifest," Natasha said. "That could be him." She hated it when Zoe was right.

"There," Clint said, breaking both women's banter apart as they looked over at the pilot's view. "It's the truck from the lab. Right above you, Cap. On the loop by the bridge. It's them," Clint said after his computer confirmed it, highlighting the inside of the truck. "Got three with the cradle, one in the cab. I can take out the driver," Clint said, getting ready to fire. He gripped tightly onto the steering wheel.

"Negative, that truck crashes the gem could level the city," Steve said. "We need to draw out Ultron."

Zoe switched the screen onto the computer module in front of her so she could see where Captain America was. He'd managed to get onto the loop bridge and jumped down on top of the truck, landing with a thud. Even though she knew that Steve could take care of himself and handle himself in a firefight, she was still worried about him. Ava was still with Ultron and still under the influence.

"I should be there," Zoe said.

"It's too dangerous for you," Natasha said, glancing up at her with sharp gazing eyes.

"Maybe for Ultron," Zoe slightly agreed, looking at her. "But what about my sister?"

"Steve can take care of himself," Natasha said, reinforcing it in her mind. Zoe let out an exaggerated sigh.

~*A*~

"No, no, no!" Ultron cried, making Ava slightly jump. "Leave me alone!"

Steve crawled on top of the truck and climbed down so he could hang against the ledge of the truck where the doors were. Suddenly sparks of fire broke them open, startling Steve's mission, and left him hanging onto the doors for dear life. He was whacked and pushed against the truck in a harsh manner, and with the rest of his strength he pulled the door closed but Ultron shot another spark of fire out, which caused him to fly up in the air as the doors broke off and lowered down on the road as if it were a ramp. Steve reached for the edge of the truck and landed on the metal side of the doors that sparked along the edge of the road as the truck went at least eighty miles an hour down the bridge.

"Well, he's definitely unhappy!" Steve said. "I'm gunna try to keep him that way."

"You're not a match for him, Cap," Clint said.

"Thanks Barton," Steve said after he realized what Clint was trying to do. Lessen the pride; lessen the strength in his heroism to keep the fight going.

Inside the truck, Ultron pulled out his own wires from the back of his head, and the connection to the cradle was lost again. Ava watched with interest in her eyes. "Time to play," Ultron said.

Ultron pushed a mean force against Steve before he could climb inside. Steve flew backwards and crash landed on a car windshield.

In the meantime, the quinjet flew underneath the building's arch and into the city. It's fire boosters shot enough power to push them through and towards the fight with Steve and Ultron.

~*A*~

Steve jumped onto the green truck that zoomed by him and pushed himself with his weight and strength powers to haul himself toward the truck where Ultron was. He landed on top of the truck and found himself face to face with Ultron as he spun around to face the robot.

"You know what's in that cradle?" Ultron asked, flying up behind Steve.

Suddenly Steve saw Ultron shoot a fire energy beam at him and he turned to block it with his Shield that he carried on his back. "The power to make real change," Ultron said. "And that terrifies you."

"I wouldn't call it a comfort," Steve said, whipping out his Shield from behind him and tossing it at him, but it was quickly zapped back towards him with the fire energy beam from Ultron's hand. Steve caught it with his arm guard and Ultron flew up hire, shooting a few fire energy beams at him while Steve ducked Ultron's blows with his Shield. Steve jumped into a roundhouse kick and kicked his Shield with his foot when Ultron threw it back. It landed in the circuits of Ultron's chest.

"Stop it," Ultron said in biting anger. He ripped Steve's Shield out of his chest harshly with his hand and it fell down in the middle of the road. Ultron then shot another energy beam toward Steve, which caused him to fly backwards and land on top of the truck's front hood and glass window. He flipped over and gripped onto the edge so he didn't fall. Suddenly something sharp flew at him and stuck to his chest.

~*A*~

Natasha walked over to one of the hidden compartments inside the quinjet. Zoe pushed the button that opened the hidden floorboards like a sliding door and revealed a beautiful vehicle just perfect for Natasha Romanoff.

"I'm going with you," Zoe said, coming up beside Natasha. Natasha glared at her.

"What?" Natasha asked.

"I am going with you. My sister is out there, and I understand that Steve can handle himself. I'm not worried about him. It's Ava that I worry about," Zoe said with a glare of her own.

"Just let her Nat, we don't have time for this," Clint said. "Besides, may be enough to draw Ava out too. Maybe Zoe can get her to come back to us."

Zoe gave Natasha a look of agreement with a tilt of her head. "Doesn't hurt for another element of surprise," Zoe said.

Natasha let out a sigh. "Fine," she hissed through her clenched teeth. "Just be nice to the motorcycle, okay?" Natasha said, walking over to the other side of the quinjet and pressed another secret button that contained

Zoe smiled. "Of course, I will," she said.

Natasha walked back over to her own motorcycle, and threw her leg over the bike, and fit herself right on the seat. She scooted up to the front of the bike as close to the handle bars as she could get, ready for the mission ahead of her.

Zoe followed suit, throwing her leg over the motorcycle and scooted up onto the vehicle so she could grip the handle bars tightly. Natasha tossed her a pair of grip gloves. Zoe caught them in her lap and strung them on over her petite hands. She leaned forward and gripped tight so that her back was slender and leaning forward just like Maria Hill taught her.

"I got a window," Clint said in a warning tone for Natasha and Zoe to get ready onto their electric bikes. "Four, three, two, one…give 'em hell."

Zoe felt the drop of the motorcycle and land with a slight jump onto the ground as the two thick wheels hugged along the road. Zoe's pony tail flew behind her as she followed Natasha through Seoul's heavy loaded traffic, weaving in and out behind the woman with the red hair.

Zoe smiled as she felt the rush of the speed of her motorcycle, checking the speedometer at nearly fifty, almost sixty miles just to catch up with Nat because she was damn fast. She focused on finding small window gaps to weave in and out of, careful not to hit the cars as she passed them by, maneuvering the wheel with her tight grip.

"I'm always picking up after you boys," Natasha said as she picked up Cap's Shield and gripped it tight in her hand.

"They're heading underneath the overpass, I've got no shot," Clint said, glancing out of his pilot's view.

"Which way?" Natasha asked, placing Cap's Shield over the front of her motorcycle against the hook.

"Hard right," Clint said. "Now."

Natasha zoomed a tight corner passing by a blue car that nearly stepped on its breaks.

Zoe gasped and gripped tightly onto her handles as she pushed the throttle of her motorcycle as hard as she could to give her motorcycle a little more oomph and speed. "Ah," she cringed, closing her eyes tight as she turned right as she finally caught up with Natasha in a narrow ally flanked by two buildings where people waited to walk across the street. Zoe sighed. "Nice warning, Hawkeye," Zoe muttered in a slight teasing tone of voice.

Clint smiled as he looked down at his view of the traffic. Thank God, they waited across the street.

Natasha speed upwards and maneuvered her way into the shopping district of Seoul. She jumped over the hill, and Zoe followed not a moment later, landing with a hard thud. A screech of her wheels pierced her ears and she winced. Zoe had no time to think though. She had to speed up faster so she could catch Natasha's miraculous talent of speed driving her motorcycle that Zoe was nowhere near as good, but she pushed on with all her might and speed as much as she could without trying to break the speed limited laws in Seoul. That was tough to do, but she had to try.

Natasha saw the huge truck up ahead as soon as she made her way to the highway, and curved the motorbike so that she could tuck underneath the truck's wheels.

Zoe let out a hard gasp when she saw the truck in front of her and cringed, as she tried her best to scoot her bike underneath the truck's wheels and push herself upright. She exhaled a deep breath of relief when she'd managed to balance the wheels back onto its right side up. She relaxed her tightened muscles and tried to shake off the feared adrenaline that raced through her bones.

Natasha threw Cap's Shield up to his armguard and Zoe swerved her bike forward, spotting Ava climbing up onto the truck so that she could help Ultron fight Steve, since Ultron was in the loosing stance as it was. Ava could finish Steve off if Ultron needed her to.

Zoe zoomed forward, trying to get close enough to the truck. As she tried to keep her bike steady, and balanced, she put her foot onto the side of her seat, ready to climb up on the truck, but one of the mini-bots inside of her started shooting out blue energy beams from its hand. Zoe gasped and ducked as she saw the blue light emitted from the dark inside of the truck. She gripped onto her handlebar tightly and swerved the bike around the truck next to Natasha.

"Can you give me a boost?" Zoe asked, motioning a nod of her chin up to see Ava creeping up on Ultron and Steve.

Natasha glanced back at her, and nodded. "Here," she said, slowing her speed down so that it matched Zoe's. They still kept up with the speed of the truck in order to stay focused. Zoe looked at the small gap in between them and winced. "I won't drop you. Now," Natasha said. Zoe nodded and climbed up over onto her as she pushed the bike down. The bike whip lashed out from underneath her legs as Natasha pulled Zoe on in front of her.

Zoe curled her body around Natasha so that she faced her. Zoe then tried to balance her feet onto one of the side metal spokes against the bike so she could climb up onto Natasha's shoulders. "Sorry," Zoe cringed; as she gripped tightly onto Natasha afraid she was going to fall and break her head open, because Lord only knew that would be Zoe's luck.

Zoe's hands gripped onto Natasha's shoulders and she pushed herself upward so that she was closer to the truck's edge. Natasha took a moment, threading her fingers together so that her palms were upward. Zoe placed the flat sole of her boot into the palm of Natasha's hands and steadied herself, feeling a little wobbly as she got a good grip onto the Widow's hand. And without a bit of a warning from the Widow herself, Natasha used her agile strength to boost Zoe up onto the truck so hard that Zoe found herself rolling over into the middle of the truck, landing on her back.

Ultron dropped from Steve's grip, and Steve looked over to see Zoe try to get herself up before Ava could get to her. Steve jogged over to Zoe and helped her up, steering her away from Ava, so that he was protecting Zoe.

Meanwhile Ultron used his own powers to level the road upward, causing Natasha to slow her speed down. Natasha gripped onto the handle bars and hit the breaks hard that made her tip the bike over, nearly flipping itself over, as she was able to keep the wheel from turning completely on itself.

"Ava," Zoe began slowly, and tentatively.

"Nothing you say will make me stop," Ava said. "You got to know our mother. I didn't. And now, you get him? Is that fair?"

Steve looked down at Zoe with questionable eyes underneath his cowl, and Zoe gulped, fear rushing in her soul. She shook her head, having no idea what was going on in Ava's mind. Zoe noticed the blue hazy glow covering her hazel eyes.

Without warning, she shot her energy powers toward her but Steve jumped in front of Zoe, and ducked underneath the Shield. Ava growled, and raised her fists in the air to protect herself for whatever Steve was about to do to her.

Steve didn't want to fight her, but he had no choice. She was vindictive and hostile, under the mind-control influence of evil.

"Steve, don't," Zoe said, pleadingly as she daringly put herself in the middle between her sister and Steve. She'd take the hit if it meant stopping Ava from hitting Steve.

Ava pushed her glowing yellowy flare of powers onto Zoe and suddenly Zoe felt the affects of Ava's powers, as strong as cancer. Zoe's fingers automatically went to her throat as it tightened. She felt her oxygen tighten and loosen for she couldn't breathe.

Ultron and Steve had gotten into a rift before Steve could help Zoe, and Steve's feet were dangled in the air.

"You grow old Zoe," Ava said, advancing forward carefully as she could still feel the movement of the wheels underneath her, carrying the cradle inside the truck. "But you die of natural causes."

Zoe widened her eyes as her skin started to shrivel up.

"That's why he'll never be with you," Ava taunted.

"This…" Zoe gasped. "Isn't…"

"It is me," Ava said. "I can see much clearly now."

Zoe stumbled backwards as the powers overtook her. She could see her view of Ava darken. Her view was becoming unfocused.

At the same time Ava was trying to kill Zoe, Ultron picked Steve up while he wasn't looking and tossed him over the edge of the truck, but Steve reached for the edge of the truck so he didn't fall off.

"But I'm your sis…ter," Zoe said in a chocked sob. She backed into Ultron's metal arms suddenly as his fingers curled around her arms, keeping her still from falling off the truck. She winced at the cold metal feel against her neck.

Zoe looked around for Steve, but heard the loud crash behind her as two cars had twirled in the air.

Zoe was loosing consciousness, as Ava was mere inches away from her.

"We're family," Zoe whispered, feeling her eyes start to flutter close. She was dying; she was dying by Ava's powers because Ava knew what her future death was.

Steve leaped off from the car's underbelly and jumped up behind Ultron. Steve whacked Ultron from behind with his Shield, and let go of Zoe, who slumped to the floor of the truck. Ava watched as Steve twirled into a fight with Ultron, "Come on!" he shouted.

Ava knelt down beside Zoe as Zoe looked up into Ava's eyes. Zoe was near death in cold sweats from whatever strange hell Zoe was under. It couldn't be real, Zoe thought. It just couldn't be.

"What are you waiting for?" Zoe whispered. "Just…kill…me."

"I am, slowly," Ava said with a smile. "I have the ability to kill you fast or slow. This is more. That and I was waiting for Ultron to kick you to the curb, sister."

Zoe looked up and saw one of the mini-bots floating over her. He scooped her up in his metal arms when Ava stepped back and hopped up on one of the other mini-bots, as the guards dropped both girls inside the truck with the cradle.

Zoe rolled onto her back and coughed, feeling Ava's powers loosen their grip on her soul. She coughed, and gasped, desperate for some air.

"Clint, can you draw out the guards?" Natasha asked, trying to catch back up with the truck as she'd gotten cut off by Ultron.

Clint looked down from the view of the quinjet, and smirked. "Let's find out," he replied, steering the jet closer to the truck. He fired at Ultron in his metal face. Ultron was pissed as he'd tried to block out Clint's fires with his arms.

The guards looked out from the truck and spotted the quinjet in the air. The guards left the girls inside the truck and flew up in the air to catch Clint as he zoomed high and up in the sky.

They attached themselves onto each side of the quinjet. Clint looked out the window as he spotted one of the robots in blue glow, climbing up the outside window like a spider. The robot started to tear apart the glass window, while Clint kept them occupied.

Clint brought the steering wheel closer to him, flying higher, and twisted the steering wheel, twirling the jet higher to get the guards off of the quinjet. The two robots took off.

~*A*~

On the other side of town, Pietro and Wanda were watching the news as to what was happening with the Avengers and the cradle inside the truck. Pietro had seen the whole vindictive showdown between Steve, Zoe, and Ava. His heart tightened ruefully as he looked at his sister with worried look.

"So much for my plan," Pietro muttered.

Wanda nodded. "Looks like we have to get to them now," she said.

~*A*~

Steve pulled Ultron's arm off of his shoulder and tossed Ultron into the pillar attached to one of the bridges. With an unconscious Zoe still in the truck, Ava climbed back up onto the truck and crept toward Steve. Ultron barreled through the cement and flew back towards Steve with his ultimate powers. Steve watched with wide eyes and Ava took the perfect moment to jump into Steve's arms and tackle him to the ground. His arms curled around her small framed body as Ultron appeared, and crashed into the two of them, falling off the truck and into a moving train.

The passengers on the train screamed when Ultron, Steve, and Ava accidentally flew inside, breaking the windows as sparks flew everywhere due to their strengths combined.

The guards flew off toward the truck that was now free from any guarded robot, save for the driver. They zoomed down and sped their way towards the traffic of cars and closed in on the empty truck.

"Heading towards you," Clint warned to Natasha. "Whatever you gotta do do it now."

"On it," Natasha said as she zoomed and flew her motorbike as fast as she could. "I don't have eyes on Zoe," As Natasha sped her motorcycle through the alcoves and under hangs of the buildings and zoomed through the streets of Seoul, she tried to find any strangles of Zoe on the ground. She frowned. "Anywhere."

"Shit," Clint muttered. "Is she with Cap?"

"I don't know! I've been driving," Natasha said hotly as she found herself closing in on the truck.

~*A*~

Steve looked at Ava who was half-awake, half-conscious, impacted by their fall. He curled her gently out of his arms and laid her on the red seat. He stood up onto his feet and with the sole heel of his red boot, he kicked up his Shield to his armguard and tossed it at Ultron, who was quick enough to throw it back. Ultron zoomed underneath him, causing Steve to jump up and twirl over Ultron's fast metal body.

Ultron spun around and shot his energy beams at him but Steve blocked them with his Shield, and ducked underneath the hard substance of vibranium that allowed the energy to deflect against him, though not his balance. Steve fell backwards in a heap.

"I'm going in," Natasha said. "Cap, can you keep him occupied?" she asked. She would have asked if Zoe was there, but if Natasha could find him before he knew about a missing Zoe, she didn't want him to be distracted against Ultron. Ultron was proving to be a tough fighter for all of them.

"What do you think I've been doing?" he asked out of breath, leaning against the side of the train.

~*A*~

Natasha pushed her feet up onto the bike's seat and pushed herself up and into the truck. The bike smashed against a truck filled of blue barrels that trampled and exploded of water and waste.

Natasha rolled inside and gripped onto the floor of the truck. She got up and was about to walk toward the cradle until she stumbled over a body inside. She stepped back and took a look at Zoe. She widened her eyes and knelt down beside her. "Zoe," Natasha said, glancing at the girl for any injury, aside from red marks, and slight inciscions on her face, she was probably going to be fine with just sore muscles and bruises in the morning in various places of her body. It came with the job of being a Shield Agent, or any kind of mission like this.

"Zoe," Natasha whispered again, shaking the girl awake. Zoe coughed and looked up to see Natasha's red curly hair in her face.

"You need a hair-tie," Zoe said, making Natasha smile slightly.

"Can you walk? What happened?" Natasha asked, looking at Zoe's face that looked so pale, she wondered if she'd seen a ghost.

"I think so," Zoe coughed, as Natasha drew her in her arms, so that Zoe was sitting upright, back against Natasha's awkward but comforting arm. She used Natasha's shoulder for support to steady herself on her own feet.

Zoe placed the palm of her hand against her head. "Still dizzy," she mumbled.

"We're gunna get this thing out of here, just hang tight," Natasha said. Zoe nodded.

Zoe groaned, and rubbed her forehead in between her fingers. She groaned and ran her hands along her neck that was starting to come back to her. She'd coughed a couple more times as Natasha took a look at the blue glowing cradle.

"No sign of Ava, I'm guessing," Natasha said.

Zoe shook her head. Her throat was sore and she was exhausted.

"How," Zoe began but coughed and tried to clear her throat.

"Just breathe," Natasha said.

Zoe nodded, and leaned against the cradle for support, to regain her energy back. It was weird, Zoe thought. It really was like she was dying of some sort of natural disease. It was powerful and strong. What Zoe didn't like was that Ava could have killed Zoe on the spot, and she could have easily killed Steve too.

She looked down and sighed.

Natasha was on her way to getting the cradle out of the truck, unknowingly that the guards were attaching themselves right underneath the truck. And with the power of their blue boosters, they took the truck box away from the car itself, which caused Natasha and Zoe to loose their balance

Natasha's body flipped over, and she saw that Zoe was sliding down nearly out of the truck as she screamed for dear life. Natasha gripped onto her hand before Zoe could fall out, while she held onto the floor boards with her fingers.

Natasha let out a groaning wince and looked up to see the cradle attached to black straps. An idea occurred to her and she smiled at her brilliance. She looked back at Zoe who had a fearful look in her eyes, trying to hold onto Natasha's hand without slipping. She was trying so hard to pull herself up. "Grab onto my leg; I'm going to pull us back up to the cradle," she said.

Zoe nodded, and let go of her hand. Zoe's body slid against the floor until she reached for Natasha's right leg and she gripped onto it tight.

Natasha used the ends of her elbow to army crawl toward the cradle, taking Zoe with her. Zoe also pushed her weight against Natasha and tried to help maneuver the move so it was easier on her. Zoe was wincing through the awkward pain, but Natasha finally managed to grip tight onto the black strap.

"Kay, package is airborne," Clint said.

"Yeah, we know!" Zoe shouted inside the truck as she pulled herself up onto the cradle.

"I have a clean shot," Clint said.

"Negative, we are still in the truck," Natasha said in a rush.

"What the hell are you…"

"Just be ready," Natasha said, cutting him off through the ear-comm. "We're sending the package to you," Natasha said, as she knelt down and whipped out her knife, slicing the black strap away from the truck.

"How do you want me to take it?" Clint asked.

Zoe looked up from her own strap that she was about to cut off.

"Uh," Natasha said, feeling Zoe's eyes on her from the other side of the cradle. "You might not wish you hadn't asked that."

Zoe scooted forward and sliced the other straps on the other side with her knife and wrapped it around the cradle. She pulled it tight.

~*A*~

Ultron's hand grazed against the edge of the Shield's metal, causing sparks to fly in their faces. Ultron had Steve against the train's side, as he threw a punch into Steve's face. Steve ducked and swerved back to face Ultron who threw a punch at him again, but he ducked out of the way again.

Ultron threw a punch, Steve ducked, and then while Steve was distracted, Ultron threw another punch, managing to hit him squarely in the side. Steve let out a groan at the forcible impact.

Pietro sped in between the two foes, taking Ultron with him, so that Steve could have a breather. Steve fell against the seats. Wanda stepped beside Ava, and fluttered her fingers, as red energy flare curled around them, shooting her powers into her mind, so that Ava was back to normal.

Pietro then zig-zagged around him into thinking that he was behind Ultron, but Pietro was in front of him, and without warning, the metal pieces of the bars twisted into a gate-like X, trapping Ultron.

Ultron looked over behind his shoulder.

Steve sat up and looked behind him, where he'd left Ava. He saw the Maixmoff twins blocking Ultron.

"Please, don't do this," Ultron pleaded.

"What choice do we have?" Wanda asked, glaring at him.

He looked over at Ava for some death support but she wasn't herself. She was now just as scared as the rest of the civilians on the train as the wind blew inside the broken windows.

Ultron was about to shoot an energy beam at her until Pietro quickly sped to cover and protect his sister and Ava, while she strengthened the X-like gate in front of him, ready to use more of her powers if she needed to, even with her brother's protection.

Fearing that Ultron was outnumbered, he flew out of the flying train along the tracks.

"I lost him!" Steve said, running down the train. He pushed himself up in the air, jumping up as he tried to use his own strength and speed to catch up to him. "He's heading your way!" he warned his team.

Steve went to the front of the train, noticing the burnt hole inside the train's wall. He found that the driver of the train was dead and frowned. Ultron must've done that when he tried to escape Pietro and Wanda.

~*A*~

"Nat, we gotta go!" Clint said, glancing out of his view in search for Ultron as he hovered the quinjet in front of the truck as Natasha and Zoe attached the straps to the cradle. She could see the quinjet's open ramp ready for the cradle to fall inside. Oh, dear God… Zoe thought. This was not going to end well…

"Get on," Natasha said, placing a timer bomb onto the side of the truck.

Zoe walked over to the cradle and pulled herself up and over the cradle, so that her body covered the front of it. She gripped tight onto one of the opening slots and drew in a deep breath. She was facing the inside of the truck, while Natasha sliced the last of the black strap. It tightened around the cradle. Natasha then jumped onto the edge of the cradle, placing her fingers inside the tiny slots she'd found on the cover of the cradle.

Zoe gripped tightly as the cradle fell backwards, falling toward the qinjet. She felt her stomach drop again as she cried out unable to help but feel the heavy weight of the cradle underneath her. She struggled to stay on.

Natasha was barely onto the cradle as her legs dangled in the air. Both girls looked at each other, sharing a moment of triumph, until suddenly Natasha felt a tug pull on her leg against her own will. She lost her grip on the slot. Zoe reached for Natasha's hand. "Nat!" Zoe gasped.

"Let go, or we'll both be lost," Natasha said.

"No, I'm not leaving you-" Zoe cried desperately as she gripped onto Natasha's hand. She was also trying to keep herself from falling off.

But it was too late. Natasha pried Zoe's hand off as she fell backwards into Ultron's arms, leaving Zoe with the cradle, falling into the quinjet.

The truck exploded right in front of Zoe's eyes, and she heard Clint's worried tone of voice, "Nat! Zoe?"

"He's got her," Zoe whispered worriedly. She shakily stumbled off of the cradle as the ramp closed shut. She ran forward to Clint's side, and stopped breathlessly. "I tried," she gasped. "I tried to…" she winced at the pain that wrecked through her whole system. Adrenaline was coming off of her.

"I know," Clint said, and winced. "Cap, you see Nat?"

"If you have the package, get it to Stark!" Steve said.

"Cap, you have eyes on Nat?" Clint repeated.

Zoe peered out on the other side as Clint peered down into the city skies, searching for his best friend. "Steve!" Zoe said, trying to get his attention.

"Go!" Steve shouted.

Zoe and Clint shared a worried look, not liking the idea of leaving a teammate behind.

"Damn it," Clint said.

"Clint?" Zoe asked in shock, as he pulled up. He looked at her worried face, as she stood there breathless, chest heaving up and down from her rush of adventure on the streets of Seoul that probably could have gotten her killed hadn't it been for Natasha or Steve.

He shook his head. "He's right. We gotta get the cradle to Stark. We'll find her after."

Zoe frowned. Not only did they loose Nat, but she had no idea if Ava was safe.


	60. Chapter 60: Time Loop

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to its respective owners. I am writing for fun, and not for profit. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 60: Time Loop**

Steve turned to face Wanda and Pietro, facing the kid with the quick kicks on his feet. "Civilians in our path," he ordered. Pietro was too quick for Steve to tell him twice by zooming out of there and around the speeding train that had suddenly gone off track.

"Can you stop this thing?" Steve asked Wanda.

Wanda watched Pietro pick up a civilian or two from the pathway of danger.

Steve looked over as a couple of Seoul civilians were hunched over and trying to stay away from the harm, but Steve didn't think it was enough to save them so he covered his body over them as the window broke in pieces, using his shield to shield the glass away. Ava fluttered her eyes open to the sounds and noise that beckoned her back to reality, a fuzzy reality she found herself in, but with a familiar face, Captain America who was currently rescuing civilians. She frowned, furrowing her brows as she tried to remember her surroundings of how she got on a runaway freight train. She gripped onto her seat tightly and winced as she watched in curious awe.

Ava looked behind her as she saw the hole inside the back of the train and then looked over at a younger woman beside her before she ducked and covered her body over the young woman with soft brown and scared eyes as Steve used his shield to protect them from the falling debris as soon as the train hit through a brick wall. Steve shot his shield in front of him to try and protect as many people as he could. Ava wrapped her arms around the woman and tried to ignore the woman's futuristic death that was threatening to come up into Ava's mind. "No, no, no, no," Ava muttered to herself.

Something heavy flew in from the open side of the train that had torn apart earlier from Ultron's fly-in, and rammed Steve down to the aisle floor.

With all of her might and energy, she used all her forcible powers and shot out the red energy flare that encircled the train and the wheels. When Ava saw that Wanda had control of the train's speed's, she saw that the young woman was okay and not in any harm or danger after they've gone through the wall, she got up and ran over to help Steve up off the ground. She pulled his arm up and onto his feet. She helped him steady over to the side of the controls as smoke bellowed in their faces. Ava tried her best to ignore the fumes that flew into her face, but it irritated the back of her throat, so she coughed anyway.

"Are you okay?" Ava asked in the midst of her coughing once the train came to a complete stop.

Steve looked up and glared at her.

She chewed her bottom lip like she'd done something wrong when she was little.

Ava sighed and waved the smoke out of her eyes as the civilians all piled out of the broken rundown train in between what it looked like an apartment building and another building. It was a tight narrow space. But the people were more than happy to get off it and thankful to be alive.

Ava watched Steve walk away from her. "Steve!" she said, calling out to him.

He stopped in the middle of the threshold. He was just about to step off the train until she called him over. "Is Zoe okay?" she asked.

Steve tightened his jaw. Now all of a sudden she cared. Now all of a sudden he had three enhanced humans to deal with, whatever the hell they were and bring them to A-tower. Not only that but they had a missing teammate that they were going to rescue, if Natasha couldn't find her way home. Steve was certain Nat could find her way out, the woman was strong enough anyway. He took a deep breath and sighed. One thing at a time, Steve, he thought, taking in a deep breath. He let it out.

"I'm surprised you care," Steve said.

"I was under the evil-i, you know that," Ava said.

"Evil-i?" Steve repeated, scratching the top of his head.

"Evil influence," Ava said. "I didn't mean to try and kill her or you for that matter. I didn't want to kill anyone. Do you think I like having my mind played with that? Do you think I like being tinkered with for my entire life?!" she shouted as anger seeped through her bones and soul.

Steve's eyes softened as the anger drifted away from her. She lowered her head, and the curls of her hair dangled against her skin. "I'm going to let you in on a little secret, Steve. Well, it may not be a secret to you, but it was a shock to me and I made it my own little secret. I'm depressed. Any idea what it's like to look in a box and scream and try to claw your way out, try to ask for help, but no one listened to you for most of your life?" she asked in a small whisper.

Steve tried not to let his emotions take over, but he couldn't help it.

"Try being frozen for seventy years and waking up to a whole new century, not knowing a damn clue of what's really real any more," Steve said. "Or what you want to do for the rest of your life…"

Ava smiled, and she nodded. "I was grateful for Zoe to rescue me," she said. "I never got to tell her that," she swallowed in a tear. "And I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I've done. I'll understand if…you need to-"

Steve held up his hand and shook his head. He was honestly too tired to really do much of anything about Ava right now. She wasn't killing anyone. Truth is, Steve didn't think she really wanted to. It wasn't in her character. He could see it in her eyes that were a lot like Zoe's but these were sadder and haunted by her years of lost shining youth.

"Our little secret," Ava looked at him with hopeful eyes and then his smile thinned. "For now," Steve said. "So, wanna help me find the Maximoff's?"

"Thought you'd never ask," Ava said with a grin on her face. "Though, I don't think they're far," She said, taking the lead and Steve followed her closer.

"I just need a minute," Ava heard Pietro say out of breath.

"Not far at all," Ava muttered. Ava and Steve shared a knowing look that they've found them down a little ways by a building that appeared to be a consignment shop of some sort. It had a bike rested against the railing. Maybe it was another apartment building, Ava couldn't tel because it was mashed up with a blue sign in the Korean language and some mini posters tacked to the glass window behind Pietro who was sitting on a couple of boxes of random items.

"I'm very tempted not to give you one," Steve said.

Pietro looked up at Steve and Ava crossing over toward them through the weave of straggler train riders, trying to recover from the freight. Ava and Pietro shared a small look and she gave him a questionable look as if he was going to be okay and he nodded.

"The cradle, did you get it?" Wanda asked Steve.

"Stark will take care of it," Steve said confidently.

Wanda listened to his words as it registered within her frightened soul. She shook her head. "No, he won't," she said.

Ava glanced over at her worried look on her face and frowned.

"You don't know what you're talking about," Steve said. "Stark's not crazy."

"He will do anything to make things right," Wanda said defiantly.

But Steve didn't want to believe her.

Ava frowned, as she started to understand Wanda. The memories of her with Ultron made her shiver. She hugged herself for warmth. Ava was with Wanda on this one.

"It's true, Steve," Ava said, barely audible, as she cleared her throat. She tried not to mumble but it came out that way anyway.

Steve didn't want to believe them. He didn't want to believe some kid with strange powers he didn't know of but it was gnawing on his skin, and it made him worry that she may be right.

"Stark," he said, turning to his earpiece. "Anyone on comm's?" Steve said a little more firmly.

Wanda and Ava shared a worried look when no one answered.

Nothing.

Steve lowered his head down in hopes that she would answer, "Zoe?" he asked.

Ava looked at Steve to listen in, but all she heard was silence. That made her frown and worry within her tiny heart.

"Ultron can't tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it," Wanda explained. "Where do you think he get's that?"

~*A*~

As soon as Clint pulled to a stop at A-tower's platform, Zoe unstrapped her restraints from her shoulders. She'd calmed down after the fact she'd just lost Natasha from Ultron's grasp, but she was still upset and lost. Why couldn't she just save her? Why did Nat have to be so goddamn stubborn?

Clint had called in the crew to alert they had arrived and the cradle was rolled into the lab with A-tower's immediate staff members. Zoe had to admit Maria was on-point and damn good about being fast when it came to this kind of stuff that Zoe could never own up to her status in her lifetime.

Clint turned around in the pilot's seat and looked up from the floor to Zoe's face. Within the mask she wore to protect her emotions, Clint could see right through her as if she were a ghost. There was nothing but silence in the quinjet, a mutual silence between two partners who lost a partner in action on a mission that should have been a simple smash and grab.

Ultimately, Ultron decided to take something of theirs too. Clint tightened his fist in a ball and Zoe looked up to see anger riveting from his hunched body. His forearms leaned against his knees as he tried to calm down.

"Clint," Zoe said. Her voice was soft but stable and firm.

"What?" he snapped, lifting his head up to meet her eyes.

Her eyes furrowed at his harsh tone, and her heart heartened at the sound that came out of his lips. Zoe let out a scoff and rolled her eyes before she got up from her seat and walked inside A-tower, following the pathway of the cradle to Tony's nifty lab. She wanted to know what they were dealing with that was so much trouble they had to loose a teammate.

Clint watched Zoe leave the quinjet. She didn't stomp away, she just walked out. He sighed, and leaned back in his seat, glancing up at the ceiling.

He got up from his seat and jogged to catch up with Zoe inside the hallway that winded into the elevator. She stepped on, and the doors were about to close until a hand slid inside so that he could step inside to join her. Zoe reached forward and pressed the button to the floor that the lab was on.

"I know what you were going to say," Clint said after awhile of silence.

Zoe's tired eyes slanted sideways to the archer.

"You were going to say," he continued after a dead air of silence filtered between them. Clint cleared his throat and tried to do his best Zoe impression. "Clint, she'd want us to complete the mission because that's the Tasha thing to do."

Zoe furrowed her brows in confusion and looked over at him, gawking at his weird impression of her. "I don't talk like that, Clinton Francis Barton."

"Well you do call her Tasha. I call her Nat," Clint said, beaming with a smile on his face.

Zoe rolled her eyes. "I call her Nat too sometimes, and besides…she would want us to finish the mission then go rescue her even though I didn't peg her for a damsel in distress."

"Me either," Clint said, as a thought crossed his mind. He leaned into Zoe a bit. "I pictured you to be the more likely one."

Zoe gaped at him. "Excuse me?"

"Well, you're human; she's got the whole weird enhanced abilities…the whole Widow thing…" Clint said.

"If you're trying to make this thing between us any better, it's not working," Zoe said.

Clint sighed. "Yeah, sorry," he ran a hand behind the back of his head. "I don't know what I was thinking trying to mend this sorry ass relationship back together…sounded good in my head."

Zoe couldn't help but giggle and throw her arms around Clint's bare shoulders to give him a tight hug. "We'll get through this, I promise. Cap will come through."

"You have a strange taste in men, little girl," Clint looked at Zoe.

Zoe cleared her throat and let go, straightening her suit up a bit before the doors opened and landed them right in the lab.

"Okay listen I said I have faith in him, that does not mean I like the guy," Zoe said, unable to help but turn pink within her cheeks.

"You didn't say that either," Clint said.

Zoe widened her eyes and looked over at him. What? "It was implied," she cleared her throat, spinning around on the balls of her feet with her hands by her head, trying to calm down her feelings. Oh, no, no, no, Zoe thought. She could not like Steve. No, no, she couldn't like him. She thought she was passed this already! They didn't kiss in the Hydra Base when he found her, so therefore she was cool with moving on.

She thought she'd gotten over it and that it was quick because of course he was a superhero who was like seventy something years old and that would be like dating a vampire without the whole blood-sucking thing and sun-killing you thing. Zoe tilted her head in thought. She wondered if there anymore of that super-serum stuff hidden anywhere…she shook her head. No. It probably got dismantled along with Shield and everything else. She sighed and buried her face within the palm of her hand. God, she thought. Her feelings had to go away.

She cleared her throat, "And I am not little," she said.

"So what's in the Cradle?" Clint asked.

"I don't know, Legolas, pry it open, let's see what's inside," Tony said, pointing to the cradle in the middle of the lab that glowed blue inside.

Clint frowned, but Tony wasn't kidding when he pointed over toward the cradle. He sighed. Alright, fine. Tony pulled Zoe's sleeve, and dragged her to the side as Clint joined Bruce to the cradle. Clint got up on top of the cradle, surprising Bruce who'd about given up trying to pry it open with his bare hands and without turning green. He didn't feel like destroying A-tower. Tony would never let it down.

"What's the word?" Tony asked.

Zoe turned from Clint and Bruce to Tony and her lips frowned, "On?"

"Anything, Nat, Ava, Steve…" Tony said.

Zoe frowned. Feelings aside again, the mission had to be the focus. "Well, last I remember, Steve was going to meet us back here once we got the cradle, and Nat tucked safely away from Ultron, our "Peace Keeping Program"," Zoe said, motioning air-quotes in the air with her fingers. She was not a happy camper. She was one step away from snapping at someone.

"I know," Tony cringed. "I know it looks bad, but trust me on this, I have an idea," Tony said.

"What idea, Tony?" Zoe let out a tired groan.

"You'll love me forever, and ever," Tony said with a grin.

"Doubtful," Zoe said.

"Okay fine you'll love Cap forever and ever," Tony said.

"Don't, even, go, there," she said dangerously, giving him the deadliest glare she could muster right now.

Tony backed off as they walked further inside the lab.

"Any word on Nat?" Bruce asked.

Zoe and Clint shook their heads.

"Sorry Bruce," Zoe said sympathetically.

Bruce nodded, and Zoe could've sworn he'd gotten a little shade of green underneath the light, but it was swift and fast within a blink of an eye that you could almost miss it if you didn't stare at him, and Zoe tried really hard not to stare at him.

Tony frowned at his buddy. "Well, she's gotta be alive, or Ultron would be throwing it all over our faces," he said.

"This is sealed tight," Clint said, swinging his legs around the front of the cradle so he could hop down. He ran his hand along the metal cover of the cradle.

"We're gonna need to access the program, and break it down from within," Bruce explained to Tony.

"Mhmm," Tony said as Clint walked away from the cradle, placing his hands on his hips.

Zoe stood in between Bruce and Tony, looking at him curiously, lost in thought.

Tony turned to face Clint who looked over his shoulder. "Any chance Natasha might leave you a message outside the internet, old school spy stuff?" he asked.

Zoe raised an eyebrow. That was good thinking. Why couldn't Zoe have thought of that one? Zoe chewed her bottom lip, completely frustrated. Probably because her head wasn't exactly all there. There was too much going on in her mind that just needed to think.

Zoe crossed her arms over her chest and placed one foot in front of the other. She crossed her ankles as Bruce started tapping into the program while Tony spoke to Clint.

"Yeah," Clint said, already walking out of the lab. "I'll find her."

Zoe was about to follow Clint until Tony yanked her collar back, and she stumbled right into Tony's chest, nearly smushing her chin into his hardened flesh. "Work out much?" Zoe asked jokingly.

Clint arched a curious brow at them just as Zoe gave him a shrug of her shoulders before he descended down the stairs into the computer lab below.

"Tony," Zoe mumbled. "Please don't kill me," she said in a small voice. Tony's head looked down at her in his arms encircled around her small frame. She wasn't that small, maybe five feet and two inches tall, but she was small to him. She sometimes felt like an ant around him even if he did seem to care about her too.

He pushed her slightly away from him and she stepped backwards inches away from him. "What is going on?" she asked now that Clint was downstairs and working on trying to find Natasha, too busy to pay any attention to them. Zoe wondered if that was just a ploy to get one less mind off of Tony's little plan up his sleeve that Zoe noticed in his gleaming eyes.

Zoe sighed, and was about to open her mouth again but Tony placed a finger to her lips to get her to close them and shut up while Bruce worked his scientific brain and spoke, "I can work on tissue degeneration if you could fry whatever operational system Cho implanted," Bruce said.

It was like Bruce spoke another language to Zoe's ears. She tried so hard to understand it, but she just couldn't.

"Yeah, about that," Tony said, running his hand behind his head. Zoe twisted her lips into a frown.

Bruce stopped his work, fingers dangerously hanging low from the cradle's buttons, and looked over at Tony.

Tony and Bruce shared a look until Bruce suddenly realized what Tony was thinking.

Zoe frowned as she scratched the side of her forehead.

"No," Bruce said suddenly.

Zoe turned to face Bruce.

"You have to trust me," Tony said, walking around Zoe as he stepped closer towards Bruce.

Bruce walked backwards as he held his hands out, "Kinda don't," he said, and looked over to Zoe. "Now would be a good time to get on my good side and stop his madness, Zoe."

"He has a mind of his own, Bruce. What the hell do you want me to do shoot a bullet in his mouth? He'd die and then we'd have no Iron Man," she said. "Sides, I thought we had that covered."

Tony rolled his eyes at the two and continued forward with his wonderful thought process. "Our ally the guy protecting the military's nuclear codes?"

Bruce sighed, and placed a hand over the cradle as he placed his glasses back onto his nose.

"I found him," Tony said, flipping his device from his back jean pocket and up came a disheveled Jarvis.

Zoe's mouth dropped open in pure shock. So, he didn't die and crumple away into dust particles or whatever it is he would have turned into.

"Hello Dr. Banner, Miss Sawyer," Jarvis greeted.

She let go of her tense stance. "Jarvis!" she cried. "I'd give you a hug, but you're…"

"I understand, Miss Sawyer," Jarvis said. "It's nice to calculate your voice again."

For the first time in a long time, Zoe found hope.

"So, what does this mean?" Zoe asked.

Tony turned to her, "Ultron didn't go after Jarvis because he was angry," he said, glancing from Zoe to Bruce. "He attacked him because he was scared of what he can do," Tony said.

Bruce and Zoe shared a look, Zoe the confused one more so than Bruce, but Zoe let Bruce take a look at Jarvis with more thought as Tony continued.

"So Jarvis went underground," Tony said. "Right? Scattered, dumped his memory, but not his protocols. He didn't even know he was in there until I pieced him together,"

Zoe looked over at the orangey glow inside the middle of the lab, resting beside the cradle. Poor Jarvis.

"So," Bruce said, trying to calculate this right. "You want me to help you put Jarvis into this thing," Bruce said, pointing to the lifeless form of tissue inside the cradle that looked a lot like a body. It creped Zoe out and she didn't want to go near that thing, but what Bruce was saying was a little out there to her ears.

"Nooo, of course not," Tony said, stepping beside the cradle so that Bruce and Tony faced each other. Zoe sighed, and crossed her arms over her chest as she listened closely. "I want to help you put Jarvis into this thing."

"And you just assume that Jarvis's matrix can beat Ultron's…?" Bruce asked.

"Jarvis has been beating it from inside without knowing it," Tony said. "This is the opportunity! We can create Ultron's perfect self without the homicidal glitches he thinks are his winning personality. We have to," Tony said.

"I believe it's worth a go," Jarvis said.

Zoe sucked in her cheeks so that her cheekbones puffed out in pure thought and let out a sigh as she looked over at Jarvis. "Jarvis are you sure you want to do this? I mean you'll have to fight him head on…" Zoe said worriedly.

"I can handle it, Miss Sawyer," Jarvis said defiantly.

Zoe smirked. "Aren't you adorable?" she said sarcastically.

Bruce let out a small groan, and threw his hands up in the air. "I'm in a loop! I'm caught in a time loop! This is exactly where it all went wrong!" Bruce said, trying to get Tony and Zoe to both see reason now. Were they so desperate for this?

"Zoe," Bruce said sadly. "Why? Why go along with it when you know the outcome could be fifty-fifty?"

Zoe bit her lip. "It's a chance I'm willing to take," she said. "Tony's a genius and so are you. You two are the only ones I trust with this program…" she winced even at the thought of Ultron crossing her mind and crushing her knife at the party. "Even if you did create a slightly larger and scarier one…but since Jarvis was kicking ass already, and fighting it from the inside, maybe he can on the outside…Tony has a really good point here, and if I'm being honest, truly honest with myself…" she sighed. "Some of us don't want to be soldiers for the rest of our lives."

Bruce frowned at those words from Zoe's lips. He hadn't thought it like that for her at least. She got into Shield an early age, at the start of college, at least. No chance for romance for her. No chance for a family. But Bruce knew Tony and he had good intensions and heart but he didn't want to make the same mistake again. He was worried. He didn't want to create another monster on a world he'd grown accustomed to. It wasn't all bad.

"I know, I know, I know what everybody's gonna say," Tony said, walking over to Bruce to calm him down. "But, they're already saying it. We're mad scientists," Tony said, clamping a hand over Bruce's shoulder, giving it a tight friendly pull. "We're monsters buddy. We gotta own it. Make a stand."

Bruce sighed as Tony released Bruce's shoulder. He shook his head and looked down at the ground.

"It's not a loop," Tony said. "It's the end of the line." He said and looked from Bruce to Zoe.

Zoe looked at Tony, feeling the feels around the room between the three of them starting to form a bond. Was it possible? The end of all monsters? A world without monsters for soldiers? A world with just normal life? Was it possible? Sure she had an enhanced sister, but if all Zoe had to worry about was to just take care of her from now on and nurture her for the rest of her life until Ava was back to normal again…Zoe wouldn't mind doing that and maybe just maybe with Jarvis inside this body if it worked…Zoe could find a family. Maybe she could fall in love with Steve. It was worth a try. And if they find Nat, Bruce could be with Nat. Clint could go back to his family. Tony could be with Pepper. It was worth a try, she repeated in thought. Steve wouldn't have to worry about wars or missions anymore. Tony was onto something and Zoe was going to stand behind him. Besides no girl should ever have to grow up without a mother for the rest of her adult life, missing out on everything like weddings, and family stuff...even if Zoe didn't get a chance to do all of that.

Bruce finally looked up at Tony and then at Zoe for confirmation. She swallowed hard, and a thick lump went down her throat, already riding on the motions through her once again. She gave her final answer in a nod of silence to Bruce and Tony let out a sigh of relief. He patted Zoe's shoulder lightly as he walked away and together the two mad scientists got to work while Zoe stuck around to watch in case anything went wrong.


	61. Chapter 61: Vision Born

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to its respective owners. I am writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 61: Vision Born**

Inside the abandoned ShiledHydra Base, Ultron had set up shop to create many more of his robotic-selves. The noise of the machine twisting and creaking had woken Natasha up from her deep slumber.

Molten glows of fire blazed in her eyes as she looked at her surroundings. Machines laid in what appeared to be grave-like structures formed all around her in layers and layers of metal and rock.

She was lying on her side and staring at Ultron who turned to see her wake. She narrowed her eyes at the metal piece in front of him and she frowned, staring into his red electric eyes.

"I wasn't sure you'd wake up," Ultron said. "I hoped you would. I don't have anyone else," he said, as Natasha moved her arms to use her left over strength to pull herself up, listening to his smooth and haunting voice that chilled the room in such an eerie way it made Natasha feel really uncomfortable. "I think a lot about the meteor, the purity of it. Boom, start again. The world made clean for the new man to rebuild," he said. As he spoke to her like a wounded child, someone who would listen, she steadied her upper-body slowly up, as she tried not to let his cold words get to her. He turned to face her.

"I was meant to be new, I was meant to be beautiful. The world would have looked to the sky, and seen hope, seen mercy, instead they'll look up in horror because of you." He said, glowering his eyes at her. Natasha leaned herself up against the brick wall. He walked closer to her. She looked up at him in slight fear. He was so tall and huge, he was so metal. She watched him walk closer to her and then stop in his trek. "But like the man said, what doesn't kill you, what doesn't kill you," he shoved his metal hand inside the back of his metal skull and crushed his body into pieces. The metal pieces flew inside the small cell as Natasha gasped in shock and crawled backwards as Ultron grew twice the size she thought he was already. Her eyes widened and she felt her heart sped faster against her chest as he backed her inside the cell.

As soon as Ultron closed the door on her and locked her inside, he turned around to get back to work on his army, and she glanced around inside of her cell and what she had to work with. As soon as she saw the radio transmission, she immediately began to work.

~*A*~

While Tony and Bruce worked on trying to put Jarvis into the body that Ultron was trying to accomplish, Clint worked on trying to find Natasha down below the lab inside the computer and communications room where he had everything set up. In truth, he was surprised that Zoe hadn't come down to help him try to find Nat. He thought for sure that she would have, which made him frown slightly until he heard static through the headphones that rested on the desk. He looked at his screen as he saw the frequency line spike. The static sounded familiar to his ears, and the spike appeared to be in some kind of code, so he put the headphones to his ear, so he could listen in more closely and turned up the volume.

Morse code. Clint recognized and then he got it when it repeated in code and the coordinates got louder. He smirked. Nat was alive and he could find her. He turned to the computer next to him and typed in the coordinates, fingers flying along the keyboard until a city came up in view. He highlighted it and magnified the aerial view ten-fold. "Well, I'll be damned," he muttered, leaning back in his seat. Sokovia.

~*A*~

"Spring work is not compatible," Tony said, typing on his keyboard and glancing at his computer screen on the second level behind Bruce.

"The genetic coding colors are at ninety percent," Bruce said, turning to Tony, as he walked around the cradle. Zoe stood at the very end of the cradle, watching the two geniuses work as fast as they could. She was getting nervous by the second as they called out the scientific codes in their field in tones that either sounded bad or sounded rush.

She was starting to wonder if this was a good idea at all. It sounded wonderful at the time, it even sounded beautiful the second time around and Tony had such a hopeful look on his face and her heart always went out to him when he showed a vulnerability that was never shown in public. It was the side of Tony that Zoe could familiar herself with. It was probably why they got along so well.

"You have got to upload the schematic in the next three minutes," Bruce ordered Tony, as he looked underneath the cradle, his head beside Zoe's hip as she took a step back to give Bruce some room.

"I'm gonna say this once," Steve said, stepping harshly onto the platform. He glanced between Tony and Steve.

"How about nunce?" Tony challenged, glancing up from his keyboard.

"Shut it down!" Steve ordered.

Bruce looked up slowly from his work when he noticed Pietro, Wanda, and Ava had come forward. Zoe was staring at Ava who had a bit of a worried look on her face.

"Not gonna happen," Tony said, walking away as fast as he could over to his second set of machines and computers that were attached to the cradle.

"You don't know what you're doing," Steve said defiantly.

"And you do?" Bruce said, looking up at Steve.

"Just hear them out, Steve," Zoe said tentatively, stepping closer to the middle of the lab right between Tony and Steve.

"And I can't believe you're apart of this!" Steve said, glaring at her. "I don't know what to believe out of you anymore, Zoe. You're all over the place."

Zoe furrowed her brows at him, words stinging her ears and heart. "Steve…" she said with a frown.

Bruce glanced between the exchange and glared at Steve, "She's not in your head?" Bruce said, pointing to Wanda.

Zoe turned to face Wanda who gulped beside her brother. Wanda looked over from Steve, Zoe, and to Bruce before stepping out from behind Steve.

"I know you're angry," Wanda said, wanting to reason with him.

"Oh," Bruce said with a slight scoff. "We're way passed that. I can choke the life out of you, you'd never even change a shade."

Zoe gulped, and lowered her hand to her side holster where her weapon was kept, feeling the tension growing thick in the air. "No one needs to turn green," Zoe said slowly in a warning tone of voice.

"Banner out of everything that's happened," Steve tried again but Tony's voice overpowered him in the lab, and Zoe looked over at Tony.

"That's nothing compared to what's coming," Tony said, gritting his teeth together.

Zoe looked back at Steve and tried to hold his gaze. Tony had a fearful look on his face and if he knew something that was coming to destroy them, this may be their only chance to save lives.

"Please just listen-" Zoe began but Wanda stepped forward to speak up again.

"You don't know what's in there," Wanda said vehemently. "The creature-"

"This isn't a game," Tony argued with her.

Pietro and Ava shared a worried look on their faces and he gave her an eye roll. Ava watched him speed around them so fast; she didn't have time to blink until after what he did. He was beside Bruce with a huge black cord in his hand.

By that time, Zoe had grabbed her gun out of her holster and in her hands, gripping tightly until her knuckles turned white in fear of what might happen, and had it drawn to the floor. She was breathing heavily in shock and fear, stuck in a room full of superheroes.

Everything shut down around the room, and the room grew quiet save for the sound of a beeping warning tone coming from the computers as the program died down.

"No, no, go on, you were saying?" Pietro said a little bit cockily as he looked at Tony who turned to face him with his face, crest fallen. What the hell did he just do? Tony was going to kick this kid's ass.

Zoe felt frozen in her spot, and her mouth was slightly ajar. Now what?

Suddenly a gunshot fired and Zoe spun around to face Pietro noticing the gun had come up from the glass floor beneath him. She turned to face Steve who gave her a questionable look. She shrugged. "I didn't do it, I swear," she said, holding her hands up in defense.

But in a sudden movement, Pietro fell from the glass that felf into the second lab downstairs. "Pietro!" Wanda cried in alarm as he fell.

Clint walked up to the kid before he could get up and placed the sole of his boot over his hip so he didn't move.

Pietro looked at Clint with confusion in his eyes. "What?" Clint asked with a smirk on his face. "You didn't see that coming?"

Meanwhile, above the lab's hidden treasures, Jarvis's main frame on the computer read Power Loss Critical and the beeping blared around the room.

Inside the cradle, a red hand jerked awake, but nothing else moved. Tony turned around quickly in panic, "I'm rerouting the upload," he said.

"Zoe?" Steve asked.

Zoe turned to face Steve and looked at him into his blue eyes that were filled with emotion.

"Duck," he said, and she ducked when she realized that he tossed his shield across the room that bounced off the cradle and hit over to Tony's machines and rammed into the machine over by Bruce, trying to stop Tony from doing any more damage that already occurred into his eyes. Sparks flew above Bruce and he ducked, covering his head. Wanda ducked as the sparks flew across the room, brightening up the lab like a Christmas tree.

Zoe whirled around in panic, as he'd called for his maroon Iron Man glove, covering the palm of his hand. Glass dropped everywhere in tiny pieces and onto the floor, showering Tony, who seemed unfazed by it as he got ready to shoot at Steve.

She stepped in the middle between Tony and Steve. "Don't you dare," she warned Tony, but it was too late, for he'd already shot a fire ball across the room, and Zoe stood there in complete shock. She was frozen stiff, unable to move until Ava pushed her out of the way before the fireball could hit her. Instead it hit Ava's shoulder and back as she'd pushed her sister out of the way.

Bruce suddenly came up from behind Wanda, pulling her back before she could do anything about it. "Go ahead, piss me off," he whispered dangerously in her ear.

Steve glared at Tony as his upper body suit came forth to him and wrapped around his back and shoulders.

"Steve," Zoe called to him in panic as she rolled Ava over onto her side, who was shaking from Tony's blast. Steve jogged over to Zoe and knelt down beside them, taking a look as the blood seeped out of Ava's clothes. Zoe was shaking beside him as fear took over her. "I don't know what to do…" she said shakily, holding Ava into her arms. Ava's eyes were rolling to the back of her head and she was loosing consciousness quickly.

"We need to get her out of here," Steve said, glancing around his chaotic surroundings. "I think I can-" But Steve was caught off guard when Tony moved to try to fix the machines again. "Hold on," he said and whirled around to rush after him.

"Steve!" she said, desperately trying to get through to him, as Tony suddenly whirled around and charged after Tony. Steve punched Tony in the chest that sent him flying backwards into a sheet of glass that also sent Steve flying back across the lab and down the stairs, tumbling over due to each other's matched strength.

Clint sprung up on the staircase and clicked his weapon, ready to fire if needed as he saw the chaos around the room.

He looked ahead of him when all of a sudden Wanda had used her powers on Bruce. Wanda elbowed Bruce in the stomach that caught him off guard, and released her. She whirled around and shot her red energy powers to get him off of her with all her might.

Zoe looked up in alarm as she heard Bruce's low growl and panic gripped her. She looked around her and reached for her gun on the floor, ready to shoot if needed until Thor suddenly appeared and jumped onto the cradle.

Wanda looked over her shoulder, staring at the God of Thunder, stopping her powers in alarm. Steve got up from the ground and looked at Thor as he stepped onto the cradle. Zoe looked over her shoulder as well, as she hugged Ava closer to her body who whimpered in Zoe's arms.

Thor raised his hammer in the sky and lightening erupted around the entire lab. Strokes of light and power filled the room as Zoe ducked and covered her eyes from the bright white lights from Thor's heavy lightning power that seemed to go from the hammer toward the cradle. "Wait!" Bruce tried to stop Thor, but it was too late. Zoe lowered her body over Ava to protect her sister from the lightning.

Thor lowered his hammer onto the cradle as the power of the lightning surged through and overtook the cradle and the body at the same time, as though Thor was giving power to the lifeless body inside.

Zoe panicked. Why? Why would Thor want to do to this? Did he know something they didn't?

A slither of silence filtered around the room until the cradle burst open, and pieces of metal, and glass flew around the room. Everyone ducked for cover as the pieces showered around them and a man sprung to life, landing on all fours, covered in a sweat of smoke.

Thor looked up from the ground and pulled himself up onto his feet. Tony looked over at the new creation from his side of the room, unsure of what to do.

When Zoe got the bleeding to stop, she lowered Ava to the ground and slowly turned around to face whatever life form Thor had created that everyone was so fixated on.

She looked at the man covered in red. Lines of metal etched in between his body, and sculpted around him that made him almost look like a red statue when he stood there, unmovable. Was he thinking? Was he alive? Zoe could see his muscles tense and move, a good sign he was alive. A feeling of cold dread washed around Zoe as he stood up on his feet like he was testing the waters of where he stood right now. He was tall, taller than what Zoe would have liked because he was standing right over her. He could probably crush her and Ava given the opportunity, which he had at his very hand, but he didn't seem to try to kill them, at least for now.

He glanced around the room before his eyes landed on Thor, and that's when he attacked.

Zoe gasped and ducked as she saw him leap off the cradle's edge. He jumped up into his flying powers and flew over to Thor, but Thor was quick enough to hold his torso and toss him over toward the tower's window. The man stopped himself before he could crash any more windows and looked outside.

Steve reached down for his shield, attached it to his armguard and ran out of the lab and into the lounge area of A-tower, jumping down onto a platform, ready to fight him, but Thor held out his hand toward Steve to stop him. Steve froze, and frowned at Thor in curious thought.

By this time, Clint had scooped up Ava into his arms, and helped Zoe lower Ava onto one of the couches when he saw that Bruce was still Bruce.

Thor placed his hammer down on a shelf, and slowly crept closer toward the creature that was looking at the city's sparkling lights outside A-tower. The room was quiet, while Zoe sat beside Ava, her hands covered in her sister's blood from the wound Tony accidentally gave her.

Zoe was taking care of Ava, and looking back over her shoulder every so often, while Thor who seemed unsure himself as to how to react to this new creature before them. Clint said he was going to get the first-aid kit from the lab for Ava's wound, and told her he would be right back.

Pietro zoomed downstairs next to his sister Wanda who'd joined them, and Bruce came up from behind them in pure shock.

Zoe fixed Ava's head onto the pillow and covered Ava's body with the blanket that was resting along the couch. Steve was standing right beside them.

"I'm sorry that was…odd," the creature spoke, and Zoe blinked as he opened his mouth and talked to them. He sounded a lot like Jarvis. He turned to Thor, and nodded his head in thanks. "Thank you," he said.

Thor let out a sigh of relief and as he sighed, a golden cape appeared from his metal shoulders.

"Thor," Steve said. "You helped create this?"

"I had a vision," Thor explained to Steve. "A whirlpool that sucks in all of life and in that center is that," Thor pointed to the golden gem in the middle of the creature's forehead. It glowed in Zoe's eyes as she looked at it completely awestruck by it.

"What the gem?" Bruce asked, slightly confused.

"The mind stone," Thor said. "It's one of the six Infinity stones, the greatest power of the universe, unparalleled in its destructive capabilities," he said and turned to Zoe. "Which I'm going to need you to research by the way," he said.

"Then why would you bring it?" Steve said before Zoe could say a word to Thor.

"Because Stark is right," Thor said.

"Oh, this is definitely the end times," Bruce said worriedly. Zoe looked up from her sister to Bruce and gulped.

"The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron," Thor said.

"Not alone," the creature said.

"Why does your vision sound like Jarvis?" Steve asked. Zoe looked from Steve to the Vision and drew in a large breath. She wasn't prepared for any of this.

"We…" Tony said, taking a brave step forward toward the Vision. "We configured Jarvis's matrix to create something new."

"Think I've had my fill with new," Steve said.

Zoe was slowly starting to agree with Steve on this one. Maybe it was too soon. Maybe it was too weird. Who's side was this guy on? She was frozen stiff in her spot, beside Ava who was slightly turning her head to face the red and golden creature in the room. She felt weak, and awful, but Zoe was okay, and right beside her, that's all that mattered. She smiled and closed her eyes, letting the heavy exhaustion in her body take over her and tried to sleep to the sound of the Vision's voice.

"You think I'm a child of Ultron," he said.

"You're not?" Steve asked in complete disbelief.

"I'm not Ultron," the Vision shook his head. "I am not Jarvis either," he looked at Tony and Bruce.

"I looked in your head, and saw annihilation," Wanda said.

The Vision turned toward her. "Look again," he said.

"Yeah," Clint scoffed. "Her proof of powers will mean jack to me," Clint said, walking back into the room as he crossed the middle of the lounge area. He was carrying a first-aid kit for Ava as he glared from Wanda to the Vision.

Wanda looked over at Clint as he made his way over to Zoe. He handed her the first aid-kit and she set it down on the shelf beside her. She opened it up and sighed, glancing inside to see what tools she could use that would help her sister.

Zoe lifted a strand of hair that had fallen into her eyes and pulled it over the curved shell of her ear. She opened up the first aid kit, as he stood beside Steve, arms crossed over his chest. Not happy.

"Their powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself, all came from the mind stone," Thor explained. "And nothing compared to what it could unleash."

Zoe frowned listening to Thor's booming voice around the lounge room, as she took one of the warm towelettes and wiped the blood off of her hands before she could begin to clean Ava's wound.

The one good thing about Tony's pulsar's is that while it may seem like a bullet had hit you, it wasn't a bullet lodged into Ava's shoulder so the blood loss wouldn't be fatal. She grabbed the aloe-vera bottle that was mixed in with some water and sprayed it on to a clean cloth she found after she discarded the bloody towel from her hands.

"But with it on our side," Thor continued until Steve cut in. He glanced at the God of Thunder.

"Is it?" Steve asked. Steve turned to face Vision and Zoe looked up as the substance seeped into the cloth and into the palm of her hand. "Are you, on our side?"

"I don't think it's that simple," The Vision said simply after a thoughtful look appeared on his face.

"Well it better get real simple real soon," Clint said.

The Vision looked over at Clint as his words clung to the Vision's ears with meaning. He turned to face the Avengers. "I am on the side of life," he said, looking over at Zoe. Zoe chewed her bottom lip and stared at him with curiosity. "Ultron isn't," he said.

Zoe went back to cleaning Ava's wound, dipping the cloth over her back and shoulder. "He will end it all," the Vision continued.

"What's he waiting for?" Tony asked.

"You," the Vision replied, looking at Tony.

"Where?" Pietro asked.

"Sokovia," Clint replied. "He's got Nat there too."

"If you're the monster that Ultron made you to be," Bruce said, as he bravely stepped closer to face the Vision. Tony watched curiously with his arms crossed over his chest.

"What will you do?" The Vision asked Bruce.

Bruce tried to study him and figure out where the Vision belonged. He looked down, unable to reply, so the Vision continued with his explanation. "I don't want to kill Ultron," The Vision said. "He is unique. And he is in pain. But that pain will roll over the Earth so he must be destroyed. Every form he's built, every trace of his presence on the net, we have to act now," he said. "And not one of us can do without the others."

After Zoe was done cleaning the wound, she took out a tube of medical gauze filled with honey and healing enzymes to help heal the wound much better for her that would take the sting away. Ava was shaking in Zoe's arms as Zoe held her body against her.

Pietro looked over at the shaking Ava and walked over to help Zoe. Zoe watched Pietro gently take Ava in his arms and helped Zoe so that Zoe could have easier access to her wound. She smiled as he held her gently against his body, rubbing soothing circles against Ava's back, trying to calm her down. Zoe smiled her thanks and placed the honey-like gauze on Ava's wound so that she could finish dressing it up and put a bandage on it. Ava leaned her head against Pietro's shoulder as she tried to stop her body from shaking.

Zoe reached inside the first-aid kit and rummaged through the various items that were inside, in search for a bandage and some tape to cover up the wounds.

"Maybe I am a monster," The Vision said, glancing at his hands in slight confusion. "I don't think I'd know even I were one."

Zoe looked over at him and bit her lip as she found two gauze bandage pads and ripped them open. She took two pieces of tape from the tape dispensers and placed them on her dry fingers. She sighed and looked from Pietro's warm eyes to Ava's wound and winced. She placed the bandage on top of the clean wound and gently pushed it onto Ava's skin. She tightened the tape so that the bandage would stick over the honey-glaze like gauze that should help with the process of the healing wounds on her shoulder and back.

"I'm not what you are," The Vision continued. "And not what you intended," he faced Tony.

Pietro lowered Ava to Zoe so that Pietro could finish Zoe with her wounded back, and placed the bandage on the wound.

"So there may be no way to make you trust me," The Vision said, turning around. "But we need to go," he said and all of a sudden Thor's hammer flew into the Vision's hand and his maroon-flesh fingers curled around it.

Zoe turned to face the Vision as he held Thor's hammer in his hand. Pietro and Zoe glanced at each other with curious looks as the Vision handed Thor his hammer back and walked out of the room, leaving everyone completely stunned. Thor furrowed his brows curiously.

Thor looked back at Bruce and Clint who had confused looks on their faces. Clint's mouth dropped open as Thor tapped his hammer against the palm of his hand as if it were nothing.

Um… Zoe thought curiously. Wasn't it all decided that no one could hold Thor's hammer but Thor? Did that mean the Vision was worthy? She frowned.

"Alright," Thor said, walking passed Tony. He patted Tony's shoulder in appreciation. "Well done."

"Three minutes," Steve said.

The Avengers turned their heads to face Steve. "Get what you need."

Zoe ran the back of her hand over her forehead and started to put everything away. She looked over at Steve as he looked back at her. They shared a curious moment with each other that made Zoe frown in question. Why was he looking at her like that? She chewed her bottom lip and looked over at Ava who'd finally stopped shivering thanks to Pietro's soothing comfort. She sighed, and watched Steve walk away from his team, leaving them in stunned silence, but Zoe wasn't going to take this. "I'm sorry, do you mind for a second?" she asked, glancing at Ava, as she sat up from her seat. Pietro smiled at her and shook his head.

"I've taken care of my sister most of my life. Ava's not so bad," Pietro said, sending Zoe a small smile. "I don't mind at all."

"Thank you," Zoe said, giving him a gentle squeeze and took off after Steve.

He was not going to slip away this time.


	62. Chapter 62: Battle Armor

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to its respective owners. I am writing for fun and not for profit. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 62: Battle Armor**

"Steve!" Zoe called after him, as she jogged down the hallway, leading to an armory.

Steve's shoulders slumped and he stopped walking. His tall silhouette stood there in the darkness with only dim lights from above the ceiling that filtered around the narrow hallway. His tall form almost touched the ceiling.

She could hear his deep breaths from where she stood, and she took a couple steps closer down the hallway, while Steve turned to face her. She stopped walking and held her breath. His eyes held a steely expression, as his eyebrows furrowed, narrowing at her small frame as she bravely continued to walk forward.

"We don't have a lot of time," Steve said that made her stop so she was mere inches away from him.

"I know," she said, swallowing hard. "I just…can you please listen to me, so I can explain?"

Steve looked down at his boots and then back at her and into her eyes, waiting for him to answer. "Alright," he swallowed hard. "One minute," he said.

She drew in a deep breath and flexed out her fingers, trying to calm her nerves down. "I know you hate Hydra, and everything about it. I know you've always resented me because of my ties to Hydra, and I get that. But I'm paying for my mistakes and my family's mistakes the best way I know how. I knew that when I joined Shield, I joined the right side. I could see it in Fury's eyes," she paused and licked her lips. She looked up into his eyes as they looked down at her, listening to what she had to say. "I didn't mean to betray you, Steve. I didn't mean to…I didn't mean any of it..." Zoe choked back a sob, and instead of letting out a small cry like she thought, she masked it with a sigh. She took in a deep breath and looked back up into his ocean blue eyes that she could get lost in forever. "I know I'm not the sweet, and happy once bright eyed Zoe you met before all this. I'm not a next door neighbor you can just easily talk to either. I've said things, done things I'm not proud of. But I guess that comes with the territory of being a Shield Agent, playing both sides. You don't get to draw out your emotions like a normal person."

"Former," Steve said that made her look up from the ground. She felt the ends of her ponytail curl around her neck as hope filled her heart once more. What? She thought curiously as Steve spoke a little more clearly to her. "Shield no longer exists."

"There's still Hydra," Zoe muttered disdainfully.

Steve's lips curled into a small grin on his face. "Or what's left of them, but last I checked, the Avengers destroyed their last known base, and everyone in it," he said. "And, I rescued Zoe Sawyer, the Avenger's Information Specialist."

"Who sometimes helps the Avengers during battle?" Zoe said, smiling underneath her eyelashes.

"Who should be sitting at a desk, safe and sound, behind a computer where I know no harm will come to her," Steve said as a matter of fact. He was acting like a concerned leader for one of his fellow teammates in which he generally considered her part of the team.

Zoe stepped a little further to close the large gap between them, and Steve arched his eyebrows curiously. "But, you know me," she said. "And you know I don't just sit by idly for long while you're out there having all the fun."

"War is hardly fun," Steve said in a more serious tone. His playful tone of voice disappeared.

"I didn't say war was fun," Zoe said. "That's not what I meant."

Steve sighed, and ran a hand over the back of his neck. "Zoe, can I ask you something?"

"Anything," she said with a nod. She could feel her heartbeat quicken against her chest.

"Why'd you go along with it? With Stark, I mean," Steve said, glancing back behind her shoulder.

Zoe frowned. She swallowed hard and tightened her jaw. "I just…I thought…" she sighed, and looked down at the gray tile floor beneath her feet. She sniffled and looked up at him, blinking her eyes as tears fell down her cheeks. "I just really want world peace," she said in a small squeaky voice that made her heart twist. Even though it sounded completely cheesy and maybe even a little cliché, she still wanted it with all of her heart and she would do anything to achieve it.

Steve's face softened at those words and how Zoe appeared before him. He wanted that too, but in all his line of work and experience, he wondered if life after this was even possible. Could it be possible? Or would there always be wars that Steve would have to fight for? And it wasn't like he could always take Zoe with him into the firefight because that wasn't fair to her either.

"And I thought," Zoe said, trying to contain her tears as she wiped them away with the pads of her fingertips. She let out a deep breath. "And I thought that maybe we could have a life together. The Avengers wouldn't be needed, and it could just be you and me."

Steve's lips dropped, and he stepped closer, taking one of Zoe's upper arms into the warmth of his hand and pulled her closer toward him. She nearly stumbled forward, for this sudden move of his hadn't even crossed her mind until she suddenly realized what she just said. She widened her eyes and gulped.

"Oops," she said.

Steve tightened her arm, "Oops?" he asked.

"Um," she winced, desperately wishing she'd just stop talking right now, but she was coming up short on how to recover from her declaration.

"Zoe," Steve said. "Do you love me?" he asked.

"I…" she began, but nothing was coming out. She was speechless. "Um," she said, panicking on the inside.

Steve looked at her frightened facial expression.

"Cap? Zoe?" Clint's voice broke them apart, and Steve loosened his grip on her.

Zoe could've hugged Clint right then and there for his impeccable timing. She narrowed her eyes at Clint.

"Sorry to disrupt, but while we have a minute, I would like to show Miss Sawyer something since I'm assuming she'd want to Avenge for her sister and all," Clint said, sending them a small smile. "You know, just in case…"

Steve looked from Clint to Zoe. Zoe licked her lips closed and shrugged. She looked over at Clint and nodded.

"And the people of Sokovia," Steve added.

"Right," Clint said with a smile on his face. Zoe smiled as well. "Of course."

Steve looked back at Zoe. "No," he said. "I don't mind."

Zoe let out a sigh and was about to go with Clint down the hallway toward the armory, but she stopped and let out a deep breath. She spun on her heel and walked up to Steve. She stopped mere inches away from him and placed a hand on his arm, so that she could pull herself up to his height and kiss him on the cheek. His skin was so soft against hers that it only wanted to make her heart burst in the strangest way when she kissed him. She tightened her grip on his arm a bit to keep herself from falling. She steadied herself back on her feet and she looked into his confused eyes.

"I do like you," Zoe said. "Even love."

She smiled at him, and he smiled back at her slightly, as she walked down the hallway with Clint, leaving Steve completely stunned.

She walked briskly beside Clint as they rounded the corner that lead them down to an armed set of weapons. "Have a good talk?" Clint asked. Zoe didn't miss the mild hint of humor in his tone of voice. She couldn't help but smile. "I hope so," she said.

"Good, in that case, I have an early Christmas present for you," Clint said as they stopped besides his armory set that was opened full of trick arrows galore.

Clint stepped in front of the armory doors and opened them up to reveal a gorgeous set of knives all lit up. Clint pressed a few buttons on the side of the door that allowed rows and rows more of different kinds of knives all in different designs for Zoe to use whenever she needed it.

"How?" Zoe asked, completely speechless.

"Called in a few favors," Clint said, leaning against the doorframe, smiling at her expression on her face as it lit up with the utmost joy he'd ever seen on her in a very long time, and he admit it, it made him happy to see her at least somewhat happy.

She frowned suddenly and turned toward him, "But Ultron destroyed my knife," she said.

"Well, you better be careful then," he said, taking a knife from her set, and twirled it in his hands. He threw it across the room, and it landed in a mannequin that was meant for practice. It blew up in pieces, causing Zoe to smile in awe. "They're a might tricky."

Zoe grinned and spun around, unable to help it. She pulled him into a hug, nearly toppling him over the door. Clint let out a chuckle. "Don't thank me," he said. "Steve helped too."

Zoe's drew her arms away from Clint's neck and she looked at him with confusion in her eyes. He straightened himself out, pulling on the edges of his wrist bands over his arms. "What?" she asked.

"Just know, it was his idea," Clint said with a small shrug of his shoulders. "I just set it all up and made it your style. Cap would never admit it, but do us men ever really admit our feelings to you girls?"

"I think the preferred term is women," she said, shoving him lightly, making him chuckle "Now, let's get a move on. We have a city to defend," she said, and started to pick out which knives would suit her well in battle. Not only did they have to defend Sokovia, but they were going to find Natasha too. She just couldn't believe what she'd done to deserve it, but she was grateful and she wasn't going to let Steve down, no matter what.


	63. Chapter 63: The Mission

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to its respective owners. I am writing for fun and for profit. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 63: The Mission**

It had taken Steve a long time to consider Zoe's character and her motivations for what she's done in the past. She was right. He hated Hydra and everything involved with it, and when he learned that she had a hand in Hydra, he wanted nothing to do with her, no matter what she said. It broke his heart because he generally did like her, even as a friend. He never considered the possibility of furthering their relationship forward. He didn't know that much about her in all honesty and truth that had come to light.

His last love was Peggy Carter. They never got to share a dance. They never got to do much of anything except… Steve sighed at the bitter memory that seemed it was yesterday he'd flown that plane into the water, saving the lives of billions of people. He wasn't regretting saving people, it's what he'd always wanted to do. He just never accounted to find someone so strong and fierce like Peggy Carter and share the same beliefs into fighting for the good of the people.

"Peggy, this is my choice," Steve said over the radio. Silence. He took out his locket and placed the picture of her on top of the dash, and pushed the plane further down through the clouds and to the waters down below. Steve was preparing himself for this moment.

"Peggy," Steve said.

"I'm here," she said.

"I'm gonna need a rain check on that dance," Steve said.

"Alright, a week next Saturday, at the club," Peggy said.

"You got it," Steve said.

"Eight o'clock on the dot, don't be late," Peggy said. "Understood?"

Steve listened to her voice and stared out at the window with fear in his eyes, but her voice soothed his soul as he plunged forward. "You know, I still don't know how to dance," he said.

"I'll show you how," Peggy said. Steve could hear her smile. "Just be there."

"We'll have the band play something slow," Steve continued, trying to keep things light as he could. "I'd hate to step on your…"

But it was cut off...and all that could be heard on the radio was static.

Steve sighed, as the memory drifted across his mind. The next minute he remembered was waking up in a makeshift room where everything seemed vaguely familiar to him, like he didn't die at all. He woke up in New York City the next morning and his life changed forever. He found Peggy, alive, but growing old and mentally ill. She remembered him once they started talking again about the past. It wasn't the same though. Steve eventually realized he'd have to move on. It was just going to take some time.

He never accounted to meet the Avengers, or the people that surrounded him in Shield. It was mission after mission and saving the world. And here comes along a woman like Zoe, who just wanted peace in the world, much like Steve, and wanted to be with him because of what he stood for. At least he'd gotten that part right. They had that in common at least. But what else? Did she like music? Did she like to dance? Did she get jealous of other women if they kissed men she liked? He'd like to find out that much about her if he could. He knew little about her, and she knew a lot about him. She had told him that she admired him and wished she could be more like him, and worked hard every day.

She was…interesting. He thought she was going to be overbearing at first, but she turned out to be relatively normal. It was hard to find someone normal in this day and age. Steve would give her that and she did generally care about the welfare of others, indicating she had a noble heart. She'd proved that with Shield and trying to help defend New York, even if she was stuck there by Loki's doing, she stayed, and didn't run. And she wasn't running now. She wanted to help. She always has. Steve had to admit that he did like that about her. She had her own motivations and her own skill set. She was trying to be a better person, even with her own complications in her life, and her own past torn apart. Steve winced at the memory when he learned of her family being apart of his own past he'd tried to save. Zoe had been different from her family, or at least he thought she was until she joined Hydra... "But it was for the benefit of the Avengers," she'd apologized numerous times before. She did provide Intel, the location of Hydra's base in Sokovia.

And she didn't seem to want to dwell on it any longer. She wanted to move on and so did he. It was time he moved on as well. And maybe, Steve thought curiously with a smile on his face, maybe they could move on together and get to know each other, if they made it through this battle ahead of them…if they could defeat Ultron together. Steve grimaced. There was always that big if. The big If always made things almost impossible for Steve to have a normal life with a normal relationship with a normal girl like Zoe…He looked over at Zoe as she strode across the room wearing her black Shield uniform. She looked fit to battle against Ultron, and while he didn't like that she was coming along, she seemed well-prepared to take the fight head on, but Steve wasn't going to let her fight alone. She would be fighting along somebody in Sokovia and helping with the evacuation.

Steve would never forget about Peggy Carter, but as a few people he'd met in his newer days in the twenty-first century, he could move on. He'd tried to move on. He'd always reverted back to her, but he'd try.

She fixed the thick straps tightened around her arms that were covered with knives, her weapon of choice. Her ponytail was wrapped up in a high messy bun with two strands of brown hair that dangled against her neck in curls, showing off the Hydra-symbol, scratched out by her fingernails or something sharp. She walked over to her sister, lying on the couch, and planted a kiss on top of her forehead. She stayed there for awhile, watching her sister rest on the couch. This was one of the safest towers in the city, where Ava could be safe and away from Ultron.

Steve sighed and hooked it to his back strap that tightened around his shoulders and over his Captain America uniform. He watched Zoe look over at her sister fondly and smiled. He was glad that Ava was recovering and not vindictive anymore. That would've been a scary feat to be had, and Steve wasn't sure how they'd continue to handle it.

While Tony and Bruce had ultimately created Ultron, she was responsible for her actions. She would fight. She had to fight back. Ultron was not who she thought he was, and she couldn't help but feel like she was partly responsible for it because she could have stopped Tony and Bruce. She could've stopped them and she didn't. This was her mess too, and she wanted to help clean it up, which was a brave thing to do in Steve's mind.

But Steve was tired of making promises he couldn't keep. At least he got to talk to Peggy again, which was nice, but if he made the same promise right now to Zoe, no matter how he felt, it wouldn't be fair. The burning sensation in his heart was too real. He could say a million things to her, but he would wait to tell her how he truly felt about her. Steve nodded at the thought across his mind as he looked away when Zoe turned to look over across the lounge area, where Ava laid across the couch, covered in a warm blanket.

He looked over to the side of the stairs as Tony and Bruce gathered together, ready to go. Steve walked over to his fellow team members, taking a seat along the steps.

"No way we all get through this," Tony said, glancing warily at Bruce and Steve. "If there's even one tin-soldier standing…we've lost. There's going to be blood on the floor," Tony added.

"I got no plans tomorrow night," Steve said, smiling slightly up at them.

"Iron Man's what he's waiting for," Tony said.

"That's true. He hate's you the most," the Vision said as he walked passed them.

Tony arched an eyebrow at those words out of the Vision's mouth. The Vision walked passed them and toward the platform where the quinjet was waiting for the Avengers.

Pietro, Wanda, Thor, Clint, and the Vision joined the rest of the team, dressed up in battle gear, respectively, ready to go.

Clint sat in the pilot seat and started up the engine, listening to the sounds splutter to life from the quinjet's cockpit. Pietro and Wanda stood in the back of the quinjet quietly, as Pietro looked at the earpiece that was handed to him by Zoe. Zoe handed one to Bruce, and Tony, Wanda, Thor, and finally Steve.

"Here," she said. Her fingertips brushed lightly against the palm of his hand that made him shiver a bit. It was a feeling she hadn't felt in a long time, a spark she thought was only a memory.

"Thank you," Steve said, and watched her sit down in her seat across from him.

Zoe took the earpiece in her hand and fixed it inside the small alcove of her ear.

Silence filtered the quinjet, a somber silence between the Avengers, save for Zoe's anxious habit of pressing the button on a knife that was strapped to one of her knife holsters. She'd strapped on as many knives as she could fit around her arms and boots, especially if she could hold the weight of her own body with them strapped against her. She was strong, but she wasn't Natasha Romanoff strong. The sound of her knife's blade coming in and out of the hilt registered in her ears and around the quinjet's unnerving silence. She wasn't even sure she was going to make it. She'd said her goodbye's to Ava, and left her at A-tower. Ava couldn't be in the battle because she wouldn't last, and Zoe was afraid of loosing her. She didn't want to loose anyone else, but the dead silence was real.

Ultron was strong and they needed the Vision.

Like he said, they needed each other. If Zoe was going to die, she'd want to die swinging, and with that she'd needed to remember all of her training from the past. She wanted to be good and prove to them that she could handle herself. She wanted to prove it to herself, too. What she could do was use her own set of skills the best way she knew how, by being totally creative as she possibly could be. It was going to be hard, but she was willing to try because it was her choice and no one else's. Not even Steve's.

She let out a small sigh and leaned her head back. She expressed her feelings for Steve. Her true feelings and they were about to go into battle. Why couldn't she just keep her mouth shut and quiet? Why did she have to blab? She frowned. At least she told him with honesty and truth of how she felt about him. She had liked and admired him ever since he came across her files, ever since Coulson couldn't stop talking about him to her and how strong and admirable he was for saving the world during World War 2. Maybe she'd gone too far. Maybe she shouldn't have said anything. At least the part where she loved him, but during her days with Strucker, she just kept thinking about getting back to him and to the team, and to Shield. He was her hero, no matter what. If he liked her, great, but if he didn't that would be fine too. She'd move on…she winced at the thought as her heart tightened at the sudden bitter thought. Though, it would be really hard to move on. She should've just kept her feelings to herself. The wave of feelings ran through her like a cold wave flooding through her. She'd expected him to say something, like 'I don't have the same feelings for you' or something of the sort. She frowned. Did that mean he actually did like her the same way? Maybe if they live through the battle, maybe she could try to talk to him…they had to live through the battle…they just had to…

She sighed, and looked up from her blade as it retracted back inside the hilt against her wrist. She looked up at the window, and saw the clouds around the quinjet, wondering how far they were out.

"Alright, listen up," Steve said, beckoning everyone's somber attention to the floor or the wall up to him. "Ultron knows we're coming," Steve said.

"Odds are we'd be riding into heavy fire," Steve continued. "And that's what we signed up for," he said, glancing at Thor and the Vision. He turned to Pietro. "But the people of Sokovia, they didn't."

Pietro's eyes looked up at Steve's confirmation that fluttered through his heart and soul, relishing in the fierceness and promise the Captain held.

"So our priority," Steve said, glancing at Zoe. Zoe looked back up from her boots' side zipper and looked up at him. "Is getting them out. All they want is to live their lives in peace. And that's not going to happen today. But we can do our best to protect them and we can get the job done. We find out what Ultron's been building. We find Romanoff," Steve said. "And clear the field. Keep the fight between us," he shifted the weight of his feet from side to side, as he looked down thinking back on what Ultron said in the past about the Avengers in particular. "Ultron thinks…we're monsters," he looked up ahead of him.

Bruce was listening to the Captain's voice in his ears, staring at the back ramp of the quinjet.

"And everything that's wrong with the world," Steve said. The Vision lifted his head up and turned to Steve. "This isn't just about beating him. This is about whether he's right."

Zoe chewed her bottom lip in curious thought, and shared a small look with Tony after Tony looked up at Steve's curious words out of his perfect little mouth.


	64. Chapter 64: Defending Sokovia

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to its respective owners. I am writing for fun and not for profit. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 64: Defending Sokovia**

"Tasha!" Bruce said, as he climbed down the hill that lead toward the back of the dungeon-like area. Where was that girl? He thought as he combed his way through the back of Ultron's dark and cold lair.

"Natasha!" Bruce's voice echoed off the walls, and Natasha looked up in alert. She got up from her seat and walked quickly over to the bars of her cell door that kept her apart from Bruce, as he came up to her in a bit of a rush.

"Bruce," Natasha said, relieved to see him.

"Are you alright?" Bruce asked, curling his hand against the cell bar.

Natasha smiled. "Yeah," she said with a nod of her head.

"The team's in the city," Bruce explained. "It's about to light up."

Natasha raised a curious brow and glanced around her surroundings. "I don't suppose you found a key lying around somewhere?"

Bruce stepped back a little ways so that he could show her his machine gun. "Yeah," he said, holding the heavy machinery in his arms. "I did," he pulled the trigger after Natasha stepped out of the way. A light blue surge of energy glowed blue and the source hit the lock, exploding to pieces. Smoke filtered the air. Natasha walked over to the side of the door cell where it was unlocked and with her might, she pulled it open, freeing herself to get out.

Bruce set the machine gun down on the side of the table as Natasha walked out of her cell. "So what's our play?" she asked.

Bruce turned to face her and frowned slightly. "I'm here to get you to safety," he said.

"Job's not finished," Natasha said, frowning slightly as well. She didn't like where this was going.

"We can help with the evacuation, but I can't be in a fight near civilians," Bruce said, shaking his head. He stepped closer to her. "And you've done plenty." She blinked. "Our fight is over."

"So, we just disappear?" Natasha asked.

~*A*~

Zoe and Clint stood at the end of the street, watching the Sokovians pile out of their apartments with nothing but their clothes and bags strapped to their backs. Zoe and Wanda helped move them along, along the streets, just as Zoe looked for any stragglers, or lost children that might have lost their way. She didn't want to leave anyone behind. She walked around the group that was walking together in packs. She walked over to join Clint's side, who looked up at the skies for any sign of movement by Ultron. Light was beginning to glimmer into morning, as the sun threatened to rise over Sokovia. She looked up and around her surroundings, glancing at the tall apartment buildings with each balcony clear of anyone left behind. Sokovia was a small but humble city, a place Zoe wouldn't have minded to live in. It seemed really peaceful to her, and she was already beginning to grow attach to it. It was like a place in a fairytale. She gulped, swallowing hard. She could feel the weight press against her shoulders, the weight of waiting for the storm to happen. A feeling she always got whenever she was starting a mission. She shared a small worried look with Clint, who just smiled at her, sending her a little hope and optimism along the way, and didn't say a word as they continued to help the people of Sokovia, escape.

Meanwhile, Steve stayed at the bridge that connected a way out to a safer route of space. Cars pulled in two lanes, as Steve tried to show them a way out safely. "Come on," he said, waving his hand as the people followed his orders and ran forward. He glanced around him as the cars pulled into traffic that was slowly starting to pile up.

And Tony was on his way to confront Ultron, his project that he thought would promote peace, not death.

"You're mind's in the Church, boss," Friday said inside Tony's Iron Man helmet. Tony's firelight trailed after him as he flew in the blue skies surrounding the city. His thrusters lit up slowly as he flew inside the Church, coming to a slow stop. "I think he's waiting for you."

He landed with a loud clanking thud on the cement floor that caused dust to flow around him. Iron Man's eyes glowed blue and white matching his round circle in the middle of his metal suit. He walked forward, already in search for Ultron, but he was met by his dark and soothing voice.

"Come to confess your sins?" Ultron asked.

"I don't know. How much time do you got?" Tony asked.

"More than you," Ultron said.

Tony spun around on his feet to face Ultron. Tony looked up at him and gulped. He made him feel like an ant Ultron was so tall. "Uh, have you been juicing? Little vibranium cocktail? You're looking…I don't wanna say puffy," Tony said with a tilt of his head.

"You're stalling to protect the people," Ultron said as a matter of fact, looking down at Tony.

Tony sighed. "Well, that is the mission. Did you forget?"

"I've moved beyond your mission," Ultron said. "I'm free." Ultron started to circle something that had suddenly sprouted out from underneath the ground.

Tony stepped back and flew out of the way as tiny rocks and dust debris flew everywhere inside the Church. He looked down at the drill that had suddenly appeared and widened his eyes.

"What, you think you're the only one stalling?" Ultron taunted, as the drill's claws dug into the cement floor with a tight slap on the ground that created yellow and red sparks in the air.

Tony looked at the core machine in front of him and then at Ultron as he walked closer toward his prized possession.

"There's the rest of the vibranium," Friday said, locating it on Tony's screen. Tony looked at the blue floor print high-lighted down below the ground. "Function, still unclear."

"This is how you end, Tony. This is peace in my time," Ultron explained.

Suddenly above ground, metal arms and hands shot out from beneath the roads that caused chaos on the streets. Cars screeched to a biting halt as they swerved to get away from the metal head that popped out from the ground's soil. It seemed like thousands of metal heads pulled out of the canal like spiders and flew up in the skies, shooting up in the sky with their blue energy created by Ultron himself.

Thousands of mini-Ultron's zoomed in the air criss-crossing each other terrorizing the people of Sokovia as they tried to duck for cover.

Tony heard the screams and the eruptions outside the Church and jumped up out of the Church, ready to help kill them off.

"Go!" Steve shouted at everyone as they ran, heading for cover until one of the robots landed on a parked car and started to shoot energy beams at Steve. Steve ducked behind his Shield, and whacked him down on the ground in a heavy heap, knocking him out.

Across the other side of town, a robot with blue steely eyes had climbed over the wall, and before he could land, Clint's arrow already flew in the air, hitting the robot squarely in the head. He exploded on instant. Clint spun around, about to help the girls with the civilians, but he'd sensed another robot trying to climb over the wall. He pulled out an arrow and twirled it in his hand backwards, and with his elbow he rammed it in the back of the robot's head. The arrow exploded inside of metal tin, sparks spluttered inside the robot, and he fell way down under.

"Get off the bridge," Wanda warned, glancing behind her at Clint and Zoe as they started to fight them off.

"Go," Zoe cried, as she pushed her set of civilians down the fork road. "Hurry!" Zoe glanced behind her worriedly as she heard the sound of robots zooming in closer toward them. She stood down in the alleyway, protecting the people as they quickly headed toward the exit of town.

Clint raised an arrow and attached it to his bow, aiming for the robot that zoomed closer toward the bridge. He let go and the arrow flew into the robot. It exploded in the air and hit a building instead.

Suddenly a robot had managed to get close to Wanda, but she turned around and quickly used her powers against him, forcing him to stay away with her red flaring powers, trying to block the robot's energy beams from his own weapon as it advanced closer to her. "Run!" Wanda said, as more energy beams hit her when she was distracted, causing her to twist and fall on the ground.

Zoe heard Wanda's gasp behind her and spun around, glancing around at the robot. She took a deep breath and twisted her wrist upward so that she could aim at the robot that had Wanda down on the cobblestone street, and shot at it. Her knife twisted in the air and landed in the side of its torso, and as the robot looked down at it inside his metal circuits, the knife exploded the robot into pieces. Zoe's lips curled into a satisfied smile. "Awesome," she whispered, and looked down at Wanda who tried to pick herself up. She ran to the young witch and pulled her arm up off the ground. "You okay?" Zoe asked.

"Yeah," Wanda said, glancing up into Zoe's eyes. She blinked at Zoe's kindness towards her. "Thank you."

"Anytime," Zoe said, looking at Wanda as she pulled her hair out of the way. "Let's get these people to safety."

"You got it," Wanda said. Zoe pushed Wanda slightly back towards the people, while Zoe stayed up front to where Clint was, making sure that he had back up in case any robots strayed toward the civilians. She saw another family rush out from underneath a robot that was coming after them and she shot out two more knives at the robot that exploded in the air like fireworks. She ran over to the family of three with a little girl in tow, and helped them scurry along the rest of the straggling crowd trying to get out.

The little girl was crying, however, and in Zoe's ears that made her frown and her heart twinge with sadness. She noticed that the girl was pointing toward her pink bunny on the street that she'd left behind, but the mother was tugging her along to go with the others. Zoe sighed, her shoulders slumping, and took a chance to run for the fallen bunny on the ground that almost looked like road kill, but it reminded her of Zoe when she was younger when she had her own stuffed animal lost.

Back inside the Church, Vision flew inside, slowly down to meet his maker. "Ultron," Vision said in a warning tone of voice. Ultron flew upward to meet him halfway in the middle.

"My vision. They really did take everything from me," Ultron said.

"You set the terms, you can change them," Vision said.

"Alright," Ultron said and suddenly zoomed closer to Vision. He grabbed Vision closer toward him, which allowed Vision to grab his face within his hands and use whatever power he had to shut him out. Ultron cried out at the sudden impact of power Vision took from him. Ultron then twirled around and shoved Vision against the wall in anger.

On the main bridge, Steve tossed his broken robot on the car and pulled out his Shield from the metal body, a grunt leaving his lips as he pulled it out, and glanced around for more.

Under ground, Thor tossed his hammer at a robot and fought his way through the darkened battle underneath the city and closer toward the core. He slammed the hammer at each robot, knocking them all down, and headed further inside.

Closer toward the city, and above ground, Pietro looked around him. The people screamed in fear as they tried to get out and get cover away from the robots that were climbing out from underneath the parked cars. Pietro smirked at his surroundings, and tilted his head to the side, getting ready for the fight. He zoomed down a line of robots, breaking each one in pieces as if they were bowling ball pins in one swift movement.

"Friday," Tony said. "The Vision?"

"Boss, it's working," Friday informed. "He's burning Ultron out of the net. He won't escape through there."

All of a sudden inside the Church, Vision let go of Ultron. Vision slowly fell backwards in the air as Ultron groaned, feeling drained.

"You shut me out!" Ultron said, and zoomed up to grab Vision in his hand, shooting a hand around Vision's neck and grabbed his head. Ultron took Vision in his hands and flew down, smacking Vision down on the ground, hard as dust flew around them, making Vision unconscious. "You think I care? You take away my world, I'll take away yours," he said, and flew over to the drill. He pulled the mechanisms of the drill out with his hand and twisted it so that under ground it lit up, ready to blow Sokovia. That made Thor stop dead in his trek. Rocks broke and showered over Thor as he threw up his hammer to protect himself from the nasty blow ahead of him.

Above ground, waters rushed over rocks, roads and cobblestone streets pulled apart brick by brick. People ran across the street for their dear lives so they wouldn't get caught in the undertow.

All around the quiet town of Sokovia, and the mountains that protected the city, the grounds started to shake and quiver like an earthquake. Dust and debris flew up in a cloud of smoke that slithered around the city like a snake.

Cars shook within the quake, and people screamed. The guards tried to help them as much as they could, "This way, this way!" They shouted, as the people screamed in shock that their city was breaking slowly apart.

Zoe gasped as her foot slipped within the cracks of the street breaking the alleyway she stood on. The father of the little girl grabbed Zoe's collar of her Shield uniform, and pulled her to safety, as the little girl hugged her pink bunny tight within her arms. Zoe looked up thankfully at the father, as the father pulled Zoe downwards towards his wife and daughter beside a car, parallel to the curb of the street that was rocking back and forth. The little girl with brown hair shook in fear. "This way, let's go," she said, ushering the family to the side of a car that wasn't rocking as much, hoping it would be enough to save them from whatever what was about to happen. The parents of the little one cowered in fear as they hugged and protected their daughter from the debris that fell from the buildings. Zoe looked up as slight worry creased her features, glancing ahead of her, she looked over by Clint who was staring worriedly at the buildings and mountains shifting and threatening to pull apart as it rumbled back and forth.

On the other side of town, Pietro struggled to stay on his feet, as he cried out in alarm from the earthquake like motion. Car horns and alarms beeped all around him.

Steve dragged a robot across the main bridge and shoved it down a hole that had broken apart within the rumble of the quake. He was about to walk further downward, but he stopped when the bridge's metal railings broke apart and fell within the rest of the rubble, falling down and down, leaving their only way out, out of bounds. Smoke piled around the fallen grounds.

"Friday," Tony said, slightly worried.

"Sokovia's going for a ride," Friday said.

Tony could see it, he could see the chaos that surrounded Sokovia, as people tried to help other people from falling from the main roads into the rubble below them.

Buildings crashed and crumbled to the ground. Zoe looked up and saw that her building was about to crumble and fall. "Go!" She shouted, pushing the family of three in the other direction. She shoved them forward and led them to safety, running as fast as they could without looking back.

The vibranium was in full power along the drill as the city rumbled and threatened to tear apart. Families and the people huddled together in fear as Ultron rose above them all.

"Do you see?" Ultron said that caused Zoe to stop in the middle of her trek, watching the family run in fear. She stood in the middle of the street, frozen, and listened to Ultron's voice that pierced her ears. "Do you see the beauty of it? The inevitability? You rise, only to fall."

More buildings drifted apart in the rubble of the quake that continued to fall while Ultron spoke his destiny.

"You Avengers, you are my meteor, my swift and terrible sword, and the Earth will crack," Ultron continued. Tony frowned, and Pietro listened to Ultron's voice that slithered around him like poison. Steve looked down, breathing hard as he listened too, although he tried not to, it was hard to ignore Ultron's booming voice that surrounded the city like a tight rope chocking them all to pieces.

One robot hovered in front of Wanda with red eyes. "Purge me from my computers, turned my own flesh against me."

Clint leaned down on his knee, and fired an arrow at the robot that flew downward in front of Wanda, taunting her with his words that were filled with poison. Another came forward, making Clint slowly draw his bow and arrow down, listening to the robot.

"It means nothing," Ultron said, glaring at Clint and Zoe as she joined his side slowly, feeling his words bite into her soul like ant bites. "When the dust settles,"

On the main escape route, Steve punched a robot that was coming up from behind him, and knocked him down on the crumbling bridge beneath Steve's feet.

"The only thing living in this world will be metal," Ultron said finally.

Zoe turned her head to glance at Clint with worried eyes. He turned to look at her too, unable to help it because the words stung them all as they tried to defend Sokovia.

~*A*~

Bruce looked up above him as the ground shook within him, the walls slowly starting to cave forward. "We gotta move," Bruce said, grabbing Natasha's arm, but she stopped him.

"You're not going to turn green?" she asked.

Bruce turned to face her and smiled. "I got a compelling reason not to," he said, his eyes dancing along her face.

Natasha smiled and her eyes widened as hope seeped inside of her heart. "I adore you," she said and pulled him in for a searing kiss. Bruce kissed her back, until he suddenly felt pushed over the edge, arms flailing behind him in shock as he fell down below. "But I need the Other Guy," she said with a small frown on her face.

The Hulk suddenly appeared in green, and landed on the ground before Natasha who smiled up at him. "Now, let's finish the job," she said, and the Hulk's palm of his hand grabbed Natasha's tiny body in his hand ready to leave the base and head into the firefight.


	65. Chapter 65: One Job

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belongs to its respective owners. I'm writing for fun, and not for profit. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 65: One Job**

Natasha gripped tightly along the Hulk's neck as he trudged through the Sokovian forest on the outskirts of the falling city, accidentally breaking trees and branches in his way. They landed in a heavy heap together that had caused Natasha to flip and roll over on her back. She skidded to a halt, and caught herself from flying over the edge with her hand, just so she could catch her breath. She looked up at the Hulk with wide eyes.

"I really hope this makes us even," Natasha said breathlessly.

The Hulk turned toward her and growled slightly in response.

"Now go be a hero," Natasha said, giving him a small smile in return.

The Hulk smirked at her and roared with fiery energy in the air and charged toward Sokovia, ready to take on Ultron's robots that had infiltrated the city and taken over, terrorizing its remaining residents that didn't get to escape. Natasha ran in the other direction so she could finish her mission.

~*A*~

Inside Sokovia, Pietro used his super speed powers, zooming as quickly as he could in blue, through the narrow alleyway heading towards robots that had gotten inside. He ran through them one by one, tearing apart the metal pewter colored pieces as he zoomed out from underneath them. He took one by the throat and jumped up over a parked police car and with his speedy powers; the robot broke in a billion pieces all over the cobblestone street, leaving a mess behind him.

Tony was looking at the rising level of the rock that the city was built upon and calculating his options, as he looked into the devastating vibranium bright blues of energy surging inside the soil that connected to the drill in the middle, that seemed to have a vibration affect, creating waves of energy inside the soil. He looked at the drill inside the soil and frowned. Friday's voice entered his ears.

"The vibranium's core got a magnetic feed, that's what's keeping the rock together," Friday said.

"If it drops?" Tony asked.

"Right now the impact would kill thousands," Friday said. "Once it gets high enough? Global extinction."

Rocks, roads, and buildings crumbled and fell down at least fifty feet down below. Tony zoomed across the sky in search for any straggling survivors, arms pushing his Iron Man's strength behind him.

"That building's not clear, tenth floor!" Friday warned Tony, and Tony zoomed as quickly as he could using his energy pulsars to get him fast enough inside the small apartment building where he saw a mother, a father, and a young boy cowering against the wall. Tony landed on his feet and glanced at them through his helmet.

He smiled at them. "Hi," he said. "Okay….get in the tub," he said, pointing toward the tub next to him. The father, and mother didn't have to say much else, except take their little boy with them inside. Iron Man was going to rescue them and take them to safety!

As they crawled inside the tub, Tony ripped the tub out from the tile floors and zoomed out of the building before it could fall. The little boy couldn't help but peek out from behind the tub's barrier, curious as to what was ahead of him. He ducked back inside and crawled into his mother's arms when the building crumbled to pieces of solid blocks and broken glass.

"I got airborne heading up to the bridge!" Friday said.

Suddenly on the bridge, Steve turned to face what was heading towards him, listening to Tony's voice on his earpiece, but it was too late for the robot zoomed as quickly as it could and shoved Steve right in the gut that made him land hard against an abandoned car. He groaned at the forcible impact and winced as the robot flew away.

"Cap, you got incoming!" Tony warned.

Steve glanced behind him slightly, "Incoming already came in," he said in a slight groan. He glanced behind him when he heard another robot zoom inside a building, crashing into the window, making a loud noise, and looked around at the chaos that brewed before his eyes. They had to stop this, and stop the robots from controlling the outcome.

"Stark, you worry about bringing the city back down safely," Steve said, as he pulled himself out from the car's window and landed on his feet. He turned toward his earpiece so he could speak fully to his teammates scattered across the city. "The rest of us, have one job," Steve said.

Pietro zoomed in a small alleyway, and nearly ran into a wall of an alcove to catch his breath, placing a hand over his chest, to steady his breathing.

"Tear these things apart," Steve said into Clint and Zoe's earpieces.

Clint spun around, and lowered his bow slightly after he'd just finished tearing apart a robot, listening to Cap's instructions. Zoe pulled off her black strap holsters, empty, and tossed them to the side on the broken cobblestone streets beneath her shoes. She licked her lips, trying to keep her nerves and wits about her in tact as she pulled her second strap lower toward her wrist. She was trying not to let her feelings or emotions get in the way of her fight, and trying to focus all her knowledge and energy into defending this city.

"If you get hurt, hurt them back," Steve said.

She took a deep and shaky breath, and listened to Steve's strong and fierce words in her ears that gave her the boost of confidence and filled her heart with warmth, something she needed to hear right now. It was one of the qualities that she admired about Steve and how he always seemed so sincere and encouraging to his teammates. No matter what was happening, he knew what to say, and do. She finished tightening the strap on her wrist was filled with at least another dozen set of knives ready to hit the next set of robots she knew was coming, and fitted the strap, tightening it, so she could have easy access to flip her knives and kill robots before they killed her. She smirked at Clint, and nodded, ready to tear them apart like no one's business.

Wanda looked up in the air with fear in her eyes, but she heard Steve too, desperately seeking some sort of advice to keep herself from falling apart at the overwhelming battle that surrounded her.

"If you get killed," Steve said, pausing slightly. "Walk it off."

She glanced at Clint, raising a curious brow at those words that hung loose in the air and let out a deep breath.

Meanwhile. Pietro took a deep breath of his own, and zoomed back into action, his blue energy flare trailing behind him.

~*A*~

It seemed like more and more robots were coming at the Sokovians from many different direction as they landed by schools, and parks, and office buildings as the people screamed and ran for their dear lives, trying to get away from the electric blue eyed robots that seemed hungry for blood.

A young mother with strawberry blonde hair looked behind her as a robot landed on the streets beside a street post. She widened her eyes and wrapped her arms around her son, running as fast as her feet could carry her. She was tired and distraught, her feet felt like jelly for she'd been running with her son since the market place. She was terrified and the robot looked evil with his silver head staring back at her with those steely blue eyes and menacing looking circuits that were intricately detailed from the robot's metal legs and arms. She panicked at the sight of it until all of a sudden the Hulk jumped down and took the robot in its hands. He tore it apart and roared, trying to scare the rest of the robots away, but inevitably it had scared the mother, who took her son and ran in the other direction in cold-sweated fear.


	66. Chapter 66: Flying City

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the MCU. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 66: Flying City**

Clint pulled another arrow from his quiver, aimed, and shot at the robot that tried to climb over the wall. Zoe threw another knife at the robot beside the same one that Clint just killed and the knife penetrated his head, and the robot exploded to pieces.

She whirled around as another robot tried to fire at her, and flipped her wrists upward, shooting her knife directly at the robot's hands, and head, killing him instantly in exploded fire that shriveled up and turned to metal ash.

Wanda ran across the street, helping a civilian try to get across, as the robots threatened them from above. She pushed the woman ahead of her so she could get away and when the robot flew above her.

Zoe had suddenly found herself in a fight robot in the street, while, Wanda tried to show the woman that was with her a way out. She threw a punch against the robot's head and winced as the metal scraped against her knuckles. She winced at the biting pain and leaned forward, trying to ease the pain off of her, holding her hand. She looked at the scrape marks along her knuckles and hands that were filled with bruises and blisters. She hissed at the biting pain. She looked at the robot, advancing toward her and gulped.

He stepped closer toward her, and she stepped carefully backwards until she heard the sound of Clint's arrow scraping against his bow's wire attached to his weapon, firing at the robot. Within that instant, she pushed back her biting fears and pain, and spun around on her feet. She suddenly fell back, back into a backhand sprang, steadying her feet and hands on the ground, as the tiny rock and dust particles imprinted on the palms of her hands. The arrow zoomed and twirled over her stomach, landing right in the shoulder blade of the robot that caused him to explode to pieces, all around her. Zoe closed her eyes and turned her face so she wouldn't get scratched by the metal pieces to the best of her abilities. She slumped out of her backbend handspring and rolled over onto her stomach, breathing and coughing desperately from the debris around her, trying to gain back her own momentum.

Wanda ran out hiding after she'd helped the civilian crossover to a safer route so she could be with her people, and tried to use her powers against the robot that was zooming above her, heading toward her. She cried out in alarm as the robot's feet hit her hands and she cringed as the energies hit one another that caused it to land on the ground in exploding fire as dust and paper flew all around the emptying street behind Clint. Another robot showed up behind Clint.

Zoe looked over at the robot, and shot one of her remaining knives at it, smack dab in the middle of its metal torso. It exploded behind him.

Wanda watched in fear as Zoe and Clint seemed to have this fight down pat as she was loosing her momentum. Why couldn't she get it together? Wanda thought in a small whimper beside Zoe. Zoe spun around and shot two more knives that were inching toward them from the corners of the alleyways, and hit them dead on.

Clint ran forward, chasing the robot that was running away from him, and jumped up on top of a car. With all his might, he pushed himself off of it and flipped himself over, landing on his feet so that he faced the robot before him, and aimed his arrow at it. The robot dropped to the floor, dead.

Wanda had pulled Zoe out of the fight, too scared to hold them off, as she panicked. Wanda held her hands in the air, fearfully as she'd hidden behind panicked and tapped Zoe on the shoulder. Zoe looked at Wanda with questionable eyes as Wanda pointed in the air. More and more robots were caving in, and she looked behind her to see if Clint was alright.

Zoe looked over at Clint, who shared a worried look with her as more robots seemed to form a circle in the air, cornering them in. They looked over at Wanda who had a look of fear in her eyes, holding her hands in the air to defend herself, as she hid behind the car.

"Damn," he muttered, as he looked at the robots closing in on them. Clint motioned a nod. She pushed herself up from the ground and tossed another knife at them but missed. It bounced onto the car's tin roof. "Whoops, that was not supposed to happen…" she muttered. "Damn, indeed. Alright, go!"

But Wanda looked at Zoe like she had two heads. She looked around her and looked over at Clint who motioned a quick nod toward the abandoned building next to them. It was the perfect cover at least until they could figure out their bearings.

"Go, go, go!" Clint said, ushering the girls in. Zoe took the mad dive in first, and fell first hand as Wanda and Clint quickly followed afterwards. Zoe groaned. Clint helped Wanda settle against the wall. She gripped onto his arms in alarm as she heard Zoe's cries in the dim-lit abandoned building.

"It hurts," Zoe let out a tiny whimper, as a glass shard edged its way into her calf. She'd been hurt before, a bunch of times, but by a glass shard that was a new wound added to the list of wounds she had physically handled in the past.

Clint got up and whirled around to face Zoe, who was wincing. Clint widened his eyes, seeing the huge glass shard that was sticking out of the calf of her leg.

"How could I let this happen?" Wanda asked in whimpering fear as she crawled over and away from them. She looked down, ashamed of how she'd just went along with Ultron into thinking things would be better but as it turned out, as she'd looked into his head…all he wanted was death. He wasn't going to allow anyone evolve at all, and it was her fault. This mess was her fault.

Zoe let out a wincing groan as she wrapped her hands around the glass shard sticking out of her leg calf with blood sticking around the glass and her open wound. Sweat poured down from her cheeks as she leaned against the wall behind her. She went to reach for it to pull it out of her, but Clint stopped her and scooted her behind the wall. Blood oozed out of the wound, and she leaned her head back against the wall.

"Zoe Sawyer, death by glass shard," Zoe said within a wince, as Clint pulled it out. She couldn't help but yell at the biting pain from the glass's edges that grazed her skin, tearing it apart as he tried to yank it out of her. Her fingers curled into a fist against his shoulder as she winced, desperately trying to shove the pain down with all of her might.

"While killing robots," Clint finished for her, glancing into her eyes. They watered, but only due to the pain that swelled within her leg-calf. "I can stop the bleeding," he said, taking out a white handkerchief from his utility belt.

"Can you stop the stars from spinning around my head?" Zoe asked in mid-dizziness that ensued around her.

"Well, unless this one over here has unknown abilities, then no. Sorry," Clint said as he pulled her leg up gently. He had her rest her foot up so that he had access to her calf.

"That's okay, I wouldn't mind seeing Humphrey Bogart again," she said dizzily.

Clint rolled his eyes as he fixed her wound. "Oh, don't get your panties in a twist, Sawyer, it's just a flesh wound," he said as he quickly folded the cloth in his hands and he pressed down hard on her wound.

She rolled her eyes. "Is that how you get women to sleep with you, by being so macho?" she teased.

"No, you've got a concussion," he said, though he was smiling at the memory of their first meeting all those years ago before any of this had come to light. "Sides," he said, wrapping the cloth the second time around her calf. "It takes a lot to bruise my ego."

"Why do I always get hit?" Zoe asked in a groan, holding onto his shoulder for support, gripping it tightly in between her hands.

"Because you were stupid enough to jump through the glass window first," Clint said.

"Right," Zoe cringed. "Well," she sighed. "Lesson learned."

She looked over at Wanda who was mumbling to herself about it being her fault. Zoe frowned at Wanda and sighed. She'd been there before. She bit her lower lip and tapped Clint's arm gently. He looked up at her as he wrapped her wound to keep the bleeding from occurring. She motioned a quick nod over to Wanda, for Clint to talk to her. Clint looked at Zoe, and she nodded, giving him a smile. Clint sighed, and turned around to face her. Clint finished tying up the bandage around Zoe's leg fit in place. Zoe let out a small groaning wince as she tried to stretch out her leg in hopes that she wasn't out of the fight just yet. She let out a deep and shaky breath as she leaned her head back.

"Hey, hey, listen to me, it's your fault, it's everyone's fault, who cares," Clint said, trying to calm her down. He couldn't have two of his allies down. "Are you up for this? Are you? Look, I just need to know because the city i-is flying," Clint said. "Okay, look," he said. "The city is flying, and we're fighting an army of robots, and I have a bow and arrow, and a friend who's wounded," he sighed, sharing a small look with Zoe over his shoulder. She gave him an encouraging smile. "None of this makes sense," he said, shaking his head.

Suddenly two more holes were shot inside the building. Zoe moved her head, not having to be told to move out of the way, and looked over at the outside between the holes poking through the wall, as the sunlight gleamed inside. "Ah," he jumped up and pulled out his bow and arrow, shooting his arrow through one of the holes, and let it loose, hitting directly at the robot in the streets.

Zoe listened to the war outside and she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She smudged the dirt and sweat off of her face and smeared it off of her Shield uniform. She checked to see how many knives she had on her wrist that was looking dangerously low. She was down to her last two straps on her wrists. She lowered them down on her wrist as Clint talked to Wanda.

"But I'm going back out there because it's my job. Okay? And I can't do my job and baby-sit," he said. Zoe smiled. Clint continued, "It doesn't matter what you did, or what you were. If you go out there, you fight and you fight to kill. Stay in here, and you're good. I'll send your brother to come find you," Clint said, pointing in the other direction. "But if you step out that door, you are an Avenger."

Wanda looked over at Zoe with wide eyes, and Zoe's lips curled into a small smile. Zoe nodded her head gently. "He's right," she said.

Clint sighed, and looked up at Wanda's tentative soul. "Aye, look at ya," he said. He turned to Zoe, "You good?"

Zoe nodded, and he leaned down, so that she could use his shoulder to stand on her own two feet. She could stand on her left leg, she just had to get used to walking on her right leg. She didn't not want to give up, but then all of a sudden her right leg gave out from underneath her. "Owe, okay, okay, I lied…damn it," she hissed. "Owe, owe, put me down,"

Clint settled her back down on her feet. She let out a deep breath and leaned against the wall beside the doors.

"Alright, I'll deal with them out there, and come get you after," Clint said. "You're in no condition to fight right now."

Zoe frowned, and looked over at him. "But-"

"No but's, just sit tight for now." Clint said, pointing toward her.

"Yeah, the city is flying," Clint said, taking a deep breath. Clint pulled out another set of trick arrows from the side of his boot, and attached them to his bow, back toward the door.

He kicked the door with the sole of his shoe and turned around, already shooting his arrow at them.

Zoe let out a sigh and looked over at Wanda, as they stared at each other in silence, while Clint finished them off. No, Zoe thought, there was no way she was going to stand down and sit pretty while he was out there, alone. It was just not her style.

She made a brave move to step forward and leaned the rest of her weight on her right leg, embracing the pain that shuddered through her.

Wanda could see how much pain Zoe was in when she tried to walk, and it made her frown, as the words Clint spewed out of his mouth seemed to register and settle within her heart. She could do this, she thought, she could make them proud…she could be an avenger for her brother, for her parents, and for Sokovia.


	67. Chapter 67: Battle Robots

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to its respective owners. I am writing for fun and not for profit. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 67: Battle Robots**

A metal pole fell on top of a red car that teetered on the edge of the broken bridge. An explosion suddenly hit behind the woman who screamed, and ducked involuntarily at the sound behind her. She screamed as the rubble of the road started to crumble beneath the tires of her car. She gripped tightly on the wheel, feeling fear rushing through her bones, screaming her lungs out for help of any kind as her car threatened to fall under.

Steve ran as fast as he could to the middle of the bridge as the bridge shook like an earthquake. The car started to slide and the back of the car tipped over just in time for Steve to skid to a halt and grip onto the back bumped of the car between his fingers, using his super soldier strength to try and keep the car from falling towards death.

The woman closed her eyes as the car tipped forward. She held onto the wheel, and suddenly screamed when Steve suddenly let go of the bumper that had caused the car to drop down the sky. Her blood curdling screams hit Steve's ear and heartstrings in his soul as the two cars fell down to their death. Steve looked down at the death-defying fall, and saw Thor's red cape in the midst of the chaos. Steve sighed with relief as Thor twirled his hammer and flew back down to catch the falling cars, while Steve tossed a robot off the bridge. He looked down at Thor, giving him a nod to let him know that he was ready to help the fearful woman. Thor grabbed her hand and tossed her in the air as hard as he could so that she could land in Steve's hand.

Steve spun around and jumped over the edge, catching the crumble debris within his hand, and grabbed hers. "I got you!" he said. "Just look at me!" Steve ordered as she cried with relief and fear written all over her face as she looked up at Steve. He pulled himself and the young woman up and onto the bridge with all of his might. She brought her free dangling hand over to hug Steve so that she could climb back up onto the bridge, as her heartbeat slowed down to catch her breath. She climbed up onto the bridge just as another robot crept up on Steve.

"You can't save them all," Ultron's voice taunted through that one tiny robot with red electric eyes. The redheaded woman looked at the robot in fear and darted to the side so that Steve could throw his Shield into its torso. He hopped up over and landed on his feet on the bridge.

With his armguard, he used the magnetic force to pull out the Shield and attach it to his armguard in an instant. "You'll never-" Ultron began but was cut off when Steve pushed Ultron over the edge with the Shield's barrier.

"You'll never what?" Steve asked at the falling Ultron. At least it wasn't Zoe this time, Steve thought. "You didn't finish!" he yelled after him with a smirk on his face.

Thor jumped down on the edge of the bridge along with the blue car that he rescued, and had dropped beside him.

Steve arched an eyebrow at the God of Thunder, and looked at him curiously. "What, were you napping?" he teased.

The driver climbed out of the car, as if he was ready to vomit from the fear and adrenaline rush of death he just faced…

Steve and Thor ran back into the city to help Romanoff who had joined the team not too long after. She flipped and twirled in the air, dodging blue lights shot from the robots she was in the midst of fighting. She used her tazer daggers that were lit up with the energy force, enough to jam and kill the robots when needed just as she rolled into one and stabbed it right in the torso.

She jumped up onto her feet and twirled around, hitting the taller robot with her elbow, and jamming her tazer dagger into the robot's neck until it died out.

Not too far away, Steve jumped and twirled around in the air, using his Shield as a protective barrier from the robot's blue energy beams flying at him, he dodged and skidded onto the grass. A couple girls and an older couple were running from the beams flying in the air as Thor rammed his hammer into the robot that was chasing the innocent Sokovians.

Steve flipped himself up off the ground and looked at Thor with a grin on his face. Thor nodded, and with that knowledgeable moment shared, Steve kicked his Shield up off the ground. It flipped in the air, so that Thor could whack his hammer at the Shield using as much force and energy it contained due to both weapon's strengths in collaborating metals, and forced the Shield in a zigzag motion, hitting the robots down, sending sparks everywhere as they all fell one by one like dominos.

Smoke filled the air, as Thor picked up a robot in the air and flew into the skies. A battle cry left his throat, as he twirled around, using the robot in his hand to kill off the remaining robots in the sky that had formed a circle. Now they were dead within Thor's explosion that had killed the last remaining ones on the ground so they couldn't get to the civilians trying to escape.

Ultron appeared and glanced at Thor with scrutiny. "Thor," he said. "You're bothering me," he grabbed Thor by the shoulders tight and ripped him away from the fight, taking him back to the Church.

Meanwhile Clint was firing arrow after arrow at the nonstop robots that seemed never-ending at his end of the alleyway. He was backing himself into a corner, behind the apartment buildings and into the messy debris of broken items behind him. He hit another robot that crashed into a car, and ran back the other direction. He sprinted into a leap and turned around only so that he could aim another arrow at one of the taller robots that landed squarely into his chest. The robot exploded with one of Clint's trick arrows. Clint landed on his feet and crawled over toward the wall. He leaned against it and cringed. "Owe," he groaned. He looked up and grimaced slightly, as the robots caved in.

An arrow hadn't made it to the robot's death, so the robot pulled it out of him, and Clint frowned. Any moment of help here would be awesome… Clint thought, knowing that Zoe would've at least come out by now to take on an army of robots even with an injured calf. But what he got was something he hadn't expected. He looked behind him as the doors whipped open revealing Wanda Maximoff, and she looked really pissed off.

Clint arched a curious brow as she took her hands, and used as much force and energy of her powers she could muster, throwing her energy red flares at the robots beside her. She broke them apart piece by piece with her powers. And walked out into the firefight ready to finish off the remaining robots. Clint looked over at her and smiled when the robots tore apart and she was able to control her powers a little bit better as she released more red circular energy within her hands. She created the biggest energy ball she could. Clint took that moment and shot two more arrows at the robots. They fell to the ground.

Wanda finished off the remaining three robots, tearing them apart like it was nobody's business. She smirked with satisfaction, and looked over at Clint, who nodded at her.

He walked back to the abandoned building to where Zoe was as she crept forward into the threshold "Hey, you good?" he asked, taking her hand.

Zoe gripped onto his warm hand lightly, and stepped on her foot of her injured calf and winced slightly, but she was at least standing, and using most of her strength to keep from falling, so she was good. She wasn't sick or anything and an injury wasn't enough to keep her out of the firefight. "I'm fabulous," she said, giving him a smile and let go when she was able to be on her own.

Zoe and Clint joined Wanda outside into the streets that were cluttered with debris, papers and explosions all around her due to the mess of battling robots. "So why can't I have a cool power like her, again?" she asked.

"Because you were smart enough to stay human," Clint replied, glancing back at Zoe.

Zoe smiled and crossed her arms over her chest when she shared a grin with Wanda. Zoe had to admit it, Wanda kicked ass. She could only wonder what Ava might be able to do if Ava was ever caught in a battle like this, but Zoe hoped that day would never come. She wouldn't want that on Ava. Ava was too precious to Zoe now, and she was worried that Ava might like the idea of fighting in battle.

"Alright, we're all clear here," Clint informed Steve.

"We are not clear," Steve said, throwing his Shield at a robot that Zoe could hear through her own earpiece. She winced at the ruckus that was happening in the main part of the city. "We are very not clear!" Steve grunted as he used his strength to smash the robot back down. He ran forward slightly, jumped up, and kicked both legs forward smashing the robot tight into the window of a parked police car. Steve fell backwards, groaning slightly at the impact.

Zoe cringed, feeling bad that she'd gotten hit, and taking her sweet time to find the right balance so she could walk it off. Granted, they probably would've been dead if it hadn't been for Wanda's powers and coming to terms that she could actually do this, and be a great help to the team. "Yeah, okay, we'll be there, sorry! Hang in there, Steve!" she said, through the earpiece, sharing a small look with Clint.

"Alright, coming to ya," Clint agreed.

Wanda and Zoe were about to leave the alleyway with Clint, but was suddenly stopped when Pietro zoomed right passed Zoe, tapping her on the nose with the flick of his finger, as he passed by her. She gasped in slight shock as he picked up his sister in his arms. "Keep up, old man!" he teased to Clint, and zoomed in a speedy-like motion.

"Well, ain't he just quick as lightning," Zoe commented lightly. "And cute," she said, smiling at the blue energy flare left behind.

"I heard that," Steve said through her earpiece that made her smile, unable to help it.

"Nobody would know," Clint said, taking out an arrow and sliding it against his bow aiming towards Pietro. He could do it too. "Nobody!"

"Hey, hey," Zoe said, calming Clint down, as she placed her delicate fingers along his shoulder to lower his arm down. She turned to her earpiece so that Steve could hear her too. It's not like she wanted Pietro. She just thought he was cute that's all. "I said he was cute, I don't want to date him. Kinda young for me," she said, turning to face Clint, who ran his finger along the string as if he was really going to pull it. "Besides, I would know."

A thought came to Clint as he grinned at her over his shoulder. "Yeah, but it's not like you would tell, right?"

Zoe looked at him from underneath her eyebrows, pursing her lips together. She patted his shoulder lightly. "Clint?" she asked, casting a sideways glance at him.

"Yeah?" he said with arched eyebrows on his questionable face.

"He's not worth a perfectly good arrow," she said.

Clint glanced at his beautifully crafted arrow and crinkled his nose in thought. Right. It was better off in a robot's ass. She was right, damn it. Why do girls always have to be right about these things? He flipped his arrow back into his quiver. He balled up his fist at his side and sighed. "Fine," he scowled. He let out a tired sigh. "Yeah, you're right," he said. "Could've landed right in the keister though. You good to walk?" he asked, looking at Zoe.

Zoe nodded and together they started jogging back to the main part of the city to help out the team. "If you did happen to shoot that arrow, what would you have said?" she asked curiously as she pushed her feet forward into a jog.

Clint looked at her and grinned. "The last I saw him, an Ultron was sitting on him, huh? Yeah, I'll be missed, that quick little bastard! I miss him already!"

Zoe let out a laugh and ran a hand over her mouth as they jogged through the debris, with Zoe mostly tip-toeing over the fallen bricks and cement blocks so she didn't trip and fall. "I'm taking that one to the grave, aren't I?" she said.

"Always," Clint said with a grin on his face.

~*A*~

Thor fell face first and hit one of the pillars inside the Church. Dust and debris flew everywhere and some of it into his mouth. He coughed, and quickly got up onto his feet, until he was suddenly met with a huge block of cement into his face. He pushed the pillar out of the way and marched right in to fight with Ultron. After a couple of blows they took with one another, Ultron grabbed his neck that caused Thor to loose his hammer, toppling onto the ground.

~*A*~

The cops inside the city and around the buildings were shooting at the remaining robots that seemed never-ending. Fire and explosions raised high in the sky as the aftermath blurred the city in ruin. The Sokovian cops hid behind their makeshift trench and fired, defending their city until the Captain saw Pietro and Wanda zoom by. "Hold your fire!" the Captain said, raising his hand in the air for his fellow cops to stop firing. However, in the middle of Pietro's zoom, a bullet had lodged inside his arm. Pietro frowned and looked at it as blood stained his blue sleeve. He tilted his head and looked at them like they were crazy, while Wanda shot her powers, hitting the robots and tearing them apart.

~*A*~

"Romanoff!" Steve said, running toward Natasha. He threw his Shield toward the robot she was fighting with her two tazer daggers. The robot landed in the hood of a parked car, and she smiled at Steve.

"Thanks!" she said in the middle of her fighting. She ripped the Shield out of the robot's torso; it fell in pieces on the ground and used the Shield as a protective barrier against the robot's blue energy beam that was heading straight for her. Sparks in tiny lights flew around her as it hit the Shield. The robot landed on the ground and headed toward her. He charged his weapon at her but she blocked it with Steve's Shield and tried to hit the robot with the Shield but missed. Natasha felt the weight of the Shield as it landed on the ground, but she picked it up and used it to block his blows against her, and taze the side of his torso with electricity running through him, enough so that he would back up. At the corner of her eyes, she spotted Steve coming closer to help her, so she tossed him his Shield back. He grabbed it with his free hand and rammed his Shield into the robot's neck at the same time Natasha rammed her tazer into his side, killing him effectively. Once he was dead, and the last remaining robots were out of there, Steve and Natasha gathered the civilians to safety to an abandoned building.

Outside the perimeter of the city, Tony was still working on a plan that would be good enough to save everyone, but even Tony was coming up short. The outlook didn't look good from his views inside the core of the drill, lit up with the horror inside of it.

"The antigroves are rigged to fit," Friday explained to Tony. "Touch them, they'll grow full reverse thrust. The city's not coming down slow."

"As far as vibranium…." Tony said in thinking mode. "If I can get Thor to hit it…"

"It'll crack, but it's not enough," Friday said. "The impact would still be devastating."

"Maybe if we can cap the other end," Tony said, flying underneath the vibrating power of energy underneath it. "Keep the atomic action from coming back."

"That could vaporize the city, and everyone on it," Friday warned.


	68. Chapter 68: Hellicarrier's Reprise

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belongs to its respective owners. I am writing for fun and not for profit. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 68: Hellicarrier's Reprise**

"The next wave's going to hit any minute," Steve said, informing the remaining members of the team. "What do you got, Stark?" he helped a couple of people and ushered them inside the building underneath the overhang.

Clint, Zoe, and Wanda had stationed themselves at another part of the building, keeping the civilians inside from any harm coming to them. Once Zoe helped an older gentleman inside to meet with his older wife, and Wanda was on civilian watch, she walked out to stand beside Clint, who had one leg up resting against a slab of cement block.

Smoke billowed around them as the clouds came into view. The city was very high, a little too high for Zoe's taste. And the thought of a new wave scared her. What was going to happen to all these people? Did they have a plan? Tony had to have a plan… but the outlook surrounding her dark surroundings seemed very dull, and sad, like they were trapped.

"Well, nothing great," Tony said, wincing slightly at the sound of his voice. "Maybe a way to blow up the city. Gotta keep it from impacting the surface if you guys can get clear."

Zoe chewed her bottom lip, listening to Tony on her earpiece. She frowned, and hugged her elbows, hugging herself out of poor habit, as she listened to the fate of Sokovia. She looked over at Wanda who brought in more civilians with her to their side of the building.

"I asked for a solution, not an escape plan," Steve said.

"Impact radius is getting bigger every second," Tony explained. "You're gonna have to make a choice."

Steve walked forward to the edge of the city, and took a couple of deep breaths. He glanced around his surroundings still covered in smoke. He coughed a couple times and sighed, trying to regain some of his energy left. It wasn't over, he knew that. And while he may not like it, Tony was right, he was going to have to make a tough choice, one he didn't want to make.

"Cap, these people are going nowhere," Natasha said, joining him. When did she join him? It didn't matter; he could use another brain other than his right now. He was looking for any other solution than what Stark was coming up with. "If Stark finds a way to blow this rock…" she said, but Steve wasn't having it. He shook his head. It's so not what he wanted to hear right now!

"Not until everyone's safe," Steve said.

"Everyone up here, versus everyone down there, there's no math there," Natasha said, furrowing her brows at Steve.

"We're not leaving this rock with one civilian on it," Steve said defiantly, as he stared ahead of him.

"I didn't say we should leave," Natasha said with a small frown on her face.

Zoe licked her tender and dry lips and shared a knowing look with Clint. Clint rested a hand on his bow set that rested on his knee.

She sighed tiredly. "You know I don't like this anymore than you do, Steve, but…"

"Yeah, I know," Steve said, cutting her off a bit, not wanting to hear the outcome of what it might cost them. He didn't like this plan. Not one bit, but unfortunately he was coming up on empty. They all were, probably groggy from the fight of robots no thanks to Ultron.

"At least they'd be safe," Zoe said, trying to offer him some solace.

Steve nodded his head, listening to Zoe's tired yet slightly positive tone of voice through his earpiece that tried to slither into his heart. He looked at Natasha sideways, giving her a rueful look. It was definitely nice to hear Zoe's voice filled with her bit of hope that she had left, while Natasha seemed so understanding about death. Steve would silently admit that it was nice to have that balance in his life. He frowned slightly at Natasha.

Natasha returned the look and nodded. "There's worse ways to go, besides, where else am I going to get a view like this?" she asked, smiling lightly as she stared up at the clouds that surrounded the leveled city in the sky.

"Glad you like the view, Romanoff," Nick Fury's voice echoed on everyone's earpieces.

Natasha's blue eyes widened at the sound of her director's voice coming to life to her ears as her heart twisted into hope again.

"It's about to get better," Fury said.

Her mouth dropped slightly in shock as she witnessed the most beautiful thing ever in that moment of her life. She couldn't believe it, but she saw the Hellicarrier rise up from the clouds and over the city, showing it's dusty glorious technology that SHIELD once had.

Pietro quickly rushed over in between the poles just in time to see the Hellicarrier rising above with its blades pushing the engines running as smooth as can be.

The next building over, Zoe and Clint watched in awe as hope had seemed to dwindle, even she felt betrayed by her own mouth, as she'd tried to stay positive and light, the outcome had seemed disastrous, until now. She thought the Hellicarriers had been destroyed when SHIELD went down! How did Fury concoct such a thing?! That sneaky devil! She thought excitedly, smiling bright at the sight of her flying submarine.

"Zo, are you crying?" Clint asked, noticing small tears escaping Zoe's tear ducts onto her plump, and grimy cheeks.

Zoe sighed happily. "Happy tears, Clint, happy tears," she said.

Even the Sokovian's ran to the windows to see the Hellicarrier's glorious view as it hovered in the sky, waiting for their arrival to safety.

Pietro couldn't help but smile, feeling very elated by the Hellicarrier's arrival.

"Nice right?" Fury said inside the main bridge. "Pulled it out of moth balls with a couple of old friends. She's dusty, but she'll do."

"Fury, you son-of-a-bitch," Steve said, smirking as he took in the beautiful sight of the Hellicarrier, definitely large enough to help these civilians and get them off this rock.

"Ooh, hoo," Fury said, pursing his lips together in amusement. "You kiss your mother with that mouth?"

"Altitude is eighteen thousand, and climbing," Hill informed, reading her statistics on her computer.

"Boats secured to deploy, disengage in three, two," Specialist Cameron Klein announced at his desk as he leaned his elbow against the surface. He spoke into his earpiece to inform the other hardworking members that made up a team of Specialists and drivers to the six Hellicarrier boats that would be ready to take civilians in. He clicked a button on his keyboard, and looked at his computer screen. "Take them out."

The bottom ramps of the Hellicarrier deployed open, revealing several flying busses that were designed exactly like this, saving civilians like it should be.

"This is SHIELD?" Pietro asked in awe as he stood beside Steve and Natasha.

"This is what SHIELD is supposed to be," Steve said, as Natasha looked over at him with a small smile on her face.

"This is not so bad," Pietro said.

"Let's load them up," Steve ordered. Natasha and Pietro got to work on piling up their bus that landed to the edge of the city. Steve sighed with relief that riled inside of him, a sense of newfound hope that perhaps they could all get out of here thanks to Fury and his wonderful ideas that just happen out of nowhere, but Steve was utterly grateful for this moment and time because he hated to think the latter.

~*A*~

"Sir, we have multiple bogies converging on our starboard flank," Hill announced inside the main deck of the Hellicarrier.

Fury looked over at her, and smirked. "Show them what we got," he ordered.

Hill was more than happy to do that. She placed a hand over her earpiece. "You're up," she said toward her earpiece.

Outside the perimeter of the Hellicarrier, Ultron's robots flew in a pack of four heading close toward the Hellicarrier, threatening its safety until all of a sudden War Machine appeared, thrusting his fire pulsars at them, causing them to explode in the sky like fireworks.

"Yes!" he said excitedly as Rhodey flew through the billowing black smoke around him as he charged after the robots, scaring them away. "Now, this is going to be a good story," he said in the midst of fire power.

Tony shot another robot and joined his friend, Rhodey by his side, grinning within his Iron Man helmet. "Yeah," Tony said. "If you live to tell it."

"You think I can't hold my own?" Rhodey asked in a challenging manner as he flew ahead of Tony.

"If we get through this, I'll hold your own," Tony said.

Rhodey crinkled his nose in disgust. "You had to make it weird."

"Only weird when you think about it in a certain way, boys," Zoe sing-songed.

"Guess what she's thinking about," Tony said, grinning as he flew up and around, twirling in the sky as he and Rhodey destroyed the robots from getting too close to the Hellicarrier.

"I am so not thinking that," Zoe's voice pierced through Tony and Rhodey's earpieces.

~*A*~

Steve ran across the street, followed by several civilians and officers that rushed on board the bus, waiting for its travelers to get to the Hellicarrier. Steve spoke to one of the tech crew above the bus, and pointed toward the building.

"How many more?" the tech person asked him.

"I got about fifty to a hundred people more," Steve replied.

Natasha ushered the civilians in on her side, making sure the women and children got onto the boats with their families.

The next building over that had at least fifty to hundred more people inside, Clint and Zoe looked up toward the skies to see that their boat had finally arrived so that they could start loading it up.

Clint waved his hand in the air, letting him know where they were, and jogged over to tell Wanda that she could start loading them up. Zoe ran over to talk to the tech crew about the civilians and to see how safe of the ship was so that the civilians wouldn't be scared.

Wanda leaned up from her knelt position and grabbed the child's hand, after she was trying to consol her, and walked outside into the light, leading the civilians to the boat just outside the building, on the ground.

"Here we go, let's move, let's move," Clint said tentatively but firmly as they all straggled one by one, filtering inside the bus, waiting for them. The civilians climbed inside and sat in their seats, ready to get off the rock that was about to blow.

Zoe stayed on the boat, and helped each one with their seats, and strapped them in, tightening the straps of the civilians as they settled in. As soon as they were seated, a tech woman had handed her a handful of blankets and she started to pass them out. There were boxes of survival kits along the side as well as bottles of water. She handed a blanket to the strawberry-haired woman who looked worse to the wear, but she was utterly grateful for the warmth of Zoe's blanket. Zoe wrapped it around the woman, tucking it over her, and she was about to ask her why the sudden long face, an apprehensive look appeared on the woman's pale features, but Zoe was tugged at her side, and had another duty to comply to. Some more stragglers were arriving on the boat, and she would gladly usher them on.

"Is this the last of them?" Zoe asked Clint as he joined her. He glanced around his surroundings furrowing his brow.

"I think so," he said, letting out a sigh, and letting his shoulders loose of tension within his neck.

~*A*~

"Number six boat is topped and locked, or uh, or, stocked, topped…" Klein stammered as he blinked, trying to remember his training lingo from the books. "It's…it's uh, full of people," he said, just going with it. He winced slightly, sighing. Sweating and stammering on his first day was not cool. He looked down.

All of a sudden the Hellicarrier's alarm went off, which caused Agent Hill to look up at the window. "In-coming!" she shouted, warning the main deck's crew, as everyone ducked, including Fury from the robot's crash, as it landed onto the ground, creating an explosion of sparks around the second level.

"Oh God!" Klein cried, as he tried to scoot his chair away from the crawling robot onto the ground.

Hill drew out her gun and started shooting at the robot in hopes to delay it from reaching to anyone on the boat. Fury suddenly brought down a wrench-like weapon and shoved it into the robot's head, smashing it into oblivion.

~*A*~

"You think you're saving anyone?" Ultron said, as he threw a punch right across Thor's face.

Thor doubled over slightly at the hard impact of Ultron's fist, and before he could punch him right back, Ultron reached for his neck in a chock-hold, forcing Thor down on his knees.

"I turn that key and drop this rock a little early, and it's still billions dead," he said. "Even you can't stop that," he said just as he was about to punch Thor in the face, while Thor tried to pry Ultron's metal fingers off of his neck.

"I am Thor, son of Odin, and," Thor grunted as he struggled against Ultron's weight, bellowing over him. "And as long as there is life in my breast, I am running out of things to say…are you ready?" he asked, glancing behind Ultron.

Ultron glanced suddenly at Thor and turned to face whatever it was behind him and was knocked off his feet, and tossed onto the ground thanks to Vision who had hit him with Thor's hammer out of the Church's door.

"It's terribly well balanced," Vision said as he tossed Thor his hammer back in his hand.

Thor grinned. "Well, if there's too much weight, you loose power on the swing," he swung the hammer in motion to show him. He placed his hand on his hip.

~*A*~

"I got it!" Tony said, as he zoomed across the Hellicarrier fighting back the flying robots that were still oncoming. He fired back at the blue energy beams that flew across his head. "Create…" he dodged out of the fire and spun around, hitting the robot from behind with his fire pulsars. "Create a heat-seal. I can…I can supercharge this fire from below," he said.

"Burning numbers," Friday said as a robot crash landed into one of the boats that were trying to get to the Hellicarrier.

The crowd inside screamed in fear as the boat took a hit. Tony zoomed quickly up to the boat to rescue them, as Rhodey took the robot and shot multiple machine fires at it till it was dead.

Tony zoomed up and placed his hands underneath the belly of the boat to keep it from falling and shot all his energy and fire from his feet as he pushed the small boat inside the opening ramps of the Hellicarrier's starboard side.

"A heat source could work with enough power," Friday explained.

"Thor," Tony said in a slight grunt as he pushed the boat inside with all his might. "I got a plan."

"We're out of time," Thor said. "They're coming for the core."

"Rhodey, get the rest of the people on board that carrier," Tony informed.

"On it," Rhodey replied and got right to work.

"Avengers?" Tony asked, flying up within the clouds in the sky as he finished loading the boat to safety. "Time to work for a living," he said, and flew down quickly toward the city and all the way into the Church where he landed in the midst of Thor and Vision fighting the robots, trying to get to the drill. Vision tackled his robot, tearing him by the neck and tossing him over to the side, while Pietro zoomed in quickly, charging his way through a couple more robots in the middle of the church before they could get to the drill in the middle. Thor fought his own robot, tearing it to shreds, and Tony threw two thrusters at his own opponent. Pietro tossed another robot down onto the ground, and Steve came rolling in, landing on a robot that was standing right in the middle of an archway. He stood up on his feet, and as the robot tried to get to him, he knocked the robot out with the edge of his Shield. Steve let out a sigh and looked behind him just in time to see Clint, Zoe, and Wanda join the fight.

Pietro zoomed to join his sister. "You good?" Pietro asked, clamping a hand around hers.

Wanda smiled at him, and nodded, giving him a gentle squeeze of reassurance. "Yeah, she smiled.

Steve walked over to Zoe, as she pulled out her spear, twirling it in her hands, getting ready to fight. She looked down at her spear in the palm of her hands and sighed. She only had a few exploding knives left, and she wasn't even sure how long her baby could hold her. Plus, it wasn't like her fists could do the trick, so she was going to have to rely on her creative assertiveness to try and stay alive, or die trying. She winced.

"What are you doing here?" Steve asked in a low whisper. He stood close by her, glancing curiously, as Tony fought another robot beside them, shooting it down on the ground.

Zoe smiled up at him, noticing the look of concern written on his face. She gave him a gentle squeeze of his arm, feeling her heart flutter and do somersaults as he stood near her. "I'm not letting my hero die alone."

"You should be on the Hellicarrier," Steve said, glancing down at her injury, noting the blood-stained cloth wrapped around her calf.

"Well," she said, clearing her throat. She pulled her elbow out of the palm of his hand. "If you wanted me to be on the Hellicarrier so badly," she said, taking a step back as she pushed the button on the hilt of her spear that extracted from both ends. Blue electricity surrounded the blades and she looked up at him. "Then you should have ordered me to stay on."

Steve stepped back from her, and sighed. "Right, like you'd ever follow my orders."

Zoe grinned. "Oh I don't know, I might have with a little bit of persua-" she was cut off until she suddenly felt Steve yank her back behind him at the sight of a robot coming for her. She stumbled back into his back gently, and winced, as she leant her forehead against the curve of his back, and kept her spear back away from Steve. Steve tossed his Shield at the robot.

"Romanoff, you and Banner better not be playing hide the zucchini," Tony warned.

"Relax, shell-head," Natasha said as she drove a truck over the broken blocks of debris and hitting robots as she barreled through the mess just to get to the Church. "Not all of us can fly."

She hit the remaining robot on the ground, quickly climbed out of the truck and ran toward the entrance of the church to join her team. "What's the drill?" she asked, sliding up beside Tony.

Steve tightened his hand around Zoe's fingers as his Shield came back to his armguard from the explosion ahead of him. The fear that had pumped inside her chest slowed down a bit while the Avengers stood in a circle, protecting the core. Steve let go of Zoe's hand when he saw no other robots. She leaned off of his back and walked out from behind him, so they could have a bit of fighting space. She gripped onto her spear's handle tightly. "Sion," she said and he glanced lightly at her, giving her a small look.

"This is the drill," Tony said to Natasha, as the church's atmosphere suddenly grew serious and quiet."If Ultron get's his hands on the core, we loose."

Vision looked at it and frowned slightly. He didn't want that to happen. He wouldn't let that happen.

A moment later, the Hulk jumped down, crashing on more robots that were heading toward the church. With his huge green arm, he flung the robot like it was nothing, and joined his fellow Avengers inside the church.

Ultron lowered himself in the middle of the sky, as Steve, Zoe, Wanda, Pietro, Clint, Tony, Vision, Natasha, and Thor all turned to face him, their arch-nemesis.

"Is that the best you can do?!" Thor challenged.

Ultron flew forward slightly, and lifted a hand signal for the rest of his remaining robots that were crawling in and out from the dwelling city of ruins over the debris to join his side.

Zoe's eyes widened at the tiny little things inside the broken city that were going to appear much larger when they came in contact with her. She gulped, and swallowed hard. Her body tensed and she felt rigid. She glanced around her at what it seemed like a thousand more robots surrounding Ultron.

"You had to ask," Steve asked.

"Just letting you know," Zoe said to steve. Steve arched an eyebrow down at her. "It wasn't me that asked this time."

Thor gave Zoe a what look and she shrugged innocently. Thor cringed slightly and shrugged at Steve's questionable look on his face.

"This is the best I can do," Ultron said, holding his arms out like he was king of the world already. "This is exactly what I wanted, all of you, against all of me. How can you possibly hope to stop me?"

"Well," Tony sighed, glancing at his team. "Like the old man said," Tony said. Steve turned to face him, while Zoe hit the hilt of her button again, extracting the electricity out of her spear's blades, ready to fight.

"Together."

The Hulk let out a roar that raged in the city, just as more and more robots came forward, and crawled over on top of the church to get inside and fight the Avengers.

Actions

↑ Top


	69. Chapter 69: Avenging Together

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to Marvel and its respective owners. I am writing for fun and not for profit. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 69: Avenging Together**

Zoe stood next to Natasha and Clint, not too far from the Hulk, Steve, Wanda, Tony, Vision, and Thor. Pietro had the ability to zoom anywhere he wanted to so he could go around the room, charging at the robots as they came for the core, ripping them to tiny metal pieces on the ground and in explosions that went off all around her.

Wanda threw her red flared powers as the robots came after her. She threw one energy ball right after the other, in front, above, sideways, and tore them in half, while Steve used his Shield to bounce the robots back and onto the ground, kicking them down hard with the sole of his boots. Wanda flipped a robot over her in the sky, and tossed it across the room. It landed in a heavy heap across the Church's wall.

Vision threw a punch at one of the robots and threw him in the air as well, tearing his own set of robots apart that tried to come for the core. He flew upward while Thor hit his robot with his hammer, and grabbed a robot in his hands. He tore it apart, breaking metal pieces down on the ground that showered over them.

Clint was firing arrow after arrow in every direction from which they came, not missing a single robot.

A robot flew toward Steve and grabbed him by the neck. He winced as he tried to pry the robot off of him.

Natasha shoved her tazer dagger into one of her own robots and jammed her second one who came at her from the other side.

Zoe widened her eyes when a robot zoomed down at her. She gasped at the sight of the robot, and when it tried to reach for her, she shoved her spear's blade into its torso to keep from getting to the core that she protected. With all of her might and the energy that she had left she shoved the robot back and away from the core, twisting her spear into its torso's circuits. Another robot came at her from behind, wrapping its cold metal fingers around her neck, catching her off-guard, while she tried to kill the robot in front of her.

She yanked the robot in front of her and back toward her body as she jammed the other end of her blade into the robot that held her in a chock-hold. She gritted her teeth together, feeling the strength of the robot's fingers against her neck. She tried not to yell as the pain throbbed against her, and with all her might, she jammed her blade inside the robot's torso behind her, shoving her elbow against the robot so that she was no longer choking to death. Then Zoe crawled underneath her spear that was caught in the middle between her robots and placed her hands over the hilt of her blades that were electrocuting the robots that didn't seem to want to freaking die. She let go of her blade's hilt, and threw her hands in the air so that she could throw two knives out of her wrist's holsters at the robot's that landed in their necks, set off to explode. As they exploded around her, she ducked and pressed the hilt of her button so that her blades retracted back inside. She sighed with relief as pieces of metal showered over her.

Wanda continued to shoot more powers as the robots came at her, and Vision worked on tearing the robots that flew inside the Church's broken ceiling.

Steve shoved the robot off of him as hard as he could, trying not to think about the rush of the robots surrounding him and his team as he pried the robot from his body.

Steve jumped up with his super soldier strength and twirled around in the air as Vision flew across him, and threw the robot down on the ground. Clint fired an exploding arrow at his robot, while Wanda's red flares curled up and around a robot that broke to pieces. Thor was above his fellow Avengers, hitting the robots that tried to come at them with his hammer, hitting them against the Church's wall so that they broke to pieces, and used the lightning to light them to death. Pietro zoomed around the room, energy flares leaving behind him as he broke the robots apart with his hands super speed.

A robot tried to climb up on the Hulk's back, but the Hulk just threw him off of him, and barreled on through the robots that surrounded him, breaking them to pieces with his feet as he stomped on them. Thor raised his knee and kicked his robot while Wanda shot her hand out in the skies tearing the sky up in such beautiful red flares that showered the robots to pieces. Clint used his bow to hit a robot that flew at him and smack him down on the ground. Tony zoomed over Wanda and shot one robot down with his Iron Man laser fires from his electric eyes of his Iron Man Helmet. Pietro threw a punch down at another robot. Clint shoved his arrow through the robot's neck and picked him up in the air, dangling the robot's feet, killing him. The Hulk grabbed a robot from the sky as it zoomed in and tore it in his mouth, breaking its head off. He spit it out in anger. Steve whacked his Shield at a robot that flew down. Zoe yanked her blue electricity spear out of a robot that she just killed and twirled around just in time to toss one of her last remaining set of knives at one of the robots that tried to get to Steve from behind him. It exploded on instant and she smirked while Steve gave her the nod and ran forward, jumping up in the air. He spun around and jammed his Shield into a robot's neck.

Wanda shot out her powers at the robot that tried to get to the core and shoved them down on the ground. Natasha jammed her weapons into a robot with all of her anger and mighty force that she was able to muster.

Ultron growled in anger, and grabbed onto Vision in the sky above the avengers in the middle of the robot battle, and started fighting him. He shoved Vision against the church's brick wall, but that didn't stop Vision. Vision used the energy power from the mind stone and forced Ultron out of the church. Thor turned around and noticed that Vision was forcing him outside and flew out to help him with the lightning of his hammer that aimed directly at Ultron. Tony joined Vision and Thor not too long ago with the energy light beams from his hands.

The three Avengers used their energy and powers against Ultron as he tried to defend himself against the power, but he was ultimately loosing as the flames from the energy beams burned into the side of his metal skull, tearing down his strength and power. The power in his circuits were dying as Ultron's dry and low chuckle sounded coarse.

"You know, with the benefit of hindsight…" Ultron began, but the Hulk smashed him hard and in the air, flying backwards. The remaining robots that had fled the church stood in the face of the Hulk's angry eyes and slightly cowered at the sight of him. They started running as soon as Hulk's roar left them in fear, as he charged them off the rock and into the skies.

"They'll try to leave the city!" Thor said.

"We can't let them, not even one," Tony informed. "Rhodey!"

"I'm on it!" Rhodey said as he flew out to meet the robots that were trying to scatter. "Oh no," he said with a shake of his head. "I didn't say you could leave. More machine coming at you, right up…" he said slowly, firing his weapon attached to his machine suit. He was about to go after one robot, until it suddenly exploded in green sparks around him and Rhodey just blinked at the sight before him. He didn't do that did he? He looked as Vision appeared in the sky, ripping robots in half. "Okay…what?"

Back inside the church, Steve, Natasha, Clint, Wanda, and Zoe stood together while waiting for Cap's orders. Everyone looked worse to the wear as they stood, breathing hard from their fight. The robot's pieces had piled up, covering the grounds. Pietro was searching for any other remaining robots inside the church.

"We gotta move out," Steve said, as Zoe tightened up her blood-tear stained cloth on her leg. "Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats, I'll sweep for stragglers."

Once Zoe felt satisfied that her cloth would stay on her calf, she turned to face Steve with a worried look. He looked at her. "I'll be right behind you," he said.

"What about the core?" Clint asked.

"I'll protect it," Wanda offered.

Clint looked up at her, surprised to hear it out of her lips. Zoe was also surprised as she looked at the young girl with new admiration.

"It's my job," she said, smiling at Clint.

Clint nodded, and Zoe grinned impressively at her. Clint motioned a nod for Zoe to follow Clint and Nat to the boats, but as she was about to head off; Steve reached for her arm and pulled her in against his chest. Zoe felt a slight heat inside of her as he ran a hand over her cheek, and lifted her chin up within his gloved-covered fingers. He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. She kissed his warm lips with just as an equal amount of force that he sent hers, giving her that tingling sensation she missed when they first met except it felt like she was running on electricity, and felt his arms tighten gently around her, pulling her in close, but all of a sudden, Zoe felt her legs suddenly pull out from underneath her, dragging her on the ground. It dragged her away from Steve. She screamed and tried to reach for Steve in the far distance as the robot dragged her away. Her fingernails dug into the soil beneath her, as Steve darted for her, trying to scramble for her, but the robot twisted her leg back, breaking it effectively that made her scream louder than what she would have liked due to the searing pain running through her.

Clint quickly pulled out an arrow from his quiver and shot at the robot's head, letting Zoe's leg loose.

She groaned and felt rolled over as Steve had finally got to her. She looked up at him, feeling the pain quiver inside her leg as her nerves and fibers swelled to numbness. He tossed his Shield right into the robot's head, jamming it to pieces for good measure. "Zoe," he said shakily. He tried to pick her up but she tensed against him.

"No," she hissed through clenched teeth, grasping at his chest with her fingers to stop him from moving her. "It too sensitive to move it," she said tearfully. "It's definitely broken."

"Well, you're just going to have to work with me here," Steve said as he started to pick her up. Zoe looked up at him worriedly. While it hurt to move, the rest of her body felt like heavy lead, and she wasn't even sure that Steve could… but she was already picked up within his strong arms. She leaned against his chest and Steve passed her off to Clint. She wrapped her arms around his neck as Natasha cradled her head gently, and eased her into Clint's arms. Steve reached for his Shield out of the robot and attached it to his armguard.

"We'll get her home safe, Cap," Clint said. Steve nodded his thanks toward the archer as Clint raised her gently within his arms with the top of his knee so that she didn't fall. She looked over at Steve sadly, as he watched her go, their perfect moment ruined.

"Alright, let's go," Clint said to Natasha and she nodded. Steve watched them take off with Zoe in the archer's arms and his heart twinged, wondering if he should have kissed her at all. He'd gotten so caught up in the moment, and even though the odds were still looking grim, he couldn't help but feel like they were winning on some level. If he kissed her then, would she have gotten her leg broken? He wondered as he looked for any kind of straggler robots or civilians, he wasn't sure, and couldn't help but think it was his fault that she got her leg broken and twisted.

"Get the people on the boats," Wanda said, informing her brother as he sped up to her.

"I'm not going to leave you here," Pietro said with an affirmative shake of his nod, his older brother instincts kicking in.

"I can handle this," she said, as she spotted a robot coming up from behind Pietro. She shot her powers toward it, knocking it down into the messy robot pile that surrounded them.

Pietro tilted his head in an impressive manner and smirked at his sister.

"Come back for me when everyone is off, not before," Wanda said.

"Hmm," Pietro said, and was about to walk forward until Wanda frowned at him.

"You understand?" she asked.

Pietro smiled up at her. "You know, I am twelve minutes older than you," he said.

Wanda chuckled lightly, and smiled at him. "Go," she said.

~*A*~

Natasha found themselves a car to break into, while Clint laid Zoe gently across the backseat of the car, careful not to move her leg. "You hang in there, okay?" he asked. She nodded. "I'll try," she said, slightly wincing as she scooted her body back to side of the door so she could lean her arm and head back against the backseat of the convertible car. Natasha got the engine running, and slid inside the passenger seat.

"What did I tell you about loosing your head, Sawyer?" Natasha asked her.

Zoe winced, "You didn't say anything, Romanoff," she said. "My head was already lost when I first saw him."

Natasha smirked as Clint climbed in the driver's seat and slammed the door shut. He pressed his foot on the gas pedal and sped his way through the debris and weaved in and out of it throughout the city to get to the edge of the rock.

~*A*~

"Boss, the power levels are way below…" Friday began but Tony cut her off as he flew toward the drill down inside the core of the city.

"Reroute everything," Tony said. "We got one shot at this."

~*A*~

"I know what I need to do," Clint said, breaking the banter that had started between Natasha and Zoe. Clint's tone of voice made them shut up. Zoe and Natasha looked at each other through the rear view mirror and looked at Clint. "Dining room," he said suddenly.

"What?" Zoe asked.

"Yeah," he said, looking at her through the rear view mirror to make sure she was still doing okay. "If I knock out that east wall, it would make a nice floor space for Laura, huh?" he said, speeding passed parked cars as the flames that were hot and heated as they weaved in and out of the roads of the broken city. "Put up some baffling, me and the kids running around, what do you think?" he asked.

"You guys always eat in the kitchen anyway," Natasha said.

"No one eats in a dining room," Clint said exasperatedly.

"Are we there yet?" Zoe asked.

Clint looked up at her, "Cute," he said and she forced a grin on her face to mask the pain she was trying so hard not to feel inside her leg.

He parked the car to the side, and looked around him. The Hulk was still out there, and Natasha still needed to construct the lullaby for him so that he could get home to her.

"We don't have a lot of time," Clint said, as Natasha got out of the car. Clint climbed out and went to go get Zoe as carefully as he could, not to tear any more limbs on her that would cost her some extra bedridden days in the future.

"So get your asses on a boat," she said, and ran back inside the main part of the city where she heard the Hulk rummaging around, probably breaking things in his trek, unsure what to do with himself.

The Hulk dropped a broken tire that looked like he'd wrapped it up in a pretzel. Natasha took off her glove to reveal the palm of her hand so that she could try to lull him back to Dr. Banner form.

"Hey Big Guy," she greeted, walking slowly over to him. He huffed and puffed, looking at her as she slowly approached him. "Sun's getting real low."

Meanwhile, Clint had gotten onto the last boat waiting on the side edge of the city, and handed Zoe to one of the medical officials that ran up to them. "Here, careful, one of the robots twisted her leg, probably fractured her bone."

"How bad is she?" he asked Clint.

"Immediate medical attention," Clint replied.

"Alright, we'll take a look at it," the medical tech said, carefully holding Zoe in his arms. She widened her eyes as she felt ripped away from someone so familiar, but was ultimately grateful for the medical attention she was going to get. However, she didn't want to leave just yet when some of her friends were still unaccounted for. "Wait," she said, pushing her limits. "Just wait…" she said.

"Ma'am if you don't get medical attention right away, your leg could get infected," he said, ushering in the medical table.

Clint gave her a look. "Just listen to him, Zo," he said. "I'll make sure everyone's on, I promise," he said.

Zoe stared into his promising blue eyes as the medical tech lowered her body onto the medical cot and started taking precaution measurements around her. She nodded at Clint's look, while he stepped on the edge, searching the grounds.

As Zoe settled into her cot, she heard a familiar voice in an accent that Zoe didn't understand, but she could hear the woman's feared voice. "We were in the market…" the woman tried to explain. She shouted out her son's name.

"Clint," Zoe said, motioning a nod toward the woman that was beside her. Clint looked at Zoe and the woman who seemed searching for her son. He peered outside to see if he could find him and low and behold he saw a kid that had gotten himself stuck behind some kind of railing as the kid tried to climb himself out.

Clint took off running to go save him.

~*A*`~

Tony used his energy beams to create a fiery hole around the drill of the core. He ripped it off and looked inside the drill's spinning blades.

"Thor, I'm gonna need you back in the church," Tony said.

"Is this the last of them?" Thor asked Steve as the remaining civilians all piled up onto the boat.

Steve joined Thor. "Yeah, he said. "Everyone else is on the carrier."

"You know if this works, we may be able to walk away," Tony said.

"Or maybe not…" Thor said with a slight frown on his face.

Just a little ways inside the city, by the city park and playground, Natasha held out her hand delicately, waiting and hoping that her lullaby would work this time. The Hulk turned around to face her. She nodded that she was okay and could be trusted as the Hulk seemed to calm down, be a little more relaxed. Natasha nodded, and stepped closer until all of a sudden a hail of bullets shot down at Natasha. She fell backwards, off her feet, and the Hulk screamed loudly at the pilot above them.

Ultron had stolen the quinjet. He shouted in anger as the quinjet flew passed them. Ultron glanced behind his shoulder. "I have no strings, so I have fun, I'm not tied up to…anyone?" he said and noticed Clint trying to pick up the boy out from underneath the fallen roads that had created a level so it was harder for the boy to crawl out of.

Ultron pushed the trigger on the quinjet's weapon and showered another hail of bullets toward Clint.

Zoe accidentally pulled herself up in alarm, which caused her to cry out. "No!" she cried, as she grabbed onto the med-tech's jacket, watching in horror as her team got showered with fiery bullets. Thor protected Steve and Steve protected Thor with his Shield as they both ducked from the range of bullets showering over them and smoke piled up around them, covering them so Zoe couldn't see if they'd made it out. Her heart stopped in shock as she watched in horror. Pietro heard Zoe's cries and he looked over as the bullets showered closer toward Clint while he protected the young boy in his arms. Pietro zoomed quickly over to protect Clint and the boy from getting killed, stopping the hail of bullets almost immediately.

Dead silence surrounded them, as Zoe tried to calm herself down, but couldn't help but let her tears run free. She was shaking with fear and horror and drowning in anguish.

"You didn't see that coming," Pietro said softly before he fell to his knees and on the floor, dead.

Back inside the church, Wanda felt every wave of emotion reside inside of her like a black tidal wave of her brother's death that hit her like a fright train. Her heart seemed to drop just as she fell to her knees, and as she did so she released all of her anger, sadness and sorrow of emotions shoot freely attacking the robots, twisting them in anguish, twisting them to metal pieces with her angry flares of red that surrounded her.

Meanwhile, Thor twirled his hammer in air and flew up in the sky, while Steve placed his Shield back in its strap behind him and ran over to help Clint.

Zoe watched the scene unfold her like a bad dream, and she was helpless to stop it. Tears fell out of her eyes, no longer happy, but sad. She didn't even realize that she'd been holding on to the medical tech's jacket until her fingers grew numb and cold to the bones of her soul that seemed to break and dwindle within her. She let go and felt everything dissolve around her, making her feel lucid.

Clint picked up the boy in his arms while Steve picked up Pietro in his arms to take back to the boat, feeling the loss of a soldier ride inside of him.

~*A*~

The Hulk fell in the sky, carrying Natasha in his arms and hands, cradling her gently as he took her to the safety net of the Hellicarrier. He landed her gently on the ground. She tried to get up and stop him from running, but he took off. He jumped down on his feet and tore his way through the skies, running after Ultron as he jumped up high. He tore inside the quinjet and yanked Ultron by the throat. "Oh for Godsake's…" he said grumpily as he fell back forcibly by the Hulk's force of nature, falling down and down back inside the Sokovian city that he tried to get away from. He landed smack dab in the middle of a bus.

Steve placed Pietro's body down on the ground by a set of empty seats, while Clint trudged onto the boat and handed the mother's boy into her arms, as she cried, and hugged her son desperately. Steve walked over to Zoe who was about to be taken further back inside the boat, and ran a gentle hand over her forehead. She looked up at him with tear strained cheek marks. His eyes were so sad, and her heart was breaking in each and every moment they shared the loss of Pietro's death. Steve gave the nod to the medical tech to take her back inside while he went to check for anyone else that might be struggling to get on the boat.

A med tech ran over to Clint to see if he needed any assistance but Clint shook his head, glancing at his bloodied palm of his hand he'd found from his stomach. "No, no, I'm fine," he said, slumping down on a seat beside Pietro's lifeless body. "It's been a long day," he whispered and laid back down on the seats, resting his fight driven body that had no more energy left to contain.

~*A*~

Wanda searched the city grounds for the last remaining Ultron, and finally walked inside a broken bus with her fingers curled up in red flare, ready to finish Ultron off, ready to hurt him for what he'd done to her brother, a feeling that no one could begin to understand how she felt right now. No one.

She leaned down and faced Ultron's broken body as he laid there, helpless. "What?" he said in a dark whisper. "If you stay here, you'll die," he said.

"I just did," Wanda said. "Do you know how it felt?" she asked, and within an instant, she clawed her fingers in the air as if she was going to rip out his heart. With her powers surging through her arm to the edge of her fingertips, she pulled out his round circuit from the inside of his chest, pulling it out and into the palm of her hand. She glared at him. "It felt like that."

~*A*~

A robot was sliding its body toward the core, while the rest of the civilians that Steve had found in bits and pieces hiding because they were too frightened to move had gotten aboard safely. He looked around his surroundings. It didn't seem like Wanda was going to join them, not that he'd blamed her, but she didn't have to die.

Steve suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet shake, so he jumped up onto the boat and the boat took off in the skies. Steve watched as the rock fell and broke apart with Tony underneath it, using as much power as he could with his reactor lighting up the core.

"Thor on my mark!" Tony said.

Thor raised his hammer in the sky and lightning surrounded it, just in time for the powers to surge together and surround the drill and the core inside the Church as the city dropped from the sky.

Wanda drifted away as she felt the affects of the city's gravity around her. She thought she was going to die until Vision rushed in, picked her up in his arms, and flew out of the mess before she could fall with the city's ruins.

"Now!" Tony said.

Thor raised his hammer and knocked it down, as the blue lightning and energy formed all around the church, breaking the rock into pieces. Rock, fire, and dust flew across the ocean, as Tony flew in and out of the rocky debris, trying to get out of there as fast as he could. Thor dropped inside the water, and Tony made a mad dash to rescue Thor in the ocean.

~*A*`~

Inside the quiet quinjet, the Hulk seemed satisfied with how things went on the rocky Sokovia that was no more. He pushed the ramp closed, sunlight disappearing on his green features and felt the darkness surround him.

"Hey Big Guy," Natasha's voice was heard on the other end of the screen beside the cockpit.

The Hulk turned around to listen to her.

"We did it," she said. "The job's finished. Now, I need you turn this boat around, okay?" The Hulk walked over to the cockpit, listening to the sound of her voice, and slumped down on the floor. "We can't track you in stealth mode, so help me out…I need you to…" but he reached the screen on the windshield in front of him and turned her off. She disappeared and he looked down at the ground, flying the jet over the clouds, running. He was going to run where no one else could get hurt, even if that meant leaving her to protect her.

~*A*~

Ultron climbed over the hill and stood in the middle of trees that had surrounded the hole the Avengers created together. He was met with Vision who floated down with his golden cape behind him and faced him as the sun started to settle behind the mountains.

Vision took a look at the last Ultron robot standing, and smiled thoughtfully. "You're afraid," he said.

"Of you," Ultron said.

"Of death," Vision said simply. "You're the last one."

"You were supposed to be the last," Ultron said, walking forward toward him. "Stark asked for a savior, and settled for a slave."

"I suppose we are both disappointments," Vision said.

Ultron let out a low chuckle. "I suppose we are."

"Humans are odd," Vision said. "They think order and chaos are somehow opposites that try to control what won't, but there is grace in their failures. I think you missed that."

"They're doomed," Ultron said.

"Yes," Vision said tentatively with a nod of his head. "But a thing isn't beautiful because it lasts; it's a privilege to be among them."

Ultron snarled. "You are unbearably naïve."

"Well," Vision said, glancing up at Ultron. "I was born yesterday."

Ultron jumped up to kill Vision, but Vision was quick enough to stop him with the powers of the mind stone on his forehead. The light beamed at Ultron so brightly it killed him on impact.


	70. Chapter 70: Recovery Road

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belongs to its respective owners. I am writing for fun and not for profit. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 70: Recovery Road**

 **Upstate New York**  
 **The Avenger's New Facility**

Zoe woke up to the sound of men marching outside her window. She turned her head against the soft pillow case underneath her cheek and furrowed her brows at the men in dark blue navy uniforms as they chanted together in the middle of their morning run. The window slanted outward on the balcony on top of her new home in Upstate New York, showing her the outside world with the sun's rays peeking through the cloudy skies. A small smile appeared on her dry lips. It amazed her every day that she could still wake up to morning's beauty just outside her window. Even though the clouds were thick and gray, she could always smile because she was alive.

She made a move to turn, but then frowned when she realized the heavy cast on her right leg had made her completely stiff and sore for the past two weeks. She let out a tired groan, as the memory of her painful endurance with that last robot made her this way. She let her back drop into the crevices of her pillow and sighed, taking a look at her elevated leg on the fluffy pillow. She looked back down at her pajamas and let out an irritable sigh. Her morning smile became long forgotten because all that looked forward ahead of her was three to four weeks of bed-rest, while Director Fury and his team continued to set up the new Avenger's facility hidden deep within the back woods of New York. She hated the fact that she was here and not with her fellow agents, helping out to the best of her abilities. What was she supposed to do, the entire time, knit? She wrinkled her nose in pure disgust. Agent Zoe Sawyer did not knit. She didn't knit, although, with Laura's baby on the way that was due in the next month, she could begin knitting some much needed baby socks for him. It was going to be a cold season ahead of the little guy so he would probably need a little cap to keep his newborn head warm. New York could get frightfully cold in the winter, of which Zoe was not looking forward to. She just couldn't believe she'd gotten herself injured during of what may be her last battle with the Avengers, for everyone was leaving her.

Clint had left the Avengers to be a stay-at-home Dad with his family. It was a rumor, but a rumor that ran around the facility that Tony was leaving them. There was still no word on Dr. Banner's whereabouts. Natasha hadn't been able to track him; last Zoe heard when Natasha came to visit her last week. It had been quiet on the warfront ever since Zoe woke up to her fellow remaining Avengers that surrounded her with a handful of gifts, and flowers at her bedside table inside the hospital, along with her sister, Ava. Director Fury had Dr. Cho set up Zoe's room in the new Avenger's facility so that Zoe could be here if they needed her expertise on anything, but so far, things have been unnaturally quiet. Thor was helping Vision settling in, and had asked Zoe to research on the Infinity Stones when she was able to feel at least one hundred percent better on her road to recovery.

Her tired eyes tried to adjust to the light coming from the outside of her window. She was so tired, so drained, and as she looked around the room, she realized that she was also very much alone. She should have known that she was going to be alone anyway. The Avenger's facility was a new bustling place, and everyone was pretty much in their own little worlds, while Zoe just sat here, trying to recover out of a week from her surgery in the hospital. Three-to-four more weeks of lying in bed were ahead of her. She grimaced at the terrible thought racing through her mind. Plus, there would be about eight weeks of physical therapy just to make sure that she could walk on her own without crutches or wheelchair, and then she would be going to yearly checkups to see how she was doing, Director Fury's orders of course.

She sighed, and leaned her had back against her pillow and turned her head to the side of her inn-table. She tried to move her leg, shifting it so that she could reach over to turn on the lamp's light beside her, but she was struggling to reach it. She rolled over and pushed the weight of her stomach against her leg, and let out a sharp yell in alarm that made Cameron Klein come running in an instant with a fearful look written over his pale features.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you are not supposed to be moving, I am your assistant, I am supposed to be taking care of you," he stammered in a rush of words strung together as if he was trying to complete a sentence that sounded strained in Zoe's ears. She froze and retracted her hand back away from the lamp.

She furrowed her brows at him. "You're my assistant?"

"For the time being, yes, ma'am," he said with a nod of his head, topped with light brown curls.

She looked at him up and down. The poor boy looked frantic, dressed in his khaki pants, and white buttoned down work shirt. His sleeves were rolled up against his elbows. He looked like the guy who was just fresh out of college and had gotten this job out of pure luck. However, what she saw in his hands was something that was making her extra happy. A cup of coffee from Starbucks and a sweet and buttery croissant couldn't hurt a fly, it was definitely a sure fire way to be put on Zoe's nice list.

She leaned her body back against her mattress, and rested her hand over her stomach as her elbow rested against the side of her. She smirked. "Is that coffee for me?" she asked.

Klein looked at it and gulped. "Would you kill me if I said…no?" he said barely a whisper.

Zoe arched an eyebrow. "What?" she asked.

"N-nothing," he stammered. "Yes, it's for you," he walked over and handed her the famous Starbucks coffee cup and a brown paper bag that was wrapped up like a lunch bag for her. She snatched both items desperately as the smell of coffee trickled her nostrils and engulfed around her.

She took a careful sip of the tall coffee drink in her hand and suddenly wrinkled her nose. "Aye!" she winced at the awful taste the coffee liquid stained on her tongue.

"Too hot?" Klein asked as he tentatively turned on the light, pulling the string between his fingers. The light brightened the room just a little bit more.

"I'm lactose intolerant," Zoe muttered disdainfully, and frowned, as she pulled the brown sleeve on the cup. She turned it around to find her name written with a black Sharpie marker but instead it had Cameron's name written on it with a heart-shape beside it. "Cameron, huh?" she asked.

"Y-yes ma'am, I should've introduced myself to you, sorry," he cleared his throat, and spoke up a little more. "Although I thought I did when Director Fury told me immediately to make sure that you were well taken care of. You were awake for the information…" he said slowly, noticing her confused expression on her face. "Or it was the drugs wearing off."

Zoe nodded slowly. "Yeah, let's go with that," she handed Klein his drink back and he looked at it with a small frown. "Oh, for goodness sake's Cameron, I don't have cooties."

"Right," he sucked in a deep breath. "Right," he took a careful step back, and snapped his fingers in a nervous manner.

She frowned, watching his skittish ways around her, like he had to walk on eggshells. "We're off to a rocky start, aren't we?" she asked.

Klein didn't say anything. He was honestly too afraid to. He's heard so many stories about Agent Sawyer that anyone of them could be true, especially about how her family was originally part of HYDRA.

"Can I at least keep the croissant?" she asked, breaking the awkward silence as Klein's eyes tried not to stare at her broken leg. The white cast wrapped around her leg seemed bigger than her.

"You can have it," he said, grinning ruefully at her as she took it eagerly from his fingers.

Zoe started to unravel the paper bag in her hands. The hot steam lifted from the bag and curled around her eyes as she looked inside at the flaky bread inside. She sighed contently and started to pull the flaky pieces of bread away from the croissant, while every now and then she would look up at Klein pacing back and forth at the end of her bed. He swirled his coffee around in his hand as he looked inside the cup. Zoe thought he was a peculiar fellow, and wondered why this guy had been put in place to watch her. Watch. Not be the actual assistant she was supposed to be, because she knew Shield's ways, and often times old habits did not die hard.

"Would you like a piece?" she asked, pulling off a piece of flaky pieces that crumbled to the bag, resting on her lap. "It is your breakfast after all," she said.

Klein swallowed hard and looked at the peace offering gift from her hand. It was weird. She wasn't like any of the stories he'd heard before. She was…nice. He twisted his lips curiously to the side as his brown eyes danced upon the piece of flaky substance in between her fingers.

"I guess you've heard of me," she said, looking down at the piece of bread in her lap and sighed, leaning her head against the back of her pillow. "I used to be like you once, scared, alone, and timid in a room full of people I suddenly didn't know. But Agent Hill, Agent Coulson, and Director Fury took me in and trained me to the best of their abilities. They gave me a home here with Shield. Something I'll never forget. Something I'll always be grateful for. But I lost an agent, Agent Coulson," she said, looking at Klein who curled his lips underneath him, listening to her words spew out of her mouth. "Killed by the God of Mischief. We Avenged his death, but gained so much more. It's funny... after that I was supposed to be gone. I was supposed to go undercover for Hydra, collect data and Intel for the Avengers and for SHIELD. There were a lot of suspicions that I had joined HYDRA."

Klein swallowed hard, feeling his throat suddenly dry. "Did you?" he asked.

Zoe lifted the back curls of her hair and twisted them around the curve of her neck. She turned around to show him her HYDRA brand symbol that would forever be there with its beady eyes staring at her.

"There's…nothing there," he said.

Zoe frowned. "Pardon? Yes there is, there's a HYDRA brand symbol that I can't get off. I've tried to scratch it off…" she said frantically as she brushed the crumbs off of her fingers and she ran her fingers along her neck, pushing her skin against the tissue that was in place of it. She could still feel the slight edges of the brand hidden within the makeshift of the tissue.

"Um…oh," she said. "Huh…" she held onto the back of her neck, feeling the tissue behind the palm of her hand. She smiled slightly through the haze of her tired yet slightly hopeful eyes. It was gone. It felt so weird. She'd always had that weight of past literally branded into her skull, a memory she'd always carry with her, and now…it was gone.

"Well, I did join," she said, leaning back against her pillow slowly. She sighed. "Not proud of it. I had to get my sister out. And save what remaining souls were left with Strucker's God-awful experiments. And I gave the location of HYDRA's last known remaining base of operations. So, all that part was true, Mr. Cameron Klein."

"You can just call me Cameron, or Klein, Fury really likes to bark out my last name."

Zoe smiled. "Alright, then, in that case, you may call me Zoe," she said.

"Just Zoe?" Klein asked her.

She thought about it for a moment as the past drifted away from her and she nodded. "Zoe is just fine."

"So," he drew in a deep breath.

"So," Zoe said, smiling at him with her eyes twinkling brightly as if she'd just made a new friend. She offered him another piece of croissant flaky and warm in between her fingers and he walked over toward the side of her bed, pulled up a chair, and reached for it.

He plopped it in his mouth and chewed quietly. She smiled and pulled out another piece, chewing it up inside her mouth, devouring every bite.

"Can I ask you something?" Klein asked in mid-chew.

"Go for it," Zoe said in between a flaky mouthful. She tore off a piece of bread from the croissant and handed it to him. He took a sip of his coffee.

"What was it like punching Rumlow in the face?" Klein asked with a small grin on his face.

Zoe couldn't help but smile, feeling her cheeks grow with elatedness that riled through her. This was going to be a beautiful friendship. She handed him another piece of flaky bread and she plopped in another in her mouth. "It was delightful," she said.

From that moment on Klein and Zoe engaged in a conversation about the dismantling of SHIELD and how HYDRA took over, but Natasha, Steve, Fury, Hill, and Zoe fixed it to the best of their abilities by destroying what they could about both companies that her father had worked for.

Zoe giggled underneath her hand. "You poor thing! First nearly getting shot at and getting attacked by a robot? I told you Hill was badass," she said. "You can never go wrong."

Klein smiled. "Um, do you want me to get you anything to drink? Or…help you to the restroom for anything…I wasn't really given much of a manual on 'How-to-take-care-of-Agent Zoe Sawyer'…"

"That's because that's on me," Ava said poking her head into Zoe's room. Zoe looked up and saw her sister.

Klein blinked at Ava's head that poked through the threshold door and he widened his eyes. "Wow…twins…you didn't say you were a twin," he stammered.

"We are," Ava said, grinning. "It's my turn to be on Zoe watch," she said. "You can go back to your station and do your tech thing or whatever it is you techies do down there."

Klein nodded. "Sounds…uh, good. I'll remember to get you coffee tomorrow morning," he said, raising his lukewarm coffee cup.

"She likes Coconut Milk," Ava informed the agent as he saluted Zoe, walking out past Ava, who just looked so much like Zoe hadn't it been for the purple streaks in her hair.

Zoe watched Cameron stumble out of the room, and smiled when Ava walked inside, taking over for Cameron. "Don't you have Avenger training?" she asked. "How are you going to have time to take care of me?" she asked. "Besides, I can totally take care of myself," Zoe said.

"Right," Ava clipped shortly, as her eyes traveled on Zoe's not-so-hot look in bed with messy curls around her round face, and still dressed in her own pajamas. No makeup on either. She placed a hand over her hip, as she stood at the end of her bed. "And besides that doesn't start for another few weeks. Nat's still rounding them up. We're a bit short handed," she said, poking her cast leg gently. Zoe winced, but then smiled because she was faking that slight pain Ava had thought she endured on her sister.

"So, how are you feeling, anyway?" Ava asked with a small concerned frown.

Zoe sighed, and shrugged. "Just, bored. Tired. Achy. I just want it all to go away…"

"It will, so long as you listen to the doctors," Ava said. "You're expected to make a speedy recovery. You'll be training with us in no time."

Zoe forced a tight grin on her face. "Yeah," she said. "Sure."

"He hasn't come by at all this week, has he?" Ava asked, noticing the look on Zoe's face that was indescribable. "Just give him time, Zo, he'll come by, I promise," she said, walking around her bedside and sat down beside her. She took the remaining bag of crumbs and folded it in half so that the crumbs wouldn't get all over her and placed it on the bedside table next to the brown teddy-bear dressed like he was a mini- Captain America back in his war bond days.

She nodded, trying to hide the emotions inside of her that threatened to bubble up out of her. She'd been an emotional wreck ever since the doctors kicked started her recovery from drugs making her all loopy and disoriented. She was just now starting to feel a little more like herself, but her emotions had been tender and high strung.

"I think I've given him too much time, Ava," she said, glancing up into her sister's eyes. "We haven't even been on a real date," she said voice thick with raw emotion. She was not going to cry, she was not going to cry, she thought over and over, but it was too late, Ava already spotted the tear fall from her eyes and fall onto her sister's cheeks. With a small sigh, Ava turned the mini Captain America teddy bear over, and started to crawl over on the other side of her good leg, and laid back along the mattress of her bed, scooting Zoe slightly over so that Ava could hold onto her sister and comfort her as much as Zoe needed it.

"Well of course not sweetie," Ava said gently, brushing her sister's hair out of the way. "You've been put on bed rest for the next three to four weeks! And Steve's been pretty busy helping things get moving along around here, I mean… you know? He'll come around, I promise."

Zoe nodded, and sighed, shoulders slumping with exhaustion. Ava let Zoe place her head over her shoulder, and rest her eyes. She was just so tired and it had only been a week so far. She was seriously not looking forward to the next three weeks. She was going to have to make some calls, stat, and find some things to do before she totally lost her mind, with everyone leaving her soon…she wasn't sure if she could handle Steve being so distant with her. As far as her memory serves right, and it isn't just the drugs playing mind tricks on her, she could have sworn she remembered his lips on hers before the incident, or was it just a dream?


	71. Chapter 71: Saying Goodbye

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to Marvel and its respective owners. I am writing for fun, and not for profit. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 71: Saying Goodbye**

 **The New Avenger's Facility**  
 **Upstate New York**  
 **4 Weeks Later**

"Say hi to Antie Nat," Laura said holding her new baby Nathaniel as she took the tiny baby's hand and waved to Natasha through Natasha's phone in her hand.

Natasha held out the phone to see the picture of Nathaniel Pietro Barton crying in the video. "Phat," she said, with a small smile on her face.

"One of our tech boys, flagged this," Director Fury said, walking across the black sleek floor beneath his boots. "Flashed down to the bottom of the sea," Fury explained as he showed Natasha the coordinates of where Banner might be on his tablet. "Could be the quinjet."

Natasha moved over to look at the tablet in Fury's hand. "But with Stark's stealth tech, we still can't track the damn thing," he said even though there was a beaker lighted up on the blue screen, showing the Pacific waters.

"Right," Natasha said, giving him a small nod of her head.

"Probably jumped out and swam to Fiji," Fury said gently. He looked at her with slight concern in his eye and tightened his jaw. "He'll send a post-card."

"Wish you were here," Natasha said as he started to leave her. "You sent me to recruit him, way back when, did you know then what was going to happen?"

"You never know," Fury said, turning back to face her. "You hope for the best, then make due with what you get. I got a great team."

Natasha smiled grimly. "Nothing lasts forever," she said.

"Trouble Ms. Romanoff," Fury said, pointing the tablet at her. "No matter who wins or looses, trouble still comes around."

~*A*~

Zoe let out a tired yawn and looked outside her window and stretched out her arms releasing any tightness or stiffness she had in her neck from sitting too long since she woke up this morning. She was in her room, resting with a new cast on her leg. Her crutches rested beside her inn-table in case she needed to get up and move. She was so thankful for her crutches, she nearly cried with happiness and joy the day her doctor handed them to her. It was one of the best days she'd always cherish because having crutches meant that she could walk again and soon she would have her leg healed, enough to do some physical therapy work, and then she could go back to work. The best part about staying in bed though, was the part where she could wear her blue velvet sweats, all nice and comfortable.

A sudden video meme popped up on her phone beside her and she beamed widely when it was a message from Laura Barton. She picked it up and looked at the video. Nathaniel Pietro Barton. "Awe," Zoe cooed at the cute little munchkin. He was so adorable! Zoe typed up her text back to Laura. Can't wait to see you! She smiled happily and went back to her paperwork in front of her.

Bored out of her mind, Thor came to the rescue, and asked her do some much needed research on the Infinity Stones. So far she hadn't found much of anything, but she was going to try and search the Internet's underground websites to see if anyone has anything. She would try to find information on the mind stone too. She'd asked her assistant, Cameron to find old textbooks of Norse Mythology, astrology, and the planetary space system.

She even contemplated asking Director Fury for her father's files that may have some information in his dissertation, since after all he was an astrophysist. He'd studied time and space, and studied psychology for a brief part of his life. Being a door to door sales entrepreneur had been his cover to protect his family. Zoe sighed and pressed her fingers onto the center of her head, to ease the tension in the middle of her forehead that wouldn't go away. For the last hour, she'd been swimming in paperwork and information, beginning her new journey in hopes to find out information for Thor and the team.

"Eight planets now, bah," Zoe scoffed, shaking her head as she lifted up her tablet off of her non-injured knee and waved her finger over the screen, zooming by the planets aligned. She even had Dr. Jane Foster's own works of her Convergence thanks to Thor's doing so that she could have everything she needed to find out about the stones, as they had one Infinity Stone, the mind stone, safe with Vision. "You know," she said to herself, biting her pen between her teeth as she placed her glasses on over her nose because she didn't have her contacts in this morning and shook her head. "If a planet has at least one moon, it's still a planet, in my honest opinion."

"Is that right?" A familiar voice cut through the silence of her room and made her head lifted up from the array of papers scattered around her. Zoe's eyes lit up and a smile found its way on her face. Steve. There he was standing there, leaning against the threshold, wearing in his blue, white, and red suit. She could feel her heart race quicken against her chest as she blinked at his sudden appearance. She'd gotten used to swimming into her own information that she hardly even noticed that this was the first time in a month she'd seen him, and he was just as handsome and gorgeous as ever with his blue eyes shining down at her and his smile on his face made her cheeks grow warm.

"Steve," she said, though her breath had gotten caught in her throat. She bit back a small embarrassed smile as her feelings for him had threatened to flood around her. "Um," she glanced around her surroundings and quickly reached for her papers, so she could fix them up so they weren't astray. She folded them neatly and set them right beside her tablet on the other side of her, and cleared her throat. She brushed her hair out of her eyes and over her ears a couple of times even though Steve could see that there was nothing on her face to worry about.

He smiled with a bit of sparkling amusement in his blue eyes, watching her get all flustered at his presence. He was definitely to blame for not seeing her all this time, but in truth, he was busy, and a bit nervous. He kept repeating their shared kiss back on Sokovia, still wondering if he should have kissed her at that moment. And he was nervous to tell her how he truly felt about her inside of his heart.

"Hi," Steve greeted with a sheepish grin on his face.

"Hi," Zoe said finally after she'd calmed down a bit.

She looked around the room and looked over to her set of fresh new flowers on her inn-table on the other side of her and smiled at the roses on the table.

"Those roses weren't cheesy were they?" Steve asked, his face slightly cringing as he worried about the small gesture of condolences for her broken leg. Zoe looked at her roses, biting back a grin, wishing that her cheeks would stop glowing with smiles.

She shook her head. "No," she said. "I like roses. They smell nice and add some much needed color, so thank you," she said, sending him a loving and affectionate look with an approving nod of her head. She looked at his arm draped across the threshold and one arm twisted behind his back, fingers curling around his straps out of nervousness that had suddenly bubbled up in his system. "You can come in," she said with a slight laugh.

Steve let out a huge sigh of relief and walked inside. "Thank God, I was worried you hated me."

Zoe shook her head. "I don't hate you," she said. "That could never happen."

Steve twisted his lips into a small thoughtful frown. "It couldn't?" he asked.

She shook her head. "I get it. You're a busy guy. This place would be lost without you," she said as a matter of fact, and patted the space on her fluffy white coverlet for Steve to sit down.

Steve took a tentative step closer and sat down on the edge of her bed, careful not to sit too close to her leg. "So, how are you?" he asked.

"Better," she said. "I'll get my cast off soon."

"Oh no, world, watch out, Zoe Sawyer is coming to ya, out on the prowl." Steve said in a teasing manner.

She laughed. "Shut up," she said, shoving his shoulder lightly with the palm of her hand. Steve waved back and forth as if she'd really punched him hard, only teasing her of course, and reached for the palm of her hand in his that made her heartbeat quicken. She could feel the warmth of his hand around her small fingers and suddenly she grew quiet, shivering at his touch.

"Steve," Zoe said in a small whisper. She gently pried her hand away or at least she tried to because his fingers enclosed around hers to keep from leaving his. "Steve," she said a little bit louder, and looked up into his blue eyes. He stared back into hers. "I'll truly understand if there is no us in the future," she said almost tearfully. She'd come to terms with it. It would be hard, extremely hard to get over a guy like Steve Rogers, but she was twenty-nine years old, and he was much older than she was. He had super soldier strength, and she was just so...she sighed. She didn't know what she was but she was no Captain America. The reality was kicking into her mind, slowly but surely. "I shouldn't have fallen in love with a super soldier," she whispered.

He let out a small strangled sigh and placed a small kiss on the top of her hand.

"Then I shouldn't have fallen in love with someone like you," Steve said.

Zoe looked up at him with wide and questionable eyes as she felt her heart twist with confusion swelling around her.

Steve cleared his throat, and looked around the room. He ran a hand at the back of his head, running his fingers through his sandy blonde hair.

"I, uh," he cleared his throat, trying to drive the tension away into the room that had suddenly grown around them. "I just came to tell you that Tony's here. Thor's on his way back to Asgard. Thought you might wanted to say goodbye."

"Okay," Zoe said quietly. "I'll um…" she brushed the sides of her face with the palm of her hand and sighed. "Get my crutches and meet you out there." She reached for her tablet and placed it into her messenger bag that was resting beside it and strung it on over her body.

"Here," Steve quickly got up from his seat and walked over to her set of crutches as Zoe attempted to push herself gently and slowly away from her headboard. "Let me help you," he said.

"I got it," Zoe said through clenched teeth as she swung her cast covered leg over the side of her bed, but Steve's hands had already flung to her cast to help lower her foot on the ground gently as Zoe irritably tried to hold onto her crutches that he held out for her. She sighed in a huff as she pulled herself up off her bed. She gripped onto the handles of her crutches and nearly stumbled into Steve's chest as he tried to help her steady her feet on her own on the ground. She glared up at him and tightened her jaw. "I said, I got it," she said, looking up at him through underneath her eyelashes. Steve held up his hands in defense as she started to hop onto her crutches and turn to hop out from around her bed.

"I was just trying to help," Steve said with a sigh.

Zoe winced, and looked back to face him. "I'm sorry," she said. "It's just, I'm tired of being waited on hand and foot, and for once it's nice to be able to do something on my own."

Steve nodded, completely understanding her. "Yeah," he said. Just then, Cameron came back inside the room with an armful of textbooks that reached up to his chin. Zoe cringed as Cameron struggled to place all the books she'd asked for onto her bed in a heavy heap that nearly fell onto the floor.

Steve looked at Zoe with a quirked eyebrow. She smiled bashfully. "Um…almost tired of it," she said.

Steve let out a small scoff and shook his head. "Come on you, Tony and Thor are waiting," he said.

"Well, then let's not keep them waiting any longer," she said, and started to hop out, leaving Cameron completely stunned at Captain America inside her room. "Thank you, Cameron," she said as she passed him by and Steve looked back at the kid as he jogged up next to her in the hallway.

"Cameron? First name basis?" he asked, with a slight frown on his face.

"Oh relax," Zoe said with a roll of her eyes. "He likes a barista girl. I've been trying to help him overcome his fears."

"How thoughtful of you," Steve said with a slight smirk on his face.

"I know," Zoe smiled happily. "It's the least I can do."

"The very least," Steve said, as he saw her smile and how it brightened up her tired features. He liked her smile but then frowned when a curious thought occurred to him. "Should I be…" but he was cut off when Zoe and Steve turned around the corner and walked down the sleek white hallway to find Thor and Tony engaged in a conversation. Tony and Thor looked over at Zoe and Steve walking down the hallway to meet them halfway.

"Tony!" Zoe said, wishing that she could just fly into his arms, but the crutches were indeed a crutch in her attempt to tackle him to the ground. Tony smiled at Zoe's happy face. It was nice to see her smile again.

"Hey there, Killer," Tony greeted. Zoe hopped over to him and he hugged her. "How ya been, darlin'?"

"Alright," she said, trying to sound casual. "Handsome as ever," she said looking up at him up and down as he wore one of his many rock band shirts. He tried to look presentable with a blazer jacket.

"Did you and Steve uh…" Tony said under his breath and motioned with his two fingers hooking up. Zoe looked back at Steve who was talking to Thor. She cringed and shrugged. She didn't know what was going on. Relationships had never been her strong suit in life. She wanted to make things work, but she could see why Steve would hold back. She wasn't the easiest person to be around and right now, she was kind of stuck in limbo. "Oh," he said slowly, frowning. "Sorry."

Zoe shrugged.

"Well," Tony said. "If it's meant to be, it's meant to be, right?"

Zoe nodded.

"Hey, um," Tony glanced over at Steve and Thor warily as he pulled her to the side gently. "Listen, I have something going on, that I'd like for you to check out. Do you think you could for me?"

Zoe frowned. "I don't understand, what's going on? Is it Pepper? Is she okay?"

"She's fine," Tony said, waving a hand in the air as if it was nothing. "She's totally fine. Um, no, just need you to read a couple of things for me if that's alright? I can I send it to your email?"

Zoe cringed. "I already have a lot on my plate with the Infinity stones, Tony…"

"I know, but this is…" Tony sighed, and glanced at Steve. "This is something more."

Zoe chewed her bottom lip, listening to him, and shifted her weight on her uncast leg. "Not until you tell me what it's about."

Tony cringed. "It's about your mother."

Zoe widened her eyes. "What?" she asked.

"I may have cracked the code as to who killed her," Tony said.

Zoe widened her eyes, and blinked, shocked that Tony would have even dug into her past, let alone actually find something in all that rubble. "Send them to me immediately," she said in a rushed hush tone of voice.

"Already done," Tony said, with a grin on his face. He placed an arm around Zoe and together they joined both Thor and Steve, as they started walking down the hallway. "So, when are you going to come visit me and Pep?"

"Never," Steve said, looking over Thor's shoulder. Thor turned behind him and stepped in the middle between Steve and Tony with Zoe right beside Tony.

Zoe scowled at Steve. "When my leg heals, I'll come visit you and Pepper."

"Score," Tony said, pumping his fist in the air. "Lunch date is on me."

"Of course it is," Zoe beamed widely as she trudged forward with them.

"Well, I'd say you could visit Asguard, Zoe, but that would be slightly difficult…since technically it's forbidden," Thor said.

Zoe grinned. "I know that," she said. "And if Loki is there, there is no way in hell that I wouldn't able to stand idly poised, while he just rots for a thousand years."

"Five thousand," Thor said, correcting her with a smile on his face, clamping Mjolnir on the palm of his hand as they walked down the hall to the front entrance of the New Avenger's Facility.

"Right," she said, cringing slightly, making Tony chuckle.

"She's back," Steve said, grinning slightly as he looked up and over at her from across Thor who was in the middle between him and Tony. Zoe was in the middle of Thor and Tony.

"Maybe," Zoe said with a small grin on her face. "So, what's the play?" she asked. "With Vision on our side, what do you think will happen now?"

"The rules have changed," Steve said in his Captain America tone of voice. "We're dealing with something new."

Zoe nodded and looked forward as she gripped the handles of her crutches, moving forward, listening to the clank sound of metal against tile behind her. She was still trying to get used to it.

"Well," Steve said. "The Vision's artificial intelligence."

"It's a machine," Tony said in slight agreement.

"So, it doesn't count," Steve said.

Zoe rolled her eyes. "Oh no…that's so not what I meant," she said, as the boys had reverted back to Mjolnir's mystery. "He picked it up once who knows he could pick it up again?"

"He used it against Ultron inside the Church," Thor sing-songed to Zoe. Zoe widened her eyes and dropped her mouth in slight ajar. He grinned at her look of shock.

"No," Tony said over Thor and Zoe's conversation. "It's not like it's a person…"

"Right," Steve said, turning toward Tony. "Different rules for us."

"Nice guy," Tony continued. "But artificial."

"Thank you," Steve said.

"I think you just started something, Daughter of Saw," Thor said, slightly chuckling at the boys' quirky little banter.

Zoe scoffed. "Me? You're the one that has the whole magical hammer glam and glitz thing. Not me," she said waving her hand in the air and returned it to the handle of her crutches.

Thor smiled. "If he can will the hammer, he can keep the mind stone," Thor said. They stopped, and listened to Thor. "It's safe with the Vision. In these days, safe is in short supply."

"But if you put the hammer in an elevator," Steve said, glancing down in thought.

Zoe winced. "You had to bring that up," she said with a slight shiver.

"It'll still go up," Tony said, placing a hand on Zoe's shoulder, gently squeezing it for reassurance.

"Elevator's not worthy," Steve said, in a sing-song voice. Zoe tilted her head over at Steve and together they shared a small smile. Her heart did a mini flip flop.

"I'm gonna miss these talks of ours," Thor said, patting Tony's shoulder on the back.

"Not if you don't leave," Tony said.

Thor smiled thoughtfully at Tony and looked at Zoe. "I have no choice," he said, and started walking back down the triangular-shaped hallway. "The Mind Stone is the fourth of the Infinity Stones to show up in the last few years," Thor explained. "That's not a coincidence." They walked out of the hallway and out of the entrance into the afternoon sunlight.. Zoe could hear the familiar chants of army men run in pairs across the top of the building, as they walked outside. "Someone has been playing intricate games, has made pawns of us. Once all of these pieces are in position," Thor explained, as Tony took out his sunglasses.

"Triple the yhatzee?" Tony asked.

"You think you can find out what's coming?" Steve asked.

Thor looked over at Zoe and she nodded.

"I do," Thor said, glancing back at Steve.

Tony put his sunglasses on over his eyes as they stood just outside the facility. Zoe smiled as she inhaled the freshly cut green grass beneath her toes from her cast. The grass tickled her toes and she smiled.

"Besides this one," Thor sat, patting Tony's chest with the palm of his free hand. "There's nothing that can't be explained," Thor said, walking away from them. Zoe joined in between Steve and Tony. Zoe waved goodbye to Thor and he winked at her as he raised Mjolnir in the sky. A bright rainbow light circled around him, and took him up back to Asgard leaving a big circle with a Nordic design in the middle of the grass lawn.

"That guy has no regard for lawn maintenance," Tony commented lightly. "I'm gonna miss him though," he said as they turned to head back to Tony's orange and black parked car on the curb road.

Zoe nodded in quiet agreement. She was going to miss him too, and could only hope there would be a way to contact Thor if she did find out about the Infinity Stones. She suspected that he would know when to find her once she had all the information needed to prevent a catastrophe. She looked down as she walked with Steve and Tony.

"And you're going to miss me," Tony said to Steve. "There's gonna be a lot of manful tears."

"And womanful tears," Zoe added, as Tony took out his car alarm key that unlocked his door. She heard the click and the sound of the engine roaring beside her.

"I will miss you Tony," Steve said.

"Yeah?" Tony asked and looked at poor Zoe who looked like she was going to cry.

Zoe nodded, trying not to cry in front of Tony again. That had been a disaster.

Tony gave her a small smile.

Tony's car rolled out onto the road in front of them by its own. Zoe gawked in awe as she saw the beauty of his sleek and gorgeous car in front of her.

"Well," he said. "It's time for me to tap out. Maybe I should take a page out of Barton's book. Build Pepper a farm, hope nobody blows it up."

Zoe tried to contain her smile as she imagined Tony on a farm. She doubted he would last a day on a farm.

"The simple life," Steve said, raising his brows at Tony with curiosity in his face. He turned to face Tony, and rested his hands along his utility belt.

Tony turned from Zoe to face Steve. "You'll get there one day."

"I don't know," he said, looking back at the facility. "Family, stability…guy wanted all that in the ice, seventy-five years ago," Steve said. "I think someone else came out."

Zoe's eyes slanted toward Steve, listening to his musings about life and chewed her bottom lip worriedly.

Tony smiled slightly and looked over at Zoe sadly before he opened the door of his car, and turned toward him. "Are you alright?" he asked.

Steve turned to face Zoe and smiled as he listened to the sound of fellow soldier men, training for combat. "I'm home," he said.

"What about you, Killer, any plans or are you bound to the desk for the rest of your life?" Tony asked, glancing at Zoe.

Zoe blinked out of her trance of listening to Steve and looked at Tony. She walked forward on her crutches toward him and she leaned slightly on one, throwing an arm around him, hugging him in desperation, wishing that Tony wasn't going to leave her. "I'll miss you most of all," she whispered, planting a kiss on his cheek.

"Same here, kiddo, same here," he said, sighing against her neck as she hugged him tightly. "Just take care of yourself, okay? Don't go falling off any towers or anything like that. I may just start calling you Rapunzel."

Zoe laughed, and sighed. "I hate goodbyes," she said.

Tony pulled her in for another hug and whispered something in her ear before he gave her a small smile and climbed in his car before he took off, leaving Steve and Zoe alone.

Zoe drew in a short and shaky breath to break their unnerving silence. "After my leg heals," she said, clearing her throat. "I'm leaving too."

Steve frowned. "But what about all the Infinity Stone stuff that you were going to find for us?"

She winced and nodded as they walked back inside the facility. She stopped and turned to face him.

"I've been contemplating this for a long time, Steve," Zoe said, glancing up into his deep blue and concerned eyes. "I'll still do that too, and will contact you as soon as I find something out, but…Clint's offered to train me-"

"You can train here, with me, it'll be fine, just the two of us! You won't even have to train with the New Avengers…it can be just you and me..." Steve said, but Zoe placed her fingers along his lips to stop him from talking.

"I'm going to train with Clint," Zoe said confidently. Steve winced. She was determined. She had that determined look on her face. "He's asked me to be his apprentice and I accepted with the notion that I'll be baby-sitting and helping Laura around the house, of which I don't mind."

"That," Steve said tightening his throat. "Seems like a lot to take on."

"I've been bedridden for four weeks, Steve," Zoe said dryly.

Steve winced. "Right," he said. He sighed.

"Someone different really did come out of that ice," Zoe said quietly.

"Well, I just thought that maybe we could start dating…" Steve said slowly. "See if it works out…"

Zoe blinked and bit her bottom lip. "But, we both want different things in life. I don't want to stay with SHIELD forever, Steve. As much as I love SHIELD, I want a family. I want to be a Mom. Seeing Nathanial in Laura's arms this morning really makes this whole saving the world thing…actually worth fighting for."

"I thought I was worth fighting for," Steve said in a small whisper.

Zoe let out a small laugh within a sigh. "You are," she said. "It's just…we're both different."

"Fighting for the same cause," Steve said.

"But not forever," Zoe said. "I don't have forever like you do."

Steve rolled his eyes. "I have super soldier strength, I'm not a vampire."

Zoe couldn't help but giggle. "Stop making this harder than it already is," she said. "Besides, it allows you to live slightly longer than me. Slightly." She said, giving him a small rueful grin on her face.

"I'm willing to give us a shot," Steve said.

Zoe chewed her bottom lip. She was too, but she wasn't sure what she wanted to do date, and hope that something happens, or not date and be miserable at SHIELD for the rest of her life? She sighed. "You're late for training."

"So, we're just not even going to talk about the prospect of us dating," Steve said.

Zoe looked around her. "Um…" she said. "Well…I…" she winced. "I thought you don't want what I want…and…"

Steve stepped closer to her, and lifted her chin up with the pads of his fingers against her soft skin that collided with his calloused hands. Her heartbeat raced against her chest as he dipped his head down to kiss her.

His lips gently brushed against hers, and she felt her throat tighten, her breath quicken, at how close they were. She gripped tightly on her clutches to make sure that they were still there holding her up from completely falling and feeling like jelly as he gently pulled her close, wrapping a hand around the curve of her back, bringing her in close. His lips kissed hers and she kissed him back, unable to help but taste his sweet and gentle lips that tasted hers, making her feel like she was in Heaven. She closed her eyes and felt her heart soar as he pressed his lips gently down on hers.

He kissed her again and she moved closer, getting lost in the moment that surrounded them. She was kissing Steve. She was kissing Captain America… she winced at the thought racing through her and she placed a hand against his chest, breaking them apart.

She cleared her throat, and balanced herself on one crutch while she placed her fingers against hers, feeling the tingling sensations Steve left her with his lips. Steve grinned at her and ran a nervous hand behind his head.

"What was that, about uh, you not wanting stability again?" Zoe asked, clearing her throat.

"What Tony doesn't know, won't hurt him," Steve said, grinning down at her, brushing a piece of hair behind her ears with the tenderness of his hand. She shivered at his touch.

"Right," she said in a small whisper. "Well, um," she cleared her throat again, "You're late for training, Captain," she said, handing him her tablet out of her messenger bag.

"You and me?" Steve asked, taking the tablet away from her.

"I'll think about it," she said, sending him a smile.

"Well don't think too hard about it, there's a lot of work to get done," Steve said.

Zoe smiled. "Don't I know it," she said. "My head's probably going to be all mush by the time I make a decision. I mean, after all, I still need to finish kicking your ass."

Steve rolled his eyes, and smiled at her "Oh, right, like that could ever happen."

"If I become the human weapon, there's a possibility," Zoe said with a small grin across her face. She looked at his crest-fallen face, and bit her lip in thought before she finally said something. She still wanted to go train with Clint, but at the same time, she didn't want to let Steve down. She didn't want to let herself down either. After all, she'd always dreamed about what it would be like to be on a date with Captain Rogers. "Tomorrow night, eight o'clock?" she asked.

Steve smiled at her, and gave her a gentle nod before he walked down the hallway, feeling quite proud of himself as he walked up the stairs and found himself in an empty room that was another training room, in which he found his partner, Natasha Romanoff in.

Ever since Dr. Banner had been missing, she'd been quiet and closed off. He'd been worried about her since the bit with the Scarlet Witch and her spell, but everyone got affected, even Zoe. Steve chewed his bottom lip. Even he did. Things have definitely changed, but for how far and how long? That was the question.

"Wanna keep staring at the wall, or do you want to go to work?" Steve asked. Natasha turned to face Steve and smiled at him. "I mean it's a pretty interesting wall…"

"Thought you and Tony were still gazing into each other's eyes," Natasha said, walking across the hall to join him.

"Zoe's eyes are not the same color's as Tony's," Steve said.

Natasha smirked at him. "How do we look?" she asked.

Steve handed her the tablet that Zoe gave him. "Well, we're not the twenty-seven Yankees."

Natasha peered down at the list of the New Avengers that Zoe had fixed for her. "They got some manners," she said, as they walked down the hallway.

"They're good," Steve nodded. "They're not a team," he said, looking down at her.

"Let's beat 'em into shape," Natasha said.

Steve pushed the two double doors open that lead Natasha and Steve inside the training room down below the balcony for the New Avengers, showing: War Machine, of whose helmet retracted back in its slot, showing Rhodey's face, Vision, spinning his gold cape around to face Steve and Natasha above the balcony, Sam Wilson, a.k.a the Falcon, flying down and landing on his feet as his wings retracting back into his jetpack, Wanda Maximoff, a.k.a Scarlet Witch as she used her powers to land down on her feet, and Ava Sawyer, a.k.a Essence, who walked across the room to join her new teammates, as she joined Vision's side, right behind him, wearing a gold and black blazer to match her black skinny leggings ready to train.

"Avengers!" Steve said, calling out to their attention. He drew in a deep breath and let out, getting ready to train his new team that Zoe and Natasha helped put together.

~*A*~

Somewhere deep and beyond in an unknown place, a machine twisted open to reveal a gold and shiny gauntlet. A purple creature known as Thanos reached inside the machine and placed his hand inside the golden gauntlet. "Fine, I'll do it myself!" he closed his fingers into a hardened fist.


	72. Chapter 72: First Date Part 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to its respective owners. I am writing for fun and not for profit. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 72: First Date Part 1**

 **The New Avengers Facility**  
 **Upstate New York**  
 **About 12 hours later, 8:00 P.M.**

Zoe looked at herself at the reflection of her floor length mirror and leaned against her crutch, hopping on one foot as she sighed. She picked a midnight blue simple knee length dress. Ava picked this one out to wear to Tony's farewell party, and instead lent it to Zoe for her first real date with Steve. Even though, Zoe's makeup was done, her hair was down, cascaded around her bare shoulders, she still felt out of place and completely unnatural. She'd only been on one date out of her whole life, and that ended up in disaster. Every time she ever crushed on some guy, she failed to tell them how she really felt. She'd been trying to be brave and trying to psyche herself up to tell someone how she felt…like Clint Barton for instance, that also failed, and has since been scared to tell anyone of her true feelings. Brock Rumlow was the last straw. And here she was now, out on a date with Steven Rogers, Captain America by sheer dumb luck. Being suck in Strucker's tower had made her all stuffy and clouded with overdriving feelings for Steve that was only meant to keep her sane. She didn't think he had the same feelings for her like she did, but evidentially he did. That surprised and scared her. It scared her because she was so fixated on being Clint's apprentice that she really wasn't considering dating Steve until it was her time to leave. She just thought she would go back to work, and he would train the New Avengers, same old, same old.

But here she was, getting ready for her first real date that just so happened to be with Steven Rogers. She just couldn't believe it. She'd always admired him and liked him as a friend, and her feelings were a bit of a mystery of how they even got started…well, never to the mind the fact that he was certainly handsome with a strong jaw line, high cheekbones that made Zoe's lips curl into a smile, a particular weakness of hers when it came to guys for some reason that they just made her all tingly inside, and eyes…Steve's blue eyes were so easy to get lost in. Zoe really liked a guy's eyes. She could always tell if a guy was being sincere with her with facial expressions and eyes. Chiseled chests and muscle-y arms helped too. But most of all, what really turned Zoe on was a guy's personality. Personality outshines everything. Steve was very kind, and very honest. She admired that he took notice in different people when others might not see them for who they really are. Steve was just gifted with that type of generosity. He wanted to make a difference in the world, and he joined the army.

Zoe was never like that. She was never that ambitious at Steve's age when he joined the army. She wanted to be an actress, and hide through the characters and tell stories. She wanted to get rid of her haunting past and move on to better things. Love was never in the equation of her future, yet she'd fallen quite hard for Steve.

She pulled off her black hair tie and decided to pull up her hair in a half-bun, half-hair down look, see if she liked that better, and tilted her head to the side with a sigh. Fretting over guys and going on dates was just so abnormal to her. S.H.I.E.L.D. was the only life she ever knew, and when she met Brock in the academy, well, she was just happy enough to make a new friend in the academy.

Clint Barton had been an utter mystery. Clint Barton was nothing more than a mere memory that night when he offered her a position in the circus. After the Battle of New York, and meeting the Avengers, she dared to try something new when he came back and sparked up her feelings again. Since the moment she saw him sitting on that railing, peering out down below, watching the dangerous Tesseract, she crushed on him, and when Loki took him away from her, and tried to tear her home apart, she didn't settle for that. Not one bit. She tried to kiss him when they got him back and he rejected her. He said…."I can't." No explanation, just "I can't." It was weird. Zoe wasn't sure what to make of that comment, because even though she felt a little sad, she wasn't totally crushed either. Her luck with guys was a steady line of death.

Steve provided something new to her, and so Zoe was scared that she might loose herself in the moment and get attached and then…maybe something happens in the future and she looses Steve to death, or worse, to someone else. She cringed at how that sounded backwards in her head and pulled down her hair out of her half-up, half-down look. She wrinkled her nose in disgust, hating the idea that she could be jealous of Steve going out with anyone else but her. This was her first date with him. It wasn't like she owned him, and she didn't plan on owning him either.

She tried to braid her own hair, a side braid to see how she'd like it with her midnight blue dress.

She wondered what Steve would wear. She knew his style in the 1940's, but Steve was living in the 21st century now. Things were a lot different back then. Zoe tried to imagine herself and Steve living in a home on a farm in the 1940's and almost chuckled. She could see her pale cheeks flush with pink crimson color in rosy hues at the very thought of them playing house. It just seemed so unnatural right now. Sure, Zoe did want a family, but was it really right to string Steve along until she left him? What if they got closer? What if they really did like each other more than they really cared to admit out loud?

Zoe chewed her bottom lip in pure deep thought, and suddenly heard the door knock behind her. She widened her eyes and pulled out her braid, deciding it was just best to wear it down and hopped over to the bed so she could grab her clutch and black cardigan lying out in front of her.

"Come in!" she said.

The door slid open. She half expected it to be Steve, but was slightly relieved to see that it wasn't him just yet because she wasn't quite ready as she attempted to put on her cardigan by herself.

"Sam," she greeted with a smile. She even half expected it to be Cameron but then she remembered that he was off for the night. She was really surprised to see Sam, but more than happy to see it was him. "To what do I owe this exciting surprise?" she asked, as she leaned on one of her crutches to put on her cardigan.

"Here," Sam said, shaking his head, as he walked inside to help her out.

"I can do it," she stressed.

"I know," Sam said with a smile on his face.

Zoe couldn't help but grin as he walked over and stood behind her. She finally caved and let him help her string her arms through the sleeves of her cardigan.

"I am here to escort you to your date with Steve," Sam said.

Zoe arched an eyebrow. "I thought it was on the roof?" she asked.

"It is," Sam said. "But we all know how you feel about elevators and such, and well…I don't mind."

Zoe blushed with embarrassment. They all knew? Sam fixed the cardigan so that it laid right on her shoulders and handed her, one of her crutches that rested along her bed.

She smiled at him, and together they started to walk out of her room, and into the hallways that eventually lead them to the elevators. She didn't have much of a choice but to go on the elevator.

"Two more weeks," Zoe said finally after they walked inside the elevator when the doors opened up for them.

Sam pressed the highest number of the Avengers new facility. "Yeah?" Sam asked, leaning against the elevator railing behind him. The doors slid to a close and the elevator started to go up. Zoe nodded at the thoughtful moment crossing her mind. Sam looked over at her and smiled too. "And then what you get to do a little dance, make a little love, and get down tonight?" Sam inquired.

Zoe rolled her eyes, and laughed. "No…well, maybe. It's physical therapy and then I get to be on my own!" she said. "I'm really excited."

Sam smiled at her. "What are your big plans afterwards?"

She shrugged. "Well," she said. "I really want to train and get better at my horrible fighting skills. You guys are already weeks in to practice and I'm behind…so…I'd like to learn with someone who can teach me on a more human level."

Sam frowned. "I'm human, Zo," she said.

"I know," Zoe smiled ruefully. "But, Clint Barton and I were partners a long time ago. Short lived. He was supposed to train me before things went really sour."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, I heard," Sam said.

"Right," Zoe cringed, thinking that Steve probably told Sam about what happened with the old Avengers. She frowned at the faded memory. It just seemed like yesterday that she was getting the Avengers together with Agent Coulson and together they were forming the Avengers Imitative. She learned their strengths, and weaknesses, learned how they were in a fight, and how they operated with technology. She swallowed hard, and then she had to play the bad guy. Even though it was a month ago, it just seemed so recent. "Well, he's offered to train me. Since we both have the same sort of skill set, I'd like to know more from the master archer and knife thrower. Knives are kind of my specialty."

Sam grinned "I know," he said.

"Yeah," she sighed. "I just want to be more than a knife thrower, you know?"

"Have you told Cap?" Sam asked, nodding his head a bit.

Zoe looked over at Sam and she bit her bottom lip in thought, but she nodded. "I did tell him. I told him everything."

Sam's eyes slanted sideways to her with a questionable look. "Everything?" he asked.

"Oh you know, how I feel about him, how I've been head over heels for him ever since his files came across my desk. Now that we're finally going on a date, it just…I don't know…feels weird. Does anyone really get used to it?" she asked.

Sam let out a small chuckle. "Awe, Zoe, I don't know if anyone get's used to a first date, especially with Captain America. That's big. I mean…do you know how many girls would kill to be in your shoes right now?"

Zoe wrinkled her nose. She had some idea. She nodded. Thanks Sam, just put even more pressure on my shoulders...that's so helpful, Zoe thought with a small frown on her face.

"What was it like when you went on a date?" Zoe asked.

Sam arched an eyebrow at Zoe and grinned. "We had dinner, and then we…"

Zoe held out her hand. "I don't need the details after that but do continue without the rated r stuff."

Sam chuckled. "Alright," he said. "It was nice. I liked my girl for the time being, but we were slowly drifting apart, and just had certain differences. She threw a hairdryer at my head," Sam said, cringing.

Zoe arched an eyebrow. "You poor thing, what happened?"

Sam cringed. "I made a bad choice,"

"Right," Zoe said. "Got you. So you made a mistake and slept with another girl…"

"Uh huh," Sam said. "Not my fault, she was gorgeous, I mean absolutely gorgeous…very easy on the eyes…"

Zoe gave him a dark look and Sam stopped talking. He grinned. "Right, just kidding," he said.

The elevator came to a full stop and the doors slid open. Zoe was hesitant to walk out when Sam held onto the door so that it would slid on her when she walked through the threshold.

"Do you think that'll happen to me?" Zoe asked. "I mean…do you think Steve would cheat on me if our relationship progresses?"

Sam sighed. He knew he should've stopped talking.

"It's just…I'm new at this. I haven't been on a date since high school," Zoe admitted quietly.

"Nah, Zo, Steve's crazy about you," Sam said. "He may not show it all the time, but I can tell."

Zoe nodded.

"You ready?" Sam asked.

Zoe took a deep breath. "Ready as I'll ever be," she said, and smiled. She took her crutches and started to walk out of the elevator doors. Sam helped her up the stairs to the rooftop and when Sam opened the door her heart stopped.

The perimeter roof was decorated with silver twinkling lights all around that lit up the A symbol in the middle of the roof. In the middle, she could see a round table with pull out chairs. There was a candle in the middle with food, drinks, and wine. Everything looked so…perfect.

Steve was fixing the record player that was sitting on a small stool beside the table. He looked like he was working hard at it.

"You don't have anything to worry about," Sam whispered in her ear and she smiled at him. If Sam wasn't near her right now, she would have fallen do to fainting, because she was just in complete awe.

The record player started to slowly turn on the turntable and in Zoe's ears she could hear La Vie En Rose by Louis Armstrong.

"Steve," Zoe said.

Steve stood up rather quickly, nearly bumping into one of the chairs as he whirled around to face Zoe, standing beside Sam.

"Hi," she said with a small smile on her face.

"Hi," Steve greeted.

Sam rolled his eyes. "This is going to be beautiful," he muttered. "Alright, you two love birds have fun. Holler if you know we have a breach or something." Sam darted away, taking this moment to leave since he was no longer needed. He left Zoe and Steve alone for their first date on the rooftop.


	73. Chapter 73: First Date Part 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to Marvel and its respectable owners. I just own my OC. I am writing for fun, and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 73: First Date Part 2**

Zoe was seated shortly after the reveal of their dinner, which was a nice tossed salad, and pasta dish. She could smell the bread from a mile away and it made her stomach gurgle since she hadn't eaten all day, and she couldn't wait to eat this deliciously looking cooked food on the table. The glasses of champagne were already poured and sparkling underneath the candlelit dinner. She was looking around her quiet surroundings while Steve tossed the garden salad in a clear crystal bowl that sat right beside the candle. She listened to the sound of crickets humming along with Louis Armstrong that was so tender and warm in her heart, she could hardly think right now. Everything was so…perfect. Zoe couldn't really formulate a word right now for the dinner that was displayed before her on a white table cloth. There was even a small rose resting in a crystal vase beside her pasta-filled plate.

She was elated on the inside, of course, but she was also freaking out on the inside on how beautiful everything just seemed to her. It was surreal. She didn't mean to feel and be so cliché right now, but she was just…amazed and in awe. She looked at the twinkling lights that outline the perimeter of the Avenger's facility and Zoe winced as a thought occurred to her.

"Um," Zoe began. Steve arched an eyebrow after he finished tossing the salad and pushed the bowl to her. She shifted in her seat and smiled her thanks to him, as she reached for the clear tongs. The salad dressing smelled Italian, sweet, and tangy she could almost taste it upon her hungry lips.

Steve scooted his chair forward and unwrapped his silverware from his cloth napkin. "Um…" he said, wondering what Zoe wanted to say. He worked all afternoon on this dinner for her after all, so the least she could do was say how nice and lovely everything looked. He did a lot of digging on what some of her favorite meals were and decided to take a chance on Italian.

"Since the facility is brand new…" she said slowly, watching him from across the table as he placed his napkin on his lap. She started to take some lettuce and vegetables from the salad bowl and into the mini salad bowl that rested beside her plate. "Shouldn't the lights be off? I mean, not that I don't love the lights, and everything, I do, it's just….Fury was so adamant about protecting this facility, and all. He kind of acted like it was one of his kids or something."

Steve shook his head, and once she was one shelling out the salad of her likings, she handed him the salad bowl. He took the tongs in his hand and started to toss it again. "It's Stealth Teck. We can see the lights, but our enemies can't."

Zoe frowned thoughtfully. "Oh," she said. Why wasn't she informed of this new technology? "Stark?" she asked.

"One in the same," Steve said. "Brand new, not even on the market yet."

Zoe grinned. "It's cute how you think Stark is still selling technology to potential buyers."

Steve grabbed a whole bunchful of salad and tossed it into his salad bowl in a bit of an irritated way. "Can we not talk about Stark on our first date?"

Zoe lifted her hands in quiet defense. "Sorry," she said.

"Thank you," Steve said.

Silence filtered around them and started to cling to the air, while Zoe and Steve ate their salads in silence. Zoe decided to take a piece of bread from the bread bowl at the same time Steve went to reach for one. They looked up at each other and into their eyes, both blushing with embarrassment. "Uh, you go ahead," Steve said.

"No, no, after you," she said.

"You reached for it first," Steve said.

"No, I-" she began to argue but Steve arched an eyebrow at her, and she just took the piece from him. He was offering to her and she was arguing.

She cleared her throat. "Thank you," she said.

Steve nodded, and grabbed the second piece of bread from the bowl and placed it beside his pasta.

That was the moment that When You're Smiling came on, and Zoe smiled contently. She went back to eating her salad after Steve broke off a piece of his bread, dipping it into the oil and oregano spice just like Zoe liked it when her family went to one of those Italian dinners after watching a Broadway show or going to see the circus during her high school years, when things didn't seem so tough.

"First date, huh?" Steve asked, reaching over his salad bowl to take a bite of his salad. He chewed quietly while Zoe dipper her fork into her salad in search for a tomato.

Zoe cringed, feeling her plump cheeks grow into an embarrassed crimson blush. "That bad?" she asked, feeling her shoulders tense.

"It's okay," Steve said with a small chuckle.

Zoe cringed, unable to help it. "No it's not," she let out a small groan. "My last date ended up in a complete disaster, which was back in high school. I ended up paying for the entire bill because he checked out early," she said. "I'm just not good at this stuff. I mean you would think that because I'm a girl, I would be, but no."

Steve smiled. "Well, it does take some time to get used to," he said. "Take me for example, my first kiss since 1945 did not go as planned."

"Oh, I know," Zoe said, admitting it as she plopped the tomato in her mouth.

Steve's expression changed to amusement. "You know?" he asked.

"I heard you and Natasha talking about it," she said after she swallowed her tomato. Her blush was not going away anytime soon.

"I knew you were awake," Steve said, grinning slightly as he finished up his salad.

Zoe giggled. "It was all part of the plan," she said in a dramatic voice and pretended to bow.

"Uh-huh," Steve said. "Sure. It was. I think you just happened to wake up at that time in the conversation, or you never really went asleep in the first place," he said, pointing his fork at her.

Zoe smiled, and dabbed her lips with her napkin. She pushed her salad bowl away and took a sip of her champagne. "No, I was asleep. New Jersey was a long way, plus we've just tried to save our butts from Rumlow's tag team so…" she cleared her throat. "Well, you know what happened."

Steve nodded. "Evidentially I do, I keep getting reminded," he said.

Zoe winced. "I'm sorry," she sighed. "Work keeps popping up in our conversations."

Steve nodded.

"Well," she said. "Let's talk about something different."

"Okay," Steve said, pushing his bowl away. He went onto the pasta, taking his fork and spoon into his hands. "Do you…like to dance?" he asked.

Zoe nodded. "I love to dance," she said. "And this music is making me want to dance, but…"

Steve cringed. "Right. Broken leg. How much longer till you get your cast off?"

"A few more weeks. They keep prolonging it. I think they're just worried and want to make sure that it's fully healed before I start walking on it again," Zoe said. "I can't wait to get back to work," she smiled and started to dig into her pasta.

Steve smiled. "I bet," he said. "Unfortunately though, it's been rather quiet."

"Really?" she asked.

Steve nodded.

"Oh come on," Zoe said, shaking her head. "I mean nothing?"

Steve shook his head. "Nothing as of yet. And I think that's a good thing," he smiled. "Means…we can have a little more us time."

Zoe perked up when he said that and she looked up at him. "Really?" she asked. "I mean, you'd want more us time?"

"Well, yeah," Steve said. "Why so surprised?" he asked with a slight chuckle.

Zoe sighed with relief and smiled. "I don't know. I mean I don't know about you, but I think a lot of girls would kill to be in my shoes, and yet here I am mucking everything up because I don't know how to flirt, or be myself when I'm around you. I get so…tense and tongue-tied, and flustered…and sometimes I never know what to say when you're near me…"

"Zoe?" Steve asked.

Zoe looked up from her pasta. "Yes?"

"You're doing it right now," Steve said.

"What am I doing?" she asked, almost fearfully. She'd frozen in her spot and her pasta was unraveling from her fork into the plate.

"You're being cute and adorable," Steve said. "The same Zoe I saw back in my apartment, the same Zoe who fought for the freedom of others, something we have in common."

Zoe chewed her bottom lip, and felt her heartbeat quicken against her chest. She swallowed hard, and blinked at his words and looked into his deep blue eyes that were filled with such honesty it made her heart soar, but it still didn't seem real...like it all seemed like a dream...but it was reality. She pinched herself before hand just to make sure she was still in reality.

"Yeah, well," Zoe gulped, swallowing hard. "I'll never be that confident and strong woman you like, like Peggy Carter." she sighed.

Steve looked at her, slightly taken aback by that. How much had she read about him and his past? Zoe continued talking. "I don't even know why you took a chance in me in the first place…and don't say because we have something in common because a lot of people have things in common and they don't go on dates."

Steve sighed, and leaned back in his seat. "Right," he said. "Because it was so wrong of me to take a chance on some girl who actually gives a damn about how others feel, how others want to live in peace, or how smart she is and how gorgeous she looks right now underneath the moonlight? No, you're not like Peggy, but do I really expect you to be? No. I expect you to be Zoe Sawyer, the one who single handedly jumped in front of her boss at a speeding light from a magical scepter that could've killed her because she believed in the company she worked for so much that wanted the world safe," Steve said.

"Bullet," Zoe corrected him.

"What?" Steve asked.

"Or shrapnel. It was one of Clint's weapons that hit me when he was under Loki's spell," Zoe clarified. Steve still looked at her like she was a deer caught in headlights. "You know, what? It was all...everyone was firing at once...it was a little blurry."

Steve sighed, and nodded, listening to her. Why was she being so stubborn right now? He was trying to find a word for her, but stubborn was all that came to mind right now. "I can like other women, Zo."

"Right," Zoe said, shaking her head. "But you still like her."

"In, the, past," Steve said, trying to keep his anger and smart mouth down without snapping at her. This date was going down hill, and going downhill fast. This was not at all how he pictured it and he couldn't stop his mouth from talking because while he liked her, she was also frustrating him too. "What makes you different right now? From all the other women that I've thought about dating in the past? You have a fair and just heart. A heart that's gracious and warm, and caring. You know when to say the right things that warm my heart in the deepest and darkest of despairs. That's what separates you from HYDRA; you're family, and anyone else that's been so hell bent on taking over the world, and it means more to me than you'll ever know."

Zoe swallowed hard, listening to his passionate words spew out of his mouth swell deep within her heart. "M…mine?" she asked.

"Yes," he said, stressing it like there was no tomorrow.

"Oh," she said and shifted uneasily in her seat. "You like my heart, and I like yours…"

"Finally," he said. "Something we agree on. Can we...agree on that?"

Zoe's lips curled into a smile, and she continued to eat her pasta. Steve smiled at her too, and together they continued to eat their pasta in silence.

~*A*~

Steve took Zoe back to her room, and she turned around on her crutches, back towards her door. It was dead silence between them from the rooftop, to her room, till this point and time at night. The hallways of the Avenger's facility were quiet, everyone had mostly gone home or to bed.

She sighed, trying to break the silence. She winced at what she had said during dinner coming back to haunt her. It wasn't right for her to make that comment. "I'm sorry about what I said...about Peggy. I didn't mean..."

Steve shook his head. "Don't worry about it."

"No," Zoe said. "It's a sore subject...and I'm sorry." she said.

Steve nodded as they came to a full stop beside her door. More silence came in between them, as Zoe tried to come up with something else to say.

"Dinner was delicious, thank you," Zoe said.

"You're welcome," Steve said with a small smile on his face. His hands folded behind his back as he shifted uneasily on his black loafers that matched his black slacks. "How was the music selection? Was that okay?"

Zoe nodded, as she looked into his eyes, feeling either dizzy or tired, she didn't know since they seemed to overlap. The only thing that was balancing her right now was her crutches. "More than okay," she said. "I really liked that it was a mixture of music from different eras. Very clever," she said.

"Well, I'm a clever guy," Steve said, brushing his hair out of his eyes, as a matter of fact.

Zoe giggled. "Yeah, you wish."

"I am. I single-handedly saved an entire battalion, thank you very much," Steve said.

"With the help of Lieutenant Carter," Zoe sing-songed.

Steve cringed.

"But in any case, you were so brave," she teased, but she really meant it. She leaned slightly forward, smelling in his musky fragrance blends of honeysuckle and sandalwood that tickled her nose, making her feel all jelly inside. It was another turn on of hers. Men had to smell nice, and Steve smelled very nice, and expensive. Good hygiene was absolute key. She swayed a bit as the fragrance caught her off guard. Steve moved closer to catch her so she didn't fall

"Thank you," Steve said quietly.

"Thank you," she said in the same tone of voice.

Zoe swallowed hard and looked up at him up and down, as the nerves started to kick in. They were so close, yet neither one of them moved a muscle.

She made a small noise within a content sigh. "Well, goodnight," she said happily and pressed the door open that revealed her room. She started to walk inside but then stopped and turned around. Steve was still there, arms crossed over his shoulders, watching her with admiration. He was all smiles and she smiled back. "Told you, I was bad at this."

"Practice makes perfect," Steve said. "Are you free tomorrow night?"

Zoe chewed her bottom lip and kept reminding herself that Steve actually liked her for who she was and her heart most of all. She nodded. "I don't have any plans," she said.

"Good," Steve said.

"Rooftop?" she asked.

"Maybe we'll try something different," Steve said. "I've got a few ideas up my sleeve that could spice things up a bit."

Zoe arched a curious brow. "Oh, really. Steven Rogers, being spicy? That's new. This is coming from a guy who doesn't like saying swear words during a firefight, even though it's the perfect time to curse. Ooh, I should call you Captain Spice! You know like the Spice Girls?" Zoe asked. Steve arched an eyebrow and crossed his arms. He pouted slightly and started to walk away.

"Steve! I'm totally kidding, I'm kidding," Zoe said as she tried to hop closer toward him. The struggle was real, Zoe thought sadly. "Not fair, I can't walk as fast as you. Come back," she frowned.

Steve chuckled, and spun around on his heel. Zoe stood there with a small frown on her face. He walked back to her and couldn't help kiss her as soon as he came closer towards her. His hands held onto the sides of her cheeks, and kissed her softly and gently.

He pulled apart and kissed her forehead, brushing his hand against her neck. She shivered at his light touch. Everything in the hallway seemed to spin. Zoe's lips were parted slightly as he left a kiss along her chin. She moved her head down and looked at the floor. "You know, these crutches, are a real crutch," Steve said in a low tone of voice.

Zoe smiled. "A few more weeks, I swear."

"And then you leave," Steve said.

Zoe winced, and couldn't help but cringe. She looked up into his blue eyes that were now sad and she sighed. "But I'm coming back," she said. "I won't be gone forever. I love you, but I need to do this for me. For us, for the benefit of the Avengers. You get that, right?"

Steve nodded. "Yeah, I do," he sighed. "It just….sucks."

Zoe gasped, "One dollar in the swear jar!"

Steve chuckled lightly. "Ha, ha," he said. "Sides, that's not a bad word…per say."

Zoe smirked at him. "So…good night?" she asked.

Steve nodded. "Good night," he said, and kissed her forehead before he walked her back to her room, and reluctantly left her alone. Zoe watched him walk down the hallway and sighed. She closed the door and placed her hand upon her lips, still feeling the sensations of Steve's lips upon hers that felt like she was on the moon. She leaned against the door and looked outside her window with a sad yet thoughtful look on her face.


	74. Chapter 74: Restless Nights

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belongs to Marvel and its respected owners. I am writing for fun and not for profit. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 74: Restless Nights**

 **Several Months Later**  
 **The New Avenger's Facility**  
 **Upstate New York**

"Whoa!" Ava cried out in alarm as she twirled in the air and away from Steve. She had flipped up and in the air when her face connected with the base of his Shield, and had flown across the room like a rag doll and landed hard on her back against the matt floor.

She breathed out, out of breath from the hard impact that wrecked through her body. She shivered and coughed, as she rolled onto her side, placing her two gloved-hands on the side so she could try to calm herself down.

"You're really out of focus today, Ave," Steve said, as he kicked up his Shield with the base of his shoe. His red armguard caught it in an instant. "More so than usual."

Ava looked up at Steve and sighed. He was the one throwing the toughest of all punches, more than usual, Ava had noticed, but she wasn't going to call him out on it. She actually wanted to fit in and wanted Steve to like her, not be mad at her for anything else. She had wanted some extra practice after she trained with her fellow Avengers for their Saturday morning and afternoon session. The rest of the team was going to go out and celebrate, but Ava still didn't feel like she was giving it her all, nor did she really feel like apart of the team.

She sighed, and pulled herself together. Ava stood on her feet, grimacing as she slowly walked over, trying to ease the kinks of pain in and out of the muscles of her legs. She reached down for her duffle bag, and zipped it open so she could take out her water bottle for some much needed water. That flip really took a toll out of her, but then again she was pushing hard on herself, trying to get better. She didn't want to loose and she wanted to be able to protect Zoe when she could. She leaned back upward, but cringed at the tightness in her back as she lifted her torso back up so she stood facing the wall.

Steve nodded. "Right," he said before he twisted his lips into pure thought. Ava was the quietest out of their little group. He'd tried to encourage her to go out with her team and be a little more social, but she was afraid. The last incident of going out in public had ended up in a bit of an uproar and Ava has been inside ever since, like a hermit crab. It was scary. She needed some fresh air and a little outing would be perfect.

She sighed, and took a sip of her water bottle, turning around to face the blue matt in front of her, and brushed the sweat off of her forehead with her arm. Steve also took a sip of his water.

"I miss Zoe," Ava said.

Steve's heart clenched at the mention of Zoe. As soon as Zoe got her cast off, she was out the door with her bag on her shoulder, this time not carrying Loki's scepter.

Steve had wanted to spend a little more time together with Zoe, and Zoe did too, but she also wanted to say goodbye to the team and to her sister before she took off to go train with Clint, so….Steve agreed to let her bond with some much needed sister time. Steve didn't want to let her go.

"Hey," Steve said in a small whisper. He brushed a small piece of hair behind Zoe's ear and she smiled up at him with her hands pressed against his chest. "Come back to me in one piece, please?"

"Of course I will," she said, she promised, and stood up on her tip-toes to kiss his gorgeous lips that always made her heart soar and pound against her chest. She kissed him and sighed heavenly as she felt his soft lips touch hers. Steve returned the kiss, gently running his tongue along her lips. She opened her mouth for him, and he entered her with such intensity she felt an eclectic tingling inside her that made her groan at the kiss as their tongues danced among one another's rooftops. Her heartbeat sped faster and she made the brave move to stop and pull apart before it could get any more heated than it needed to be, even though the friction was there with much need and want. She swallowed hard and looked up into his eyes, still feeling the palm of his hand brush against her cheek. She closed her eyes. "I'll miss you."

"Just come back to me," he pleaded, brushing his lips upon the crown of her head. She shivered within his arms wrapped around her in a tight embrace.

She nodded. "I will," she promised.

"So do I," Steve admitted quietly and then started to walk over toward her across the matt. "But we can't let our emotions cloud us when we're in a firefight. That's an important rule. If you learn nothing today, at least remember that. Zoe always had a problem with controlling her emotions, and she's learning that right now. She mostly had a problem with defining her confidence. Confidence in a fight is also key."

"It's also important in life," Ava said, smiling at him.

Steve smiled at her and nodded. "Right."

"Zoe taught me that one," she said proudly.

He let out a small chuckle. "But it can easily be taken away from you," Steve said. "And the key thing is, is to not let your other opponent control it."

"What do you mean?" Ava asked curiously.

Steve sighed, and hung his head low. Ava could see the sweat droplet trickle from his blonde tendrils of hair as he brushed his hair to the side. He put his Shield down and took a seat on the matt. Ava smiled and joined him, sitting across from him, cross-legged Indian-style. Story time.

"Evil like Ultron, for example, try to take the people you love away from you, try to use them against us. We care about the world, so he tried to take the world away from us with the flip of a switch. It's hard," Steve explained. "Because you can never truly tell if they're bluffing or if they'll actually commit the crime. In this case, Ultron wasn't bluffing, so they are getting smarter, which means we have to get smart too."

"Isn't that what Loki did?" Ava asked. "He divided the entire group and tried to tear you all apart. Like Caesar, divide and conquer."

"So you listen to Nat," Steve said.

Ava smiled, rubbing the sides of her temple. "From time to time. She's really kicks ass. I like her."

Steve arched an eyebrow at her curiously.

"Sorry, she really kicks butt," Ava said, slightly teasing him.

Steve let out a half chuckle. "It's okay," he said. "But, yes, exactly like that. After all he did use Zoe against Thor. And Thor is the protector of Earth."

Ava nodded. "Oh, I know. Zoe tried to explain to me what all this means before she left. I'm just trying to get used to it and settle in. I still don't feel…" she said slowly and looked down at her hands. She grimaced. She still didn't feel like she fit in. She still felt like an out cast.

"Every time, I try to attack someone…for self-defense, their death is always so vivid in my mind. Like yours for instance when I tried to attack you," she grimaced. "Sorry about that, by the way…seriously, didn't mean to be all…psychotic."

Steve shook his head. "Don't worry about it. You were under a spell. Now, that can happen to-"

"Anyone of us, I know, depending what evil mastermind we're dealing, yeah, I know," Ava said, finishing it for him. "Maybe I should work on trying to control that?"

"Can you?" Steve asked, turning to face her after staring at the wall.

"I think so," Ava said with a nod.

"Maybe next Saturday, I'll pair you up with Wanda, the two of you can work on your powers together. She can control hers now, maybe she has some pointers for you," Steve suggested.

Ava winced. "Do you think she'd like that? She seems pretty content with the Vision."

"Hmm," Steve hummed lightly in thought. He stroked his chin as if he was thinking on what they could do to improve. "I'll think about it and talk to Natasha, see what we can do. Maybe you two can switch off, be with Vision and Wanda, that sort of thing. Definitely don't want to see my boy Sam on the ground any time soon."

Ava cringed and shook her head indefinitely. "Yeah, no. I really don't want to kill Sam. I like Sam."

Steve smiled. "Good. Then we'll work on that then. And I know Zoe's gone, but she'll come back. It's not forever."

Ava nodded. "I know, and I'll work on that too."

"Good," Steve said with a nod.

"Steve?" she asked.

"Yeah?" he asked after he'd gotten up from his seat. He offered her a hand to help her up. She placed her hand in his and quickly removed it after she was on her feet. She brushed her hand against her jacket.

"Have you ever had to fight someone you cared about?" Ava asked.

Steve looked at her, blinking a bit, as he was caught off guard by her curious question.

"Once," Steve said with a small nod.

"How'd you stop from killing them?" Ava asked.

"I knew that there was still good in them, and I didn't give up on him," Steve said. "I think that's it for now. It's getting kind of late."

Ava nodded and yawned, stretching out her arms. She walked over to her duffle bag, and picked it up off the ground. She strung it over her shoulder and cross-bodied the strap against her.

"Thank you, Steve," Ava said, smiling, as she placed her hands within her pockets.

Steve bowed his head in a short nod. "You're welcome."

"See ya later, Cap," Ava waved off as she limped out of the training room, trying to walk on her sore and aching feet. "Need ice, need ice, need ice," she muttered to herself as she headed for the showers.

Steve sighed, as he watched her leave the training room, heading out the door. It closed behind her with a loud snap and he sighed, running a hand over his face. Ava had come to him first to be apart of the new Avengers. Zoe refused to put her on the list, wishing that Ava would choose anything else but this type of job. And while Steve didn't blame Zoe at all for not wanting her sister to be apart of something so dangerous, Steve also could see some potential in Ava that could grow into something more, and she could be useful, if Ava was willing to help, and be apart of something great, and she was.

Finally, Zoe had caved in seeing how much it meant to Ava that she could learn from her powers and learn of what she can control and how to protect herself and from hurting other people, which is what really got Zoe to let her in on the New Avenger's team. Zoe only agreed if they could get Ava's powers and emotions in check as to not have an emotional break down like last time with Dr. Cho. Ava was also working as Dr. Cho's assistant, a small job that consists of filing important files for her when needed in order to repay her for her wardrobe. Ava had felt guilty ever since. She did that when she wasn't training or learning to control her powers to prolong people's deaths in seconds. It was not easy at all and it had been hard. At one point while Natasha was using Ava as a guinea pig example for the team one day, Natasha almost chocked on her death when Ava used her powers for defense unable to help it because she was in fear of Natasha's fighting demonstration. Not a good day, Steve grimaced at the memory. Natasha didn't speak to her for a week after that, and Ava kept quiet on how Natasha was going to die in the future, never daring to tell a soul.

And while Steve loved being here at the new headquarters, training his fellow team members at his home, it still felt empty because Zoe was not here with him. She wasn't at her desk, where he could just pass her by and see her smiling face lifting up from an array of papers that stuck to the desk to coffee stains, or a stylus pen leaning against her ear, while her eyes were glued to the tablet before her, looking up some important information.

It just seemed like yesterday that Zoe was in his arms, and they were saying goodbye to each other. Steve shook his head and walked back over to the matt, and ignited his armguard so that his Shield just zoomed up and attached itself onto the armguard hook, and gripped the handlebar in between his fingers.

He sighed and walked out of the training session, heading into the clean white hallway, but stopped at the sound of gunshots running off in the distance behind him.

The gun-training room wasn't too far from the gym, and ever the more so curious, Steve sped-walked backwards to see who was up at this hour beside him and Ava.

He twisted the knob and pulled it back open, cringing his ears as he walked further inside, and down the line of the booths that lined up for target practice. He walked down the middle only to find Agent Carter fully dressed from head-to-toe like an agent complete with ear-muffs, and goggles on. She was really going at it at that target practice.

Steve cringed. He would've gone up to her to let her know that he was here, but he'd known from previous experience that wasn't in his best interest and didn't feel like getting shot by a woman fully scorned.

Finally after she was out, she cursed, "Damn," she muttered, and set the gun down. She sighed and pulled off her ear-muffs and goggles, before she pressed the button for the target to zoom forward so she could see her results.

She yanked it off of the bar, and looked at it with a frown. "Wow," she commented to herself. "I still suck."

Steve looked over her shoulder and shook his head. "You don't suck that much, you're just missing the heart."

"Point being, Captain Rogers, I suck," Agent Carter said, eyeing him sideways in a careful manner. "I assume you're up past your bed time."

Steve grinned. "So are you," he said.

"Glad to be informed," she said in a crisp tone of voice. "Good night."

"Who was he?" Steve asked.

She arched an eyebrow. "What?" she asked.

"Who was the guy that pissed you off so much?" Steve asked. "Last I heard, you were one of SHIELD's top shooters."

Agent Carter pursed her lips together. "None of your business, besides, you're not my type."

Steve chuckled, unable to help but feel flattered. "I wasn't looking," he held his hands in defense as she looked at him with a glare. "I happen to be in a relationship."

"Oh, good, good for you and your relationship," she said, pulling out the gun barrel from underneath the gun. The barrel landed on the table with a loud thud sounding around the room. "I hope you two will be very happy together. Now that I'm done sucking, I'm going to bed."

"Unless you want to get coffee," he said, leaning against the small panel wall that connected to another target practice booth beside them. He crossed his arms over his chest. "Still owe you one."

She stopped putting her registered gun inside her black carrier case she carried it in, and looked at him curiously.

He sighed. "I can't sleep," he said.

"Maybe you should lay off the caffeine," she mused lightly, and closed her case, snapping it shut loudly as if she was trying to prove a point.

"Learn that in nurse school?" he teased.

Agent Carter gave him a wry look.

He grinned. "It was a joke," he said.

"Yeah," she said, clearly not amused.

Steve frowned.

Agent Carter looked at his crest-fallen face and bit her lower lip. She knew how he missed Zoe Sawyer, and it was just sad to see him so crest-fallen. She was coming back. She had to come back. She was the Information Specialist, and Steve's love of his life. She knew love when she saw it. "She'll be back, Rogers, it'll be over before you know it and then you'll be able to sleep in peace," she said, and kissed his cheek, and patted his chest lightly, giving him some reassurance before she took off, leaving him alone in his restless thoughts.

He was bloody restless. Steve looked around his quiet surroundings, and sighed. He walked over to the array of firearms on the wall and reached for another firearm off the hook. He took out a pair of goggles, and walked to an empty booth, lighting it up so that he could start his own practice, in other words, he was going to shoot out his own stress. Zoe needed to get back now.


	75. Chapter 75: Training Hours

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the MCU. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 75: Training Hours**

 **Barton Residence**  
 **Barn Side**  
 **8:00 A.M.**

Zoe Sawyer has never been a morning person, ever. She always forced herself to be up at a certain time so that she could get to work on time, or do stuff during the day that made her at least some what content and she'd always been content with S.H.I.E.L.D. She loved her job, and had begged Fury to let her out in the field when she thought she was ready to handle herself during a mission. She was honored to be apart of something amazing like the Avengers Initiative, but she wasn't honored to have gone down undercover for HYDRA. She had known for a long time since the start of her training to be a level seven agent that she was going to betray the team at some point when HYDRA came to light in everyone's eyes. Fury noticed right off and had put Zoe inside because her father had an in years ago and trusted Zoe to do the right thing because she was in a word, trustworthy, and one of the most hardworking reliable agents he had. People have always trusted her with things like secrets...until now that is when she betrayed the Avengers because she had to tell Strucker about them in order to stay alive, and keep civilians alive too. She was strictly there to be a researcher. She wasn't supposed to do any type of field work.

It was a lot of pressure on her shoulders, and she had wanted to quit SHIELD, afraid that the people she cared about would hate her for going against what they believed in, even if it had been for the benefit of the Avengers. She was most of all, afraid of letting Steve down. Steve and Zoe had grown a lot since their first meeting, and have since become friends. Coming back and seeing him again had made her feel even guiltier for what she had done.

Steve seemed to trust her, and Zoe trusted him without question or thought because she always believed in his righteous beliefs of freedom, and saving the world from terrible wars and terrible evil that always seemed to pop up in their lives. At least they could Avenge it together, and even though Zoe wasn't technically an Avenger, she still liked to be able to help in anyway shape or form she could. And now that her cast was off, she could finally train and get back to working out, get back into shape, and get her life back on track, or at least try to. She'd struggled not being able to do anything for a couple of months, and has tried to make the most of it with her work for Shield and the Avengers, and has tried so hard not to let her mind wander about her woes with her broken leg, but it wasn't easy. There were times where she'd gone to very dark places and times when Steve wasn't around because of his own duties that he had to comply to, of which she totally respected, but still it didn't make things any less easier for her that she couldn't be there to help him…not that he needed any help. She just wanted to help. And she couldn't help when her mind wasn't totally focused and on point. Let's just say, her places she'd gone to when she was in Strucker's tower, had resurfaced and put her in a bad place to the point of almost loosing it.

Zoe took a deep breath in and let it out.

"That's right Zoe, breathe slowly in, and out, concentrate on becoming one with that sword in your hands," Clint said, holding his own sword in one hand, while he held his hand out in an attacking stance, ready for her to make the first move. They had been training for several months now, some martial arts fighting, sword fighting, knife throwing, and techniques that Clint had learned in the past before he joined SHIELD. Clint felt that her way with the sword would be better than hand-to-hand combat. Nat could probably teach her a thing or two about those techniques since he was more of an archer than anything else. He also learned a little bit from the Swordsman back in the day.

The tractor was outside with his kids sitting atop of the stilled vehicle, watching the practice sword fight in the middle of the grassy field. It was beautiful and chill morning, and they had decided to be outside today instead of the barn. The barn was for mostly short practice, catching the sword, trying not to get hit by Clint's sword as they moved in like a dance like motion that was a skill every swordsman should know. Cooper and Lila were both watching intently while eating candy red apples on a stick.

"I don't want to fail again," Zoe said. She could hear the fear of uncertainty in her voice.

"So then don't fail," Clint said. "Trust in yourself that you will be able to put the pointy end into my heart."

Zoe frowned. "I don't want to do that," she said.

Clint smiled. "If we were on opposing sides, that might have to happen, and you would have to."

Zoe shook her head, opening her eyes. "I'd refuse."

"By my arrow, you would be dead," Clint said.

"It could never happen though," Zoe exclaimed exasperatedly, loosing her concentration on handling her sword. "We're partners."

"And I think you're forgetting what happened when you-know-who did what to me…." Clint said, placing his sword down on the ground, sticking the pointy end into the soil He leaned against it, placing one foot forward.

"Right," Zoe sighed. "I forgot you and um…Na…" she looked over at the kids as Clint whistled her to stop talking, glancing up at the gray skies as innocently as he could. Zoe cringed. Oops. They had to try and speak in code. Since Laura had gone to the grocery store with Nathaniel, they were watching the kids. Clint figured they could kill two birds with one stone, practice and watch the kids, seemed like a good idea at the time.

"Nascar did that," she corrected. Clint gave her a look of approval, as if to say 'nice save'.

"Nascar?" Lila whispered, turning her head to Cooper. "A car did something to daddy?!"

"Adults speak in code in hopes that we kids don't pick up on it," Cooper said dryly, as he sent his father a look speaking in volumes that he was not amused. "Nothing happened to Dad," he said, reassuring Lila. Clint had subtly glanced sideways toward his son Cooper and smiled his thanks in silence. Cooper nodded.

Lila breathed a sigh of relief and bit into her candy apple getting some juicy delicious apple on her cheeks as she grinned.

"Alright, quit doddling, let's get to work," Clint said, raising his sword to protect him and motioned a quick nod of his chin toward Zoe. Zoe sighed, and picked up her sword again with her two hands, feeling the weight of the blade heavy in her hands. It had been heavy at first when she was first getting used to it. The sword was a lot heavier than her spear. Her spear consisted of two light blades that spiked blue electricity so it was easy to kill her opponent. She'd never been probably trained to handle a sword, so this would give her an advantage in a fight.

Zoe took in another short breath and let it out. She opened her eyes and thruted her sword forward, taking the first lunge forward. Clint blocked her blow with his sword, tilting it across his head, and rounded her sword away from him. She twirled around and aimed her sword to his side, but he blocked it away from her, and she stepped backwards a couple times as he advanced on her with his sword. She used her sword against his as they moved slowly in a careful circle, testing each other's moves out, while the tension eased its way into the fight.

"Don't be afraid to attack," Clint said.

"I'm not afraid," Zoe admitted, keeping her eyes fixated on Clint's sword. "Just waiting for you to attack, and besides that whole thing with you and Nascar was totally different."

Clint smirked. "We'd be waiting all day, and not really. Okay, look, let's play a game. Say, I'm a villain," he said.

Zoe furrowed her brows at him. "Huh?" she asked.

"Well, I figured maybe you need something to fight for, and you like Steve, so I figured what if I was a villain and had Steve strapped inside the barn ready to blow, and the only way to get to Steve was to kill me," Clint said.

"Huh?" she asked again, still not sure where Clint was going with this.

"Think of this as an acting technique," Clint said with a small sigh. "For example, you're the good guy, I'm the bad guy, you need to kill me, and save Steve so you two can save the bloody world."

"It's kind of hard to imagine when Steve's not actually here," Zoe said, frowning slightly.

"But as an actress, that's what you do right?" Clint asked. "You imagine different worlds with different characters and you play that said character, you get me?"

Zoe nodded. "I think so," she said. "Though, I'm not sure I agree with your use of terminology."

"Like roleplay?" Cooper asked.

"Yes," Clint said, thrusting his hand to Cooper as if he was going to congratulate him. "Thank you Coop…wait how do you know that?"

Zoe rolled her eyes.

"School," Cooper said. "We had to do a production once. Into the Woods."

Lila nodded. "I was a tree," she said.

Zoe smiled. "Hey, what a coincidence so was I, except I was in the Wizard of Oz," she said. Lila smiled at Zoe.

Clint cleared his throat.

"Right, right, off topic," Zoe waved her arm. "Alright Hawkeye, let's do this. I'm ready to kick your butt."

Clint smirked, and raised his sword in the air again, ready to take a stand against Zoe. "Right," he chuckled. "I'd like to see you try."

"I won't try," she said. "I'll do," she paused and then thought out loud as a thought occurred to her. "And save Steve," she smiled.

"Good," Clint said. "Ready?"

"Ready," Zoe said, and quickly lunged forward this time with her sword, but Clint was quick enough to block it.

"Legs not together, Zoe, they need to be apart, keep your posture up, not hunched, remember, keep up your foot work that needs to be fast and quick," Clint said in between their blades clashing against one another. "And…pay attention," he said. Clint drew her sword away and pointed it at her chest. She looked down at the blade just before her heart that beat against her chest. She stared at it and then at Clint. "Again," he said quite firmly, and started to walk away; turning his back toward her, but Zoe drew out her sword and attacked him from behind. Clint spun around and blocked her blow, his blade grazing against hers as they fought against each other's strengths. "What's your next move, Sawyer?" he asked in a bit of taunting voice. Zoe glanced around her surroundings, listening to teeth munching on apples, the birds chirping in the trees behind them and fluttering in the skies, as they were in a deeply secluded area that Fury had helped pick out because Clint didn't want anything to happen to his family. The morning sunlight was bright in the sky.

She wanted a family, she thought, and she wanted it with Steve. She missed him so much, and while she was grateful to be learning from Clint, she missed him, and desperately wanted to get back to him, so she could try and work their relationship out, but she had to train and become a better fighter, and a better person. She was always caught in the middle.

"Shoulders tight together, keep your sword steady, and focused," Clint said.

Zoe suddenly used her strength and pushed her sword against his closer to his chest and butt-headed his forehead, stumbling him out of focus. She moved her sword against his and within a swift movement, she swirled his sword out of his hand. It fell on the ground. Clint charged after her, running at her as fast as he could, and she stepped back, holding her sword tight in her hands, but loosened her grip on her sword, in fear of not wanting to get him wounded, she dropped her sword, and placed her hands in defense, feeling the fear rise within her as he tackled her to the ground.

"Now, see that Lila, that is a position you do not want to be in," Cooper whispered to her. Lila nodded slowly as she watched with wide eyes.

"Owe…" Zoe groaned.

"You okay?" Clint asked, pulling himself off of her. He offered her his hand and she looked up at him.

"What the heck was that?" she asked.

"Uh…it's called when all else fails," Clint said.

"Uh-huh," Zoe said, and grabbed his hand. He pulled herself up. She brushed the grass stains off of her knee-length work-out pants.

"You totally cheated," Clint said, pointing to his forehead. He rubbed the side of his forehead with the butt palm of his hand, wincing at the throbbing pain Zoe educed. "Nice hit though."

Zoe grinned. "Thanks," she said.

"Clinton Francis Barton!" A sharp familiar voice rang through the skies at that moment and Zoe's eyes slowly slanted over at him. Oops.

"Hi, honey," Clint said, smiling at Laura who had sweet baby Nathaniel in her arms. She did not look happy. "How was grocery shopping?"

"Oh don't butter me up," she said. "What did I tell you about letting Cooper and Lila watch your training sessions?"

"Uh…that it's bad for them?" Clint asked. Zoe cringed.

"Smooth, Casanova," Zoe muttered.

"Lila, Cooper, inside. Please clean up your toys in the living room, and start on your homework," Laura said.

"But Mom!" Cooper said, trying to protest.

Laura gave them both a stern look, especially her eldest son. "Now, please," she said.

"Alright, come on," Cooper hopped off the tractor and helped Lila off of the tractor. Together they took off running. "I want you two to brush your teeth after that!" she called after them, noticing the candy apples in their hands.

"They gotta learn to protect themselves sometime, Laura," Clint said once they were out of earshot. Laura turned to face her husband as Clint walked over to take Nathaniel in his arms. He smiled once he held his son and looked into his eyes. "How's my baby boy?"

"He's fine," Laura said with a sigh. "I'm just…worried. I don't want Cooper to end up like you."

Clint smiled. "He won't. Remember? I made a promise to you a long time ago, that our kids will live happy and healthy lives, away from what I went through."

Laura nodded and she kissed his cheek.

"Oh…duty calls…" Clint said, as the pungent smell wafted through his nostrils. "Zoe!" he said, spinning around to face her as Zoe picked up the two swords in the ground. She looked up from picking up Clint's.

"What?" she asked.

"Diaper change time!" Clint said with a loving sparkle in his eyes.

"Oh no," Zoe groaned. "Not this time! I did it last time!"

Laura giggled. "That's part of being a Mom, come on, we'll go together."

"It's soo smelly," Zoe cringed as she walked over to them. "And disgusting, not to mention…gross," she shivered.

"Is that all?" Clint teased. "Practice adjourned, until you probably learn how to do a diaper change."

"Fine, fine," she sighed. Laura took Nathaniel in her arms from Clint's so that Clint could take the swords away from Zoe, and Clint kissed Laura on her forehead. Laura grinned happily as she and Zoe walked back to the house.

"How is he?" Laura asked.

"He's a tough teacher," Zoe mumbled.

Laura grinned. "But he's the best."

"I know, I know," she said. Nathaniel started to cry in Laura's arms. "Awe, don't cry, little one, we'll get you cleaned up in no time! And then nap time for Zoe."

"No, then it's cleaning house time," Laura reminded her.

Zoe wrinkled her nose. "Being a Mom is hard," she said.

"Yes it is," Laura said.

Laura smiled at Zoe, and let her inside. She looked back to stare at Clint who was looking back at his farmhouse, reminisce in thought. "But worth every moment of it," she said. She walked inside and closed the door.


	76. Chapter 76: Embracing Memories

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the MCU. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 76: Embracing Memories**

Zoe didn't want to leave the farmhouse, but the minute she sat down after a long hot shower and started to pour through whatever information Tony found her, she was out the door with her bag in hand. There wasn't a moment that she didn't want to leave Laura behind, or Clint to defend himself with his three kids, but maybe it was time to leave. Zoe had loved being there, and felt like apart of the family, but she also didn't want to overstay there as well.

She had to talk to Tony face to face and see for herself. What she read couldn't be true because it made her heart twist in such an ugly manner that she almost cried out again. It was about the death and murder of her mother and who had actually killed her. Tony was a genius, but this…was going too far. Thankfully, Laura and Clint were understanding…as far as Zoe could remember...

"I'll miss the extra help around the place," Laura said, giving Zoe a small smile as she handed her a cup of coffee.

They were seated around the kitchen table, having some strawberry rhubarb Lila and Cooper had washed up and were now reading inside the living room.

"I'll miss you, and your wonderful gracious kindness," Zoe said. "You taught me so much about being a Mom. I never had that, thank you," she said.

Laura smiled, and started to hand wash the dishes in the sink.

"We can finish your training when you get back," Clint said. "If you want," he said "I just…" he sighed, and looked at the files on the tablet that Zoe had put together. He looked at the old photographs that Tony had complied together and the articles and the evidence that was displayed before him, and the dark shadow that hovered within the Sawyer's camera. "Is Tony absolutely sure?" he asked.

"I couldn't get a hold of him," Zoe said. "I tried calling Pepper, but according to F.R.I.D.A.Y. her schedules had been booked up."

"Then you should go to him," Laura said, turning around. She leaned against the sink with a plate in her hand, drying off the water with her kitchen towel. "Talk to him. Find out how he got the evidence and see where his conclusions are. Reopen the case."

"Are you sure you want to unravel that thread?" Clint asked, listening to his wife's suggestions. It was a good idea, but he also knew Zoe's emotional attachments.

Zoe let out a deep breath and shook her head. "No, I'm not, but what choice do I have? I have to find out who did this to my mom."

"And what happens, Zoe? What happens when you do find the killer? What then?" Clint asked, leaning his arms on the table, as his shoulders hunched over. He looked at her with curiosity and concern.

"Hope that it's not him," Zoe whispered, glancing down in her coffee mug, tapping her thumb finger along the handle.

Zoe wiped the tears that had suddenly found their way down to their cheeks with the shaky palm of her hand, and pressed the foot of her gas pedal to drive faster to Manhattan. She didn't want to think about that right now. Instead she forced herself to think about the good times she had with Laura, Clint, and the kids that she held deep in her heart because she'll never forget it. Clint's kids were really smart, especially Lila when she noticed that Zoe missed Steve one day…

"You're not focused," Lila said suddenly, breaking Zoe out of her reverie stare.

Zoe jumped, startled at the little one. "What?" she asked. Clint and Cooper were beside them, playing a much concentrated game of chess, while Zoe and Lila played Checkers. Lila was kicking Zoe's butt at the moment and Laura was making a nice rotisserie chicken dinner.

"You're loosing to a game of checkers," Lila said. "Haven't you had years of practice of this game?" she asked as a matter of fact.

Zoe cringed. "Not really," she admitted. "I mean I did play four square a bunch of times and table tennis, but checkers? Maybe once or twice."

"Alright, what happened?" Lila asked.

Zoe widened her eyes. "What do you mean what happened?" she asked.

"With you and Steve," Lila said as a matter of fact. "One Valentine's day, I had my first real admirer. I know about love."

Clint coughed and looked over at Lila. "What?" he asked.

"Oh relax, daddy," Lila said. "Nothing happened. It was just a card."

"You remember Clint, when you were young and got to give little cards and candy to the girls in your class," Laura said, swinging by them with a pitcher of ice tea, and glasses on a tray. She set it down on one of her tables beside the couch. "It was really cute."

Clint grunted. "As a father, I disapprove, your move, kid," he said.

"I know, I'm thinking, you mustn't interrupt the process," Cooper said, tapping his finger along his chin.

Laura sat down in the middle of the couch, and picked up her book, but then closed it. "You know, Lila brings up a good point. What happened with you and Steve, I'm dying to know."

Zoe sighed. "Alright. Well, Steve and I had our first date. It was very awkward…I don't know who to blame, my broken leg, or my inability to say anything decent on a first date," she said, picking up her black checker piece and moved it to one of the corners. Lila already had king spaces on Zoe's side. Zoe sighed. "Probably the latter. I didn't even get to tell him that the date looked so perfect."

"Well, not everyone's first date is perfect," Laura said.

Clint arched an eyebrow at that. "It's not is it?"

"Well, ours was, honey," Laura said, reassuring him with a small smile across her face. "I'm just saying, it doesn't work out for everyone. But it doesn't hurt to try again."

"We did try again…and it kind of hurt to try again," Zoe cringed.

"What happened?!" Lila asked.

"Well…" Zoe said with a slight cringe. "Let's just say never go to a ballpark on your second date, especially if you have crutches…"

Zoe started to tell Lila and the family what happened during her date as she remembered it like it was yesterday…

"Baseball?" Zoe repeated as she looked over at Steve with a grin on his face. She struggled to catch up with Steve as he walked ahead of her with a bag of equipment strapped across his shoulder. Steve stopped, and looked behind him with a grin. "Um, you know I have a broken leg, and can't run right? I think we can just call it a night and say you won," she said, catching up beside him, as she swung her crutches forward and landed on her foot as she walked forward, careful where she stepped.

Steve chuckled. "The great thing about being alive in the twenty-first century, Miss Sawyer, is that they have machines that are actually quite useful. "And besides, baseball is a great American sport that never gets old. When you get your leg cast off, we should go to a real game. During the great depression, people became obsessed with baseball. It was like they're outlet of escape."

Zoe smiled at the idea. She was never a fan of baseball, but Steve might change her mind if they went together. "Who's your favorite team?" she asked as they walked over to the batting cages. She stood beside the fence, and looked at the machine across from them. Steve placed the bag down on the ground, and took out a set of baseballs in a small tube and walked over to the machine sitting alone on the cement.

"I thought the Dodgers were okay," Steve said. "I wonder if they still play."

Zoe giggled. "A game would be fun to go see," she said.

"It is," Steve said. "It's quite something when everyone gets together to watch two revival teams play. Eat hotdogs with chili on top, and relish, and mustard, and then have cola afterwards."

Zoe couldn't help but smile as Steve reminisced about the time he grew up in. "Bucky and I used to go all the time," Steve said as a matter of fact. She chewed her lip at the mention of Bucky Barnes, Steve's old best friend that got captured during World War 2.

Zoe arched an eyebrow at Steve, and then turned to the pitching machine. "That thing looks really lethal," she said.

"We've fought aliens, and only God knows what, and this thing looks lethal?" Steve asked, putting the pitching machine together. The machine spluttered to life with the flip of a switch.

Zoe laughed. "Well, when you put it that way…" she said.

"Look, it's really simple. I figured this would be fun since you can't do much, but I know you and you'd want to do more stuff," Steve said.

Zoe nodded. "This is very true," she said. "I like to do stuff and go out," she said. "As long as I don't have to run."

Steve smiled at her. "Well, there will be none of that. Okay, I'd step a couple ways back to the side," he informed her once he finished putting the balls inside the pitching machine.

All of a sudden a ball came charging out and hit the fence, bouncing onto the ground, making Zoe jump and tense. She gripped tightly onto her clutches. "You were saying?" she asked.

Steve smiled. "Relax, I put a timer on it," he said. He walked over to the bag and pulled out a bat, smiling in admiration as he pulled it out. He walked over to the middle of the machine and tapped the ground with the bat in his hand.

"I never understood why boys did that," Zoe said.

"To get a feel of the bat," Steve said. "Not every bat is the same."

"Right," she mused lightly, pursing her lips to the side.

Steve got ready into his batting stance and tightened the grip end of the bat in his hands, as if he was getting ready to pitch. He counted in his head and swung back as soon as the ball popped out of the machine and hit the ball that went straight through the fence, making a hole in between the diamond shaped metal that connected together. It broke apart due to his super strength. He cringed.

"Okay," he said, cringing slightly. "Might be a little lethal."

Zoe grinned and pushed onward with her crutches to join him. "Just hit lighter. Can I try?" she asked.

Steve nodded. She placed her crutches on the ground gently, as Steve helped her steady herself on her foot cast. Technically she wasn't supposed to put any pressure on it, but one night didn't hurt, and it wasn't like she was putting a lot of pressure on it because Steve was with her.

"Alright, so you would hold the bat like this," Steve said as he started to show her.

"Ooh, wait!" Zoe said, reaching for her back pocket for her phone. She used Steve's shoulder to hold her balance, hoping on the one foot that was free from a cast. She searched her playlist and grinned when she found In the Mood by Glenn Miller. It started playing.

"Really?" Steve asked, unable to help but grin though.

"It's my favorite song!" she admitted sheepishly.

He laughed and smiled at her sheepish look. "Okay, we ready to play ball?" Steve asked.

"Ready," Zoe nodded.

Silence found its way in between them, while Steve fixed the bat in between her hands, his hands warm and calloused on top of her soft a little bit calloused hands from work and writing. One might say she had an artist's hands for how soft and delicate they were against Steve's but also warm and fierce, ready to take aim after years of practice.

"You know who was really handsome back in the day that I would have just totally swooned over?" Zoe asked.

"Do you have your eyes on the ball?" Steve asked in her ear that sent shiver down her spine.

"Yes," she said. "But the ball isn't coming out yet now is it?" she said. "And I think Benny Goodman was extremely attractive."

Steve's throat tightened and he swallowed hard. "I think you're talking to the wrong person about that."

Zoe grinned. "Why, jealous?" she asked.

"No," he scowled. "Just…definitely not a topic we should talk about."

"Ooh!" Zoe exclaimed as the ball came out of the pitching machine so fast that when she swung the bat, she missed and the ball bounced off the fence. "Oops…" she cringed and looked back at Steve.

"No one makes it on their first try," Steve said. "It's good to try again, right?"

Zoe nodded. "Right, right…" she said, and got into her pitching stance. Steve smiled in amusement as she tried her best, but it wasn't quite the way to hit the ball correctly. He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her. His hands covered hers and he lifted her arms up a little. They scooted a bit more so that Zoe was not on the side so much and she was more in the middle. "You know, there's something I never told you," she said as Steve tried to instruct her on where she should keep her shoulders, and her batting stance.

"Hmm?" he asked.

"I was there," she said.

"What?" he asked.

Zoe turned over her shoulder to look into his blue eyes. "I was there when you first woke up. I was sitting in one of the SUV's that pulled up and around you. I think it was pretty cruel what they did to you. You shouldn't have woken up like that."

Steve blinked at her. "How would you have me woken up?" he asked.

Zoe shrugged. "I don't know," she whispered.

The ball suddenly zoomed out of the pitching machine and accidentally hit Steve in the groin that made him double over. Zoe gasped and cringed. "Steve!" she said, and pulled out her phone to stop the music that had changed to another song. "Oh no," she groaned, cringing as he stumbled backwards and away from the machine. "Um…should I call assistance?"

"Ice…" Steve muttered. "Please get ice."

"Yeah, I got you, Steve, no worries, hang in there," she said, and reached for one of her crutches on the ground, and put her phone to her ear, calling for desperate need for assistance. How was she going to explain this one? She cringed, placing an embarrassed hand on her cheek, looking at Steve as he winced at the pain riling through him.

Zoe smiled and pulled her car against the curb of Stark Tower. But the smile faded when the Barton's laughter of memories died in her head when she came up to Stark Tower that glistened in the sunlight of Manhattan. She looked over at the files on her passenger seat, and grabbed them into her hands before she headed out of her car and inside Stark Tower ready to give Tony a piece of her mind.


	77. Chapter 77: Brotherly Love

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the MCU. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 77: Brotherly Love**

She'd always been iffy about elevators. Ever since her death-defying fall with Steve when they were on the run from HYDRA, she hadn't wanted to go in one. She was always forced to go in one, and it looked like she didn't have a choice in the matter. Tony's penthouse was all the way up at the top and she was not going to walk up that flight of stairs, no matter how good of an exercise it might be.

"Miss Sawyer, you do not have an appointment. Tony has a very busy schedule today," F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s voice said before Zoe could go into the elevator.

"I'm really sorry, but this is very urgent," Zoe said. "I need to speak to him about my mother."

F.R.I.D.A.Y. made a small hmm sound, "Alright, dearie," she said and let Zoe in. The doors slid open.

"Thank you, F.R.I.D.A.Y. it means the world to me," she said.

"Just don't tell him it was me," F.R.I.D.A.Y. said.

Zoe smiled. "I'll tell him I hacked into it," she said.

F.R.I.D.A.Y. chuckled. "Done," she said.

She drew in a short breath and walked inside the elevator doors that would lead up to his penthouse.

She leaned against the elevator's wall, and looked up at the ceiling, holding the manila folder in her hands against her stomach. She closed her eyes and drifted off to the past…

It was one of her high school productions she was getting ready for. She was dressed in a beautiful forest green velvet maiden dress, her hair and makeup was done like she belonged in medieval times. Today was one of the better days she'd faired, her father was away at work and it was just Zoe and her mom.

All the girls around her were getting ready for the production of Robin Hood when the dressing room opened, revealing her mother's best friend, April.

Zoe turned around in her chair and frowned. She was hoping to see her mom come in to congratulate her like she normally would, but instead it was April with a video camera in her hands.

"Hi, sweetheart!" April exclaimed.

Zoe got up from her chair and walked over to April. April handed her a a small rose for good luck just like her Mom would have and she forced a smile.

"Hi, April," Zoe said. "My mom's not coming is she?"

April's kind face fell at the look of Amanda's teenage daughter's face. "I'm sorry," she said. "She wanted to come, but her open gallery was running late, and she had a potential buyer that was coming to it, and she couldn't miss it."

Zoe looked down and nodded. "Yeah," she said with a sigh. "I get it. Money means food on the table, and a roof over our heads."

April took a few red curls of Zoe's wig in her hands and nodded. "But she'll make the next one."

"She never misses opening night," Zoe said. "That's always the important one," she said.

"I know, darling, I know," April said, swallowing hard. She hated to see the sad look on this one's face. "Think of it this way. You're Mom's here in spirit."

Zoe listened to April's kind words, and nodded. April hugged Zoe. "Break a leg, munchkin. I'll see you out there."

Zoe nodded and watched April leave through the hallway of backstage and walked out of her dressing room.

She looked at her mother's rose. Another rose for another missed play. She ran over to the boy's dressing room. She knocked on the door, and drew in a short breath. The door opened, revealing her best friend, dressed in a Robin Hood costume.

"Robin Hood, just the boy I wanted to see," she said. "We're on for tonight," she informed firmly.

"After the after-party," he said. "Then we'll do it."

"Good," Zoe said. "Here," she handed him a piece of paper from underneath her stockings and he grinned.

The scene dissolved into another memory after the show, after Zoe returning home to her mother inside their own penthouse in Central Manhattan.

"Mom?" Zoe asked, coming inside. The lights were dimly lit, but as she walked freely from the elevators she walked inside the living room only to find her mother seated on the couch, head buried into her hands. She looked up at Zoe's return. Zoe could see the tear streaks along her mother's face.

"Zoe," she breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad you're home. I was so worried. Do you have any idea what time it is?!"

Zoe cringed, glancing at her old phone in her hands. "Sorry, I should have called…" she said. "The after-party went a little later than expected."

"I was about to call the police," she said.

Zoe winced. "Really sorry. It won't happen again."

"It better not happen again, or you'll be punished," she said, sending her daughter a small glare.

Zoe nodded. She was never grounded. She was always punished, like her phone would get taken away or something like that. She tried to be a good kid, but there were times when it was hard, especially when most of her own opinions were just ignored and snapped at.

"I didn't mean to make you upset, mommy," Zoe said in a tearful manner.

"Oh, baby, it's okay," Amanda said. "I'm just…that potential buyer never showed up," she sighed. "So now I'm going to have to put in more hours to the gallery…miss your PTA meetings…rehearsals…God," she sighed.

Zoe frowned and walked over to her mom. She sat down and wrapped her arms around her mother's shoulders. "We'll pull through, we always do. I found this outside our door."

She handed her mother an envelope. There was no address on it, it was mailed to them.

"I love you," Amanda said.

"I love you too," Zoe said, hugging her mother. "Now open it!"

Amanda smiled and drew in a shaky breath. She tore open the envelope with her bony fingers and blinked when a check nearly gave her a paper cut. She pulled out the check and widened her eyes, looking at the zeroes that were addressed to the Lynn-Sawyer household. She looked at the check signed, but the signature was sloppy and hard to read.

Zoe knew who the check was from, but she wasn't about to tell her mother what she'd been doing on the side to help provide for their family. Amanda bit her lip. "Well, the man could have called me," she said with scowl, thinking the check must've been from her potential buyer. She got up off the couch to go put the check in her purse. Zoe breathed a sigh of relief and opened up the piece of paper with the name written on it and gulped, 'John Garrett'.

The elevator chimed, breaking her out of her past reverie, letting her know that she'd arrived. She brushed her hair out of the way and pulled her wispy strands of brown hair that had fallen out of her hair bun. She walked into Tony's workshop where he kept most of his toys, including his cars. Everything seemed so brand new again, like Tony was back at work to his old self, except this time she noticed the blue haze of a technological floor plan that was in the middle of the room. It was almost like the exact replica of Clint's farmhouse.

In the background noise, she could hear the music of an Elvis Presley remix, 'A Little Less Conversation' playing in the background.

Zoe was amazed and would have stopped to check out the little floor plan that Tony was actually working on, but instead she walked right through the blue glow in the middle of his workshop and cleared her throat when Tony seemed to be talking to someone through his Bluetooth earphone.

"I love you, no I love you first, that means you have to…" Tony began, but heard Zoe's small noise behind him. "Gotta go, don't forget the blueberries!" he said, and spun around. He smiled at Zoe. "Zoe! What a pleasant surprise," he said, but then frowned when she suddenly came up to him and shoved him against the wall.

Tony winced at her impressive forcible impact she had against him. "Have you been working out, Killer?" he asked.

She gripped his neck with her hand and showed him the manila folder in the other that read 'Classified' in the middle. "What the hell, Tony?" she demanded with fiery eyes.

"Deploy," Tony said, wincing, as Zoe tightened her grip against his neck. "F.R.I.D.A.Y!" he said.

The music turned off and his Iron Man gloved hand gauntlet contraption flew to cover his hand almost immediately. Zoe widened her eyes and looked from the Iron glove to his eyes. "You wouldn't dare," she said. Tony heard the anger in his voice and his face became a little crest-fallen.

"Try me," Tony said.

Zoe stared into his eyes and he stared back into hers. The anger slowly disappeared away from her, and she let go of his neck. She remembered what happened between Tony and Steve in the lab during the creation of Vision and didn't want that to happen again.

She sighed.

"Glass of wine?" Tony offered, pointing his Iron Man gloved hand toward the mini-bar inside his workshop.

"I didn't come here for a social call, Tony," she said, not meeting his eyes.

"Well, good, because as you can see I'm busy," Tony said, pointing to the blue floor plan in the middle of his work space.

"Are you really attempting to build Pepper a farmhouse?" she asked, in awe, as she glanced back at the blue glowing floor plan in the middle.

"Thought crossed my mind," Tony said. "So…you put the pieces together I see," he said, still keeping an eye on her in case she decided to attack again; after all she had her two legs back on foot and could easily walk now.

"Come have a drink with me, like old times," he said. He walked over toward his mini bar, and carefully took off his Iron Man gloved gauntlet, setting it down on the desktop beside his computer station as he walked over to the mini bar.

"We never had old times, Tony," she said, but walked over to join his little mini bar and sat down on the stool. She dropped the manila folder in front of her and sighed. She rubbed her fingers against her forehead, trying to ease out the arrival of a headache. She closed her fist and leaned her chin against it, while Tony poured a wine glass of champagne for Zoe and a Brandy glass for himself.

"Well, no time like the present, as they say," Tony said, handing her a glass of champagne in between his fingers, holding it by the stem. Zoe grabbed it from him, and he leaned forward against the countertop, placing his Brandy glass toward his lips. "So…" he began slowly, gazing into her eyes.

Zoe gave him a look. "Really?" she asked.

"Just had to make sure you were still with me," Tony said.

"Always with you, Tony," she said with a smile. "So long as I see fit."

Tony smiled and took a sip of his drink.

"Zoe," A sharp and familiar voice cut through the air and the two looked up only to find Director Fury standing in between the threshold of the glass doors. Zoe closed the folder and scooted it closer to Tony so he could hide it. Tony took it from her and looked up at him with the folder hidden behind his back.

"Director," Zoe said, keeping Director Fury occupied.

"You're a hard woman to track down," Fury said.

Zoe smiled. "Just catching up with Tony," she said nonchalantly.

"Hmm," he mused delicately, as he strode inside Tony's workshop, walking straight through the blue-floor plans of Tony's idea of a farmhouse that seemed pretty funny to Fury, but he was here on business.

"Director," Tony greeted grimly, as he put the folder inside the mini fridge with his back toward Director Fury. "Suppose I should triple up on security," he said, motioning this to F.R.I.D.A.Y.

"No need, Stark, I was just here to talk to Zoe," Fury said. Zoe sighed and looked over at her champagne class, calling her name. She took it by the stem glass and downed a sip.

"What can I do ya for, Director?" she asked, licking the alcoholic drink on her lips with her tongue.

Fury looked at her not amused by her actions as of late, but decided her new assignment would be punishment enough, since it dealt with an old flame of hers from the past. "I have a job for you," he said. He walked over to the mini bar where she sat and handed her a tablet he'd been carrying behind his back.

She eyed him curiously and took the tablet away from him.

"Now that you're on your feet again, figured you'd want to get back on the horse again," Fury said.

"Ah, never been a good rider, Director Fury," Zoe said, sending him a small smile as she turned it on. "Always fell off."

"But you always got back on," Fury reminded her. He looked up at Tony who was pouring a drink for the Director, but he held up his hand as if to stop him. Tony frowned, and leaned his hands against the counter top, glancing at him curiously. "Tony, mind giving us a little privacy?"

Tony arched an eyebrow. "Why yes I do mind, it is my workshop…" Tony said.

"Please?" Fury asked. Tony pursed his lips together "I'm asking nicely," he said in a clipped and cool tone of voice.

Zoe turned over her shoulder and gave Tony a look. Tony looked over at Zoe, who sent him a small smile of reassurance that it was going to be a short and sweet conversation between her and the Director. "Fine," he said. "But I'm taking this with me," he said, taking Fury's drink with him, as he disappeared from behind the panel into the next room over.

"His name is Scott Lang," Director Fury said. "I believe you know him."

Zoe nodded. "Yeah," she said. "We went to high school together."

"And did a lot more than that if I recall," Fury said.

Zoe winced at the bitter memories threatening to pop up again. "Don't remind me," she said.

"Well, you're going to have to remember, Sawyer," Fury said. "I want you on protection detail with this one."

Zoe gawked at him. "What?" she asked.

"I want you on protection detail with him," Fury said in a more firm tone of voice as if she didn't get it, but she totally got it, she was just surprised.

"You realize he was my first date, right?" Zoe asked, raising her eyebrows at Director Fury.

Fury smirked. "Glad you remember and that we're on the same page. You start today. He just got out of prison, claiming to be a changed man."

Zoe scrolled through Scott Lang's information and sighed.

"You already got your identity, passport, and flight ticket, you leave out of New York tonight," he said.

"Something I should know that you're not telling me?" she asked.

"Make sure he gets to Hank Pym," Fury said. "The rest is up to him."

She nodded, as she stared at Scott Lang's face. He'd changed a lot since high school, she thought curiously.

"And Zoe?" Fury asked, turning to face her.

Zoe looked up from the tablet. "Try not to fall in love with this one," Fury said.

Zoe cringed. "Like I'd fall in love with a thief, again," she said, pursing her lips together. But she couldn't help it. The more she looked at Scott Lang's picture, the more handsome and cute he looked to her. She winced. He left you at dinner for you to pay the waiter; a voice reminded her in the back of her head, her voice of reason. And Steve would never ever do that. She sighed. Right.

"You know, I hate it when he does that," Tony said, walking back inside his workshop.

Zoe looked at Tony when Fury left and the doors slid to a close after he left them be.

"I'm used to it," Zoe said with a small shrug. "He pulled me away from my first assignment just in time for me to help put the Avengers Initiative."

"Huh," he said, crossing his arms over his chest and turned to face Zoe with a questionable look on his face. "Well I guess our social call was cut short," he said with a small sigh. Zoe arched a curious brow at him, twisting her lips together in confusion. She just said it wasn't a social call. "Tomato-tom-ah-to…" Tony shrugged.

"Yeah," she said sadly. "I guess…rain check?" she asked.

Tony smiled, and nodded his head.

"I'm sorry I went all…psycho on you," she said. "I just…had a lot of unspoken feelings raging through me, that's all."

Tony shrugged. "It happens," he said.

"Not to most people," Zoe said, sending him a rueful look on her face.

"Happens to me a lot," Tony said with a nod of his head.

Zoe giggled. "You're mighty popular with the suits," she said.

"That I am, darling, that I am," Tony said and walked over to throw an arm around her.

"I'll call you when I finish my mission," Zoe promised.

"Good, be safe," Tony said, pulling her in for a hug before she was out the door. She promised him she would be safe, but with Scott Lang, there was no telling what he would do. She was on her own.


	78. Chapter 78: Ant-Man 1989

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ant-Man or the Avengers or anything related to the MCU. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 78: Ant-Man 1989**

"As you can see…" Dr. Richard Sawyer said, pointing to two x-rays he'd laid out on the table in front of Howard Stark, Peggy Carter, and Mitchell Carson. "My experiments didn't add up. Ava is the only one out of my two daughters with this type of illness…"

Mitchell tilted his head and slanted his eyes forward, giving him a little head shake. "Really, Dr. Sawyer? Isn't it time you started calling it what your daughter really has?"

"A condition," Peggy said, trying to lighten the mood in the room. "That can be fixed, right Richard?"

Richard pursed his lips together, glancing at the older woman. The brown curls curled around her face and she was looking at him with concern in her kind but tired eyes like she'd seen too much.

She was holding his five-year-old daughter, Ava. She was lying her head against Peggy's chest, legs dangling around her waist with jelly shoes on. Ava played with Peggy's necklace around her neck between her tiny fingers.

As Richard tried to watch his daughter sleep peacefully, he sensed an ill feeling growing within the circular room around him, slowly becoming stiff as nails within the floorboards of the unfinished Triskelion. Howard's gray eyes were fixated on Richard. Mitchell was glancing at the X-rays in front of him and the findings of Ava's powers written in chart form.

"Have you told Amanda?" Peggy asked, taking a hold of Ava's fingers away from her necklace, delicate and precious to her heart. Peggy kissed the top of Ava's hand to soothe the little one, keeping her quiet as best as Peggy could. Ava squirmed in Peggy's arms. Peggy smiled and tried not to show any signs of discomfort that Peggy could feel well within the room between the gentlemen.

Richard looked over at her and he shook his head. "No," he said. "I…" he swallowed hard. "I told her Ava died in childbirth," he said, swallowing hard.

Peggy widened her eyes. "Richard!" she gasped horrifically. Ava shifted and curled her arms around Peggy's neck, burying her head against her shoulder. Richard grimaced at Peggy's shock, but how could he let Ava live with his Amanda and Zoe? It was a death risk for both of them.

"If Ava has these gifts as you say she does, and she has proven at a young age of what she can do…we can-" Mitchell began, but Richard slammed his fist down on the countertop desk. Howard's eyes gleamed with interest between the two gentlemen.

"No," Richard said. "I will not use my daughter this way. On the contrary, I am trying to find a cure, to be more like her sister. Normal."

"Harnessing her powers seems more like it," Mitchell smiled, with his eyes twinkling up at Richard.

Richard ran a hand along his jaw and sighed. "No," Richard said, and glared at Mitchell. "They're too dangerous. Ava just turned five, her pow..." Richard winced, drawing in a short hiss between his teeth. "Illness, is growing a long with her physical changes as she gets older."

An idea lit up in Mitchell's eyes. "Zoe's completely normal then?" he asked.

"I'd have to run a few more tests on her…" Richard began slowly, flicking his eyes over toward him. "But as far as I can-"

"Do it," Mitchell snapped. Richard turned to face him and furrowed his brows, curiously. Wasn't that a bit harsh? Richard's thin lips curled into a deep frown and the frown lines around his face deepened.

"Mitchell," Howard warned, glancing at him curiously. Carson's eyes gleamed over at Stark. "When will the final tests be complete?" he asked.

"Soon, very soon. I've just been incredibly concerned with Ava, and getting your Intel," Richard said in the midst of a rush as he flicked his eyes between Howard and Peggy. He was starting to fib and have a slight panic attack inside his chest. "I'm working on it but…" Richard stuttered, trying to sound brave. "It's hard to find a baby-sitter...a-and keep her..." he stammered, but two doors slid open suddenly, cutting Richard silent.

Richard ripped away the X-rays from Howard and Mitchell. He placed them in a folder and handed it to Peggy, and took a fussy Ava back into his arms. Ava clung onto her father's black crisp suit and rested her head on his shoulder letting out a tired yawn.

"Trigger warning number two," Peggy warned, glancing at Hank as he strode in to join them.

"Stark," Hank said, voice echoing in the room like crystal.

"He doesn't seem happy," Carson agreed nonchalantly.

Richard had scooted a bit closer toward Howard so Hank had the floor. He hugged Ava tight in his arms, as if to protect her from the outcome of Hank's surprised visit.

Last Richard heard, Hank was in Moscow on assignment. He was a biochemist and knew it better than anyone inside S.H.I.E.L.D. Richard had half a mind to contact Pym about his expertise in molecules to help with his daughter's DNA and…her…illness. And now, here he was in the flesh, so to speak. Just when Richard thought his day was getting worse, a little slice of a blessing seemed to shed to light when Hank entered the room.

"Hello Hank," Howard said, folding up a couple of papers away. He looked over at Hank who joined them.

"I took a detour, through your defense lab," Hank said, taking out a vile of liquid from his pocket. He slammed it on the desk that landed in a loud clank. Hank looked over at Richard Sawyer. "Dr. Sawyer. Heard a lot about you," he said.

"Same," Sawyer said and they turned to shake firm hands. "Lovely biochemist brain you got there."

"Lovely astrophysics brain," he retorted, glancing at him up and down and saw the little five-year-old in his arms. Hank would have smiled, but given his current given situation at hand, his distraction was elsewhere.

Richard glanced at the vile with an interesting color liquid of red and pink inside the clear cylinder bottle. "What is that?" he asked.

"Tell me that isn't what I think it is?" Peggy said, grasping it off the table into her hands.

"That depends if you think it is a poor attempt to replicate my work," Hank said. Peggy shared a small look with Howard.

"Even for this group, that takes nerve," Hank said as he paced back and forth.

Richard shifted his daughter carefully on one hip as he held her gently in his arms, letting her to let her eyes close and fall asleep.

"You were instructed to go to Russia; may I remind you Dr. Pym, that you are a soldier…" Mitchell said, glancing up at him.

"I am a scientist," Hank said.

"Then act like one," Howard said, glancing at him as he stood to his height. He was a bit taller than Hank with his white fluffy hair and white mustache.

"The Pym Particle is the most revolutionary science ever developed, help us to put it to good use," Howard explained.

"So you can turn me into your errand boy?" Hank inquired, not wanting to hear another word out of Stark's mouth. "And now you're try to steal my research?"

Peggy set the vile down on the table slowly, and crossed her arms over her chest, glancing at Hank with concern gleaming in her eyes.

Mitchell's eyes grew dark and glanced at Hank with a smirk on his face, unable to help but notice Hank's temperament in the room. "If only you've protected Janet with such ferocity, Dr. Pym."

Howard closed his eyes and Richard looked down at the floor. A painful groan left Hank's lips as he gripped onto the desk in front of him. It was taking all of his anger not to do this, but he couldn't help it. He brought his fingers over Mitchell's head and slammed his nose down hard against the table, causing blood to seep out through his nostrils.

"Easy Hank," Peggy said, quickly defusing the situation before it got worse, as she grabbed the hook of his arm, wanting to finish punching Mitchell's face into the bloody ground. .

Ava let out a small cry. Mitchell glared up at Hank as he glanced down at his bloody nose. He wiped the blood with his index finger and sniffled, glaring at the toddler in Richard's arms. A headache was beginning to form underneath the throbbing pain in his head no thanks to Hank Pym. He sneered at the toddler in Richard's arms. Richard tried to shush her. He gently rubbed her back with the gentle palm of his hand. Ava shifted in her father's arms and laid her head down as Richard continued to sooth her. "Shh, shh," he said.

Hank calmed down underneath Peggy's calm touch, and Richard looked almost pained, frowning. Mitchell pulled out his handkerchief and started to dip it against his nose, trying to stop the bleeding.

"You mention my wife again, and I'll show you ferocity," Hank said with layers of acid dripping out of his mouth. He pointed a finger at him as Mitchell glanced up at Howard worriedly.

Howard shrugged, and shook his head. "Don't look at me, you said it."

"I formerly tender my resignation," Hank said. He cast a sideways glance at Richard. "If you were smart, like I think you are, as I've read in your dissertation, you'd follow suit."

Richard arched a curious brow at Hank, and shared a small look with Peggy. He started to whisper in Ava's ear gentle whispers of comfort to get her to be quiet in all of this tangled mess. He had read about the Pym Particle and his mind was working like clock work. Now was his chance to ask Hank for his help, to find a way to find a cure for Ava's illness. Maybe there was a way to get it out of Ava, for her to be completely normal for good.

"We don't accept it," Howard said. "Hank," Howard turned to the two scientists. "We need you. The Pym Particle is a miracle, please. Don't let your past determine the future."

Hank glanced between Peggy, Mitchell, and Howard. "As long as I am alive," he said, taking the vile from the desk. "Nobody will ever get that formula."

"You coming?" Hank asked, glancing at Dr. Sawyer. Dr. Sawyer looked at his sleepy daughter who had suddenly become heavy in his arms. She'd fallen asleep, probably to the sound of Hank's deep soulful voice.

Dr. Sawyer had tried many things to cure the strange occurrences he'd found in his daughter. It first occurred right after she was placed beside her sister, Zoe, both newborn twins. She was just born, and placed in the crib. A nurse came to tend to her, and when the nurse gently touched her, the nurse died instantly of what it seemed to appear as though blood force trauma to the head. It was one of the weirdest deaths, Richard ever came to witness in his eyes. It was like she'd died from the inside of her body, out. That was when Richard saw what kind of power Ava had and had to get her out of that hospital, and away from his beloved wife, and mother of his two beautiful girls. He tested it out with Zoe, walking inside just to make sure she didn't have the same thing Ava did, and found relief when Zoe was totally normal. From that point on, he was determined to figure out what was wrong with Ava, so he took her away from Amanda, leaving her with one baby girl.

When she first learned to walk and talk, he noticed the powers started when she'd play with the other kids in daycare. She would touch them gently and their hairs would soon turn white, or their skin would shrivel almost like the children were chocking to their death. Richard had to get his daughter out of public school and away from the kids when the teacher and parents started having panic attacks because their children were nearly dying of strange occurrences. That was the last straw. He knew then that Ava couldn't live in a normal setting. She had to be far away. He wanted to try to stop them. He found a place with S.H.I.E.L.D. where he could try to properly contain Ava, and figure out what was wrong with her.

Dr. Sawyer drew in a short breath, as the memories flooded inside him. He'd worked so hard throughout his life to figure out what was wrong with her. His background in astrophysics was useless. His work in psychology wasn't much help either. She was mentally fine, so far, anyway. He needed to find out more. He needed to find people who were scientists like Pym, and the like to help him figure out what was wrong with Ava. He'd go back to school if he needed to, to help get her a cure, and not be used in warfare.

"Richard," Peggy said in a quiet and tender murmur.

Richard looked up into her kind eyes.

"You know your place is here, with us, where you belong. I know you care for Ava, and I think it's sweet that she has a father who cares about his daughter so much," Peggy said. "But you have Amanda and another little girl you must look after too. This job that you're in, you need to work and provide for your family, and do what is best," she said. "It's just going to take time. Give us what we want, and we will help you. I promise."

Richard drew in a deep breath and looked down at his daughter's sleeping form curled up against his chest. His twin daughters meant the world to him, and he would do anything to make Ava feel better and not feel so abnormal like she did when something went wrong in her tiny four years of life.

"God, I hope you're right Peggy, I really do," Richard said. "Because Hank's offer is most tempting," he said. He gave her a look, and cast Howard a wry glance before he left the room.

As soon as Richard was out of earshot, Peggy turned around, arms crossed. She was glaring daggers at Mitchell, who still tried to wipe the blood away from his nose. He wrinkled the throbbing pain away the best he could.

"We shouldn't let them leave the building," Mitchell said, sniffling blood.

Howard glanced at him curiously.

"You already lied to him, to Richard, and now you want to go to war with them?!" Peggy demanded.

"Yes!" Mitchell said, glancing up at her as he brushed his nose with his handkerchief. Mitchell scowled and glanced down in the bloodied up handkerchief in his hand. He finished wiping his nose clean. "Our scientists haven't even come close to replicating his work. And that child could give us a few pointers about death. Death in seconds, Peggy, our enemies can…"

"It's inhumane," she said sharply, cutting him off.

Mitchell sighed.

"He just kicked your ass, full size," Howard said, glancing at him in warning. "Do you really want to find out what it's like when you can't see him coming?" Howard glanced away and looked down thoughtfully. "I've known Hank Pym for a long time. He's no security risk."

Howard straightened up his back and broadened his shoulders. "Unless we make him one."

"And Sawyer?" Mitchell asked. "Do you really think he'll team up with Hank and find away to cure Ava's "illness"?"

Peggy glanced between Mitchell and Howard.

"There's no telling what that man would do," Howard replied solemnly. "He's a Sawyer. And a Sawyer always knows their true allegiance."

~*A-M*~


	79. Chapter 79: Ant-Man Part 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ant-Man. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 79: Ant-Man Part 1**

 **Present Day**  
 **San Francisco, CA**

Zoe Sawyer hated protection detail. It was one of the most time consuming and boring parts of being a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and it wasn't for someone even cool like the President or something. Those types of jobs were mostly reserved for higher level agents anyway, and she was only a level seven. Something was up Fury's sleeve, that's for damn sure. Because why on Earth would he ask her to protect a crook? A low level crook at best. A low, level, scoundrel, scruffy-looking crook that got a job at Baskin Robbins. She let out a small sigh as she sat in her car, watching Scott Lang walk into his job that he just started. She was going over his files she'd pulled from her database on her tablet that rested against her steering wheel, parked outside the parking lot.

According to his files, he had earned a Master's Degree in electrical engineering.

It had surprised Zoe that he would take that route instead of acting, but she was impressed already by his degree and his job at a place called VistaCorp. It didn't seem like Scott had the best of times when she read on the reason why he got into prison for a three year sentence, no matter how admirable it had been.

He discovered that his CEO was stealing and overpricing their customers. Scott was determined to whistle his CEO out, but they accused him of stealing money from their companies. Of course, he was, but he was actually returning the money back to the customers. Zoe blinked at the irony of it. Well, that was nice of him, she thought curiously. According to Scott's files; however, when he broke into his boss's mansion, he stole a lot more than what he was supposed to steal, thus landing him in prison.

Zoe clicked on an image that popped up into a video, and watched Scott drive a Bentley car into his CEO's pool, and her jaw completely dropped. Shock flooded through her. She replayed it again and heard him scream out a couple of curse words of which she wasn't exactly fond of. She chewed her bottom lip and scrolled down his credentials. He'd been on the news, and in the local newspapers.

"Let's see what else you've been up to…Robin Hood," she muttered to herself, as she scrolled down at the list. He got married to a woman named Maggie and had a daughter by the name of Cassie.

Zoe smiled as she saw the family photo of three that reminded Zoe a lot of her and her Mom and Dad, a nice family of three. She sighed, and then looked off to the side, staring out at the window.

It was a cloudy day here in San Francisco and she'd checked into the Milgrom Hotel, getting a small room just for a few days. She expected this to be a quick protection detail job, so that she could be back home at the Avenger's Headquarters and back with her own family. Lately, she'd been feeling a bit homesick, and missing her sister Ava. Their bonding time was very short, and she wanted more time with Steve.

Steve and Zoe were supposed to go on their fifth date before she left, but she figured they would go on it when she got back from training with Clint, and now she would have to wait because of her new assignment given to her by Director Fury. It still seemed fishy to her. She just had a bad feeling. Like why would he send her on this wild goose chase? Why was Scott Lang so damn special all of a sudden? After her first date with Scott, and he left her there, she'd blamed him for her insecurities over the years, and she still hasn't gotten over them yet. That's the thing though. You can try and strive for confidence all your life, and never truly acquire it because your insecurities will always be there, just like hers; she just chose not to show it as much.

But was he really a changed man, like Fury said he'd become? Zoe chewed her bottom lip and twisted it to the side in pure thought. Neither were exactly who they said they would be in life. Zoe had wanted to be an actress. Instead she went a different route and became a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and Scott Lang went way, way down under, and got himself in a tight situation. Then again, Zoe might've been in the same boat, if she continued down her rickety path. If it hadn't been for S.H.I.E.L.D., Zoe would be in his shoes, and sentenced probably to death, even if it was self-defense. Who knows who would give her solace?

She couldn't quit S.H.I.E.L.D. S.H.I.E.L.D. was her life. A family of her own was just a dream, and nothing more. Scott tried to have a family, but it didn't work out. Maggie had divorced him, and took away his daughter just because of his past history and what he had become. It really surprised Zoe that Steve had been so forgiving to Zoe, but she really did want to change and she really did hate HYDRA and everything that went with it. And she has since been trying to be a better person, and she's been trying not to make the same mistakes in her life, but she had a feeling…with her new identity, they were going to come up like vomit.

She scrolled through the pictures and lists on her tablet, until she landed on another interesting character of whom she needed to look out for. His name was Dr. Hank Pym. According to her research, Hank Pym had created this particle that was supposedly a myth, a particle that could make anyone as small as an ant. He had a facility lab set up and everything here in San Francisco. He had a wife who passed a way named Janet, who'd become the Wasp, and saved the world from disarming a nuclear warhead, and a daughter named Hope van Dyne.

She turned her head when she spotted Scott walking out of Baskin Robbins ice-cream. He had a scowled look on his face and that made her cringe a little. Zoe placed her tablet on the passenger seat next to her, and started up her car. She took her aviator sunglasses off the dash board and placed them on the bridge of her nose. She pulled out of the parking lot and followed him; walk down into the city of San Francisco, sipping on a Mango Fruit blast that actually looked really good and made Zoe's mouth water.

"Sorry Scott," Zoe said to herself, and slightly winced. She knew his second day at work was going to be a short and cut dry day because she was actually the one who gave Dale, probably one of the most idiotic managers she'd ever met in her life, the tip about Scott's three year prison sentence. She was just waiting for the opportunity to make an appearance in his life. Would he go to a bar and drink away his sorrows like she had done in the past? Would he go back home? She'd hoped once he got fired from Baskin Robbin's that he would go to his last resort of thieving again. Luis had the tip. Hank Pym's house was a goldmine and Scott needed to get there. That was the mission, the goal that Fury sent her out to do. Make sure Scott Lang gets to Hank Pym safe and sound without any interference.

She pulled against the curb side of the hotel. She turned the engine off and leaned against her seat, watching Scott enter the hotel. The guilt was kicking in her soul, as she watched him kick the door with his foot before he walked inside.

She turned on the radio of her car, and tuned into Luis's bugged apartment.

"It's the perfect Scott Lang mark!" Luis was saying, trying to get Scott to go to Pym's unoccupied house.

"I don't care," Scott said. She turned the volume knob of her radio, so that his voice came in through her radio speaker's strong and crystal clear through the A.M channels. She'd bugged in their apartment as soon as she found an opportunity when they were gone, so that she could listen in. "I'm out."

Zoe sighed. "Damn it," she muttered.

She tapped her fingers in thought along her steering wheel. She pursed her lips to the side, trying to think of a way to get Scott to do this one tiny job with Luis.

But she knew Scott and when he had his mind made up. It really did sound like he was trying to change. She leaned her head back against the seat, letting everything she'd just learned, she'd just done, process in her mind.

How was she going to get Scott to Hank Pym? And why did it matter to Fury so much that she went after Scott? Was Fury keeping something from her again? Was she getting too close to Steve, and Fury was worried about their extra curricular activities that would get in the way of their missions? She thought he hadn't minded. Whatever the reason, it sucked in Zoe's mind, and it wasn't settling well within her heart right now.

The rest of the conversation on the radio turned into mindless chatter so she turned it off, and got out of the car. It seemed like Scott was just going to call it a day, so she was going to call it a day too. Zoe took her tablet and tote bag out of her car with her, and walked inside the hotel, ready to crash in for some much needed sleep.

She walked up the flight of stairs, feeling heavy as she walked, listening to the blaring music of the club downstairs, and walked into her room, adjacent to Luis's. She opened the door, flipped on the lights, and tossed her keys, tablet, and tote bag onto her couch that rested against the wall, a dark cream colored wall. The whole place smelled, and didn't feel like a home. It felt like a rat space.

It was small in size. One kitchen, one bathroom, no bedroom.

She pulled out her cell phone from her back pocket, and walked over to the couch, where she slumped down on the leather torn cushions. She switched on her cell phone and placed it on the coffee table in front of her, listening to Scott and his friends on the other line.

To make her identity fool proof, Fury had taken her S.H.I.E.L.D. account away, and given her a different record. He kept the bit about Soho in her past on that record since Scott was one of the people in her little gang that she had set up a long time ago. This job was a bad reminder of her past, and she hated every minute of it, even though this was just the beginning.

She curled up against the couch, and stared at the other side of the wall, torn colored paint chipping off, and listened to the sound of Luis's voice through her cell phone, and listened to the club banging music downstairs beneath her floorboards.

~*AM*~  
"You know," Zoe said, making Scott blink, as he listened to the sound of her voice. "Blush works too, Houdini," Zoe said, as she slowly pulled off Hank's fingerprint out from the powder. She lifted the piece of tape from her compact disc in her hands and showed Scott who was more than surprised to see her there in Hank's home.

"Oh man," Scott said, groaning at the site of Zoe and the 1910 steel door in front of him.

"What is it?" Luis asked.

Scott pulled out his earpiece and glared at Zoe. The earpiece was still on, but it rested against his shoulder. She pocketed her compact disc into her black sweatshirt's pocket.

"Zoe?" Scott asked. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Zoe tilted her head to the side and smiled. "I could ask you the same thing, but old habits don't die hard, I see," she said, eyeing Scott up and down in his burglar outfit he wore. He was dressed in black from head to toe with a black beanie on his head, and wore a black jacket around him, keeping himself camouflaged against the dark.

"H-how are you?" Scott asked, stammering a bit because he was so flustered at her presence right here in this room. He looked at the fingerprint she'd pulled off.

Zoe shrugged. "Fine," she said. "You?"

"That doesn't sound like fine bra…" Luis said in Scott's earpiece. Zoe glanced at his earpiece and he put it back on his ear so that only Scott could hear Luis. Pointless.

"Fine," Scott said, glancing at her black get-up. "You look great."

Zoe cast a downwards look at her black skinny leggings, black frumpy shirt, covered by her black sweatshirt. Her hair was wrapped up in a messy ponytail, and she'd worn glasses, as though she'd never taken them off since her high school days.

"No, I don't," she said, letting out a small cry.

Scott winced, and glanced around the quiet safe-space they were in. She sniffled and started to tear up.

"Zoe…no, no, please don't cry, Zoe. We don't have time for this," Scott said, as he freaked out.

"You don't understand," she said in mid-cry.

"No," Scott said. "I don't. But, maybe you could help me understand. What happened?"

"Oy…." Scott's crew said on the other end of his earpiece. Scott rolled his eyes, and focused on Zoe.

Zoe took in a deep breath and sighed. She walked over to safe and sat against the steel door. Scott frowned, looking at her frail state of mind as she looked down at her fingernails. Whenever she was sad, she used to bite her fingernails. Scott wondered if she was going to do that now.

She swallowed hard, and let the tears fall.

"Please, tell me?" Scott asked. "I won't judge you."

Zoe licked her lips and brushed her fresh hot warm tears away, and looked up at him. "I got fired from my job today," she said.

"What? Why?" Scott asked, a small frown forming over his face. He knelt down in front of her, careful not to step over her crossed legs. Her head was against the steel door, as she looked up at him, into his green eyes.

"My boss," Zoe said, shakily, trying to hold it together. "Pulled me to the side, and told me that...I..." she sniffled in a muffled cry, and tried to speak. "Apparently I hadn't smiled at a customer that walked in my part of the store. I used to work at Dillard's," she said.

Scott raised an eyebrow.

"And," she sniffled, and brushed some more tears away from her face. "And the customer had called my manager over to tell them that I didn't smile at them. I didn't smile at them. They bought a purchase from me, and I talked to them. I was…very kind…I didn't snap at them or anything, you know?" Zoe said. Scott nodded slowly. He'd never seen Zoe snap at anyone from the time that they were together.

"She told me that the customer didn't see me smile, so I got fired from my stupid part-time job. I was only working two days, trying to finish up college…trying to save up for my broken ass car, and now I have no job. No job. My savings is going to go out the window, paying for rent, and then I'll be living in my car, and then the streets because I'll be in freaking debt," Zoe continued, crying in the middle of her freaking out episode. "Wanna know why I wouldn't get a freaking promotion? My boss told me it was because of my appearance!"

"Why didn't you just…sue?" Scott asked. Zoe peeked out a curious glance out from behind her hands. She heard the concern in his voice. Wait a second...Scott Lang actually concerned about her and her well-being of sorts? Hmm...this was interesting, she thought to herself, and cleared her throat. She sobbed, shaking her head.

"Oh, right, so the court can look at my records and reminisce on that little job we did in Soho, remember?" she asked.

Scott winced. "Good point," he said. "That's so horrible, Zo…I'm sorry. If it makes you feel any better, I got fired too," he said.

Zoe arched an eyebrow at him, and swallowed hard. Nope, that didn't make her feel any better either, since she was partially responsible for that.

"How did you find me?" Scott asked.

Zoe let out a tiring calm sigh. "I followed you from Luis's. I have an apartment there too, and uh, those walls are," she cringed. "Really thin…" Scott made an 'ewe' face as to what she was talking about and he'd remind Luis to keep his shit to himself.

She looked at him. "If I don't do something fast, I'm going to loose everything that I've strived so hard to care about."

"Zoe…" Scott frowned. "This is not the answer, you know that. Breaking and entering, it's not your style."

"I know," she said. "But I'm desperate. I don't have anyone to help me. I'm alone. My parents died. I have no one. Do you know how long it took me to find that job? Two year's. My other job went bankrupt, so I had to look for another job. That just screams oh-so-fancy on my applications. And no, I'm not the kind of girl that wears globs and globs of makeup on her face to strut herself and sell herself to customers….I'm starting to wonder if I should," she sighed.

Scott shook his head and chuckled slightly. "That's not you, either. Look, if you really want to help, you're going to have to be quiet, and not tell a soul about this."

Zoe looked up from the floor and into his eyes. "Really?" she asked.

"Really," Scott said.

Zoe smiled slightly as a thought occurred to her. "I mean I like makeup just as much as the next girl, but really. So lame sometimes, right?"

Scott chuckled. "Right."

"Do you ever just wish that you can tell mean customers off?" Zoe asked, once her tears had calmed down.

Scott looked up at the ceiling remembering his asshat customer that came in to order a burger at an ice-cream shop. He smiled and offered to help Zoe up. She placed her hands into his and got onto her feet.

"Sometimes," Scott said.

"I had a dream about it the other night," Zoe said. "It was great. But then I felt bad afterwards, after his dumb-founded look and his wife's shocked face that I'd had the nerve to tell them off because I didn't smile for one stupid second in his life," she sighed.

"Now that sounds more like you," Scott said. "Alright, so now that we're facing a 1910 vault from hell…I'm gunna need your help. I have an idea on how to get in…if you're interested."

"I'm interested," Zoe said with a firm nod of her head.

Scott put his earpiece back on, and heard Luis loud an clear. "What is it bra? You still there?"

"I'm here, and Zoe's joining us. She'll get at least fifteen percent of the cut of what we find," Scott said. "We can use her expertise in case anything happens."

Zoe smiled. "Thank you," she mouthed to him.

Scott nodded.

"So, what'd you find, Scotty? What is it?" Luis asked.

"They weren't kidding. This safe is serious," Scott said, studying it as he walked closer towards it. Zoe walked right next to him and looked up at the metal black steel, reading the yellow and red painted letters on it. It looked extremely ancient. Scott wasn't kidding about the 1910 feel because that's exactly what it felt like to her as she drummed her fingers along it.

"How serious we talking Scotty?" Luis asked through Scott's earpiece.

"It's a Carbon-Dale," Scott replied. "It's from 1910. Made from the same steel as Titanic."

Zoe crossed her arms over her chest, and glanced at Scott, listening to him. Well, she could tell he learned something during school, at least and he could put it to good use.

"Wow…can you crack it?" Luis asked.

"Well, here's the thing," Scott said, tapping the steel with his gloved fingers. "It doesn't do so well in the cold. Remember what that ice-burg did?"

"Yeah, mean, it killed Dicaprio," Luis said.

"Killed everybody," Dave said.

"It did not kill the old lady," Kurt said. "She still throw the jewel into the oceans."

"Alright, here's what we need to do," Scott said, turning to Zoe. Scott listed a few items that they needed in order to make this work. Zoe and Scott started to reach for the items on the shelving unit beside them. Zoe reached for the folded up airbed from the shelf while Scott pulled a water jug next to it. He reached for the funnel and set it down on the ladder next to him.

Scott grabbed the drill tools from the toolbox and Zoe got down on her knees and started to put air inside the mattress, while Scott drilled into the steel until the metal handle twisted and turned to open. He grabbed the water, nitrogen, and a funnel and started to poor the water inside the lock he just created. Carbon smoke and pressure started to steam from the safe, creating a coolant around the hole.

"Done?" Scott asked, turning around to kneel beside Zoe. Zoe pulled out the air pump and placed the cap back over it. She patted the air mattress, full of air and smiled at him.

"Done," she said.

Scott grabbed her elbow and pulled her up so that the coolant from the inside of the safe could form a frosty feel on the outside of the steel door, while Scott and Zoe hung up the blanket. They quickly rounded the corner to hide from the blast that was about to occur.

Zoe peeked out from behind the blanket and looked as the frost slithered its way up and around the lock.

"What are you doing?"

"I put water in the locking mechanism, and froze it with nitrogen," Scott replied to Luis. Zoe looked over at him and he looked at her and pointed to his earpiece. She nodded. "Waiting till it expands…if it doesn't," he sighed…

"What are you doing now?"

"Waiting…waiting…" Scott said, and suddenly pulled Zoe out of the way, close toward him as the bolts flew around them, hitting in different directions. Zoe cringed, feeling her shoulders tense in his arms, keeping her eyes closed in fear of getting hit by one of the bolts that bolted from the steel door. It had exploded open.

The door fell down with a loud thud, and the smoke billowed out.

Zoe breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Scott, who then looked at their current position. He let go of her and she walked away from him. He sighed and walked behind her. He smiled at his handy work. "Nice," he said.

"It was a nice door," Zoe said. "I'm going to feel bad for the guy when he comes home only to discover it ruined. I mean it is a piece of history and all. Probably could have sold that in weight and gold…" she muttered, stepping over it.

Scott followed her inside, hopping over the door as Zoe carefully jumped inside. Scott glanced around the safe and saw nothing there. It was completely empty.

"Well…there's nothing here," Scott said.

"I don't get it," Zoe mumbled to herself. Her instructions were totally clear: follow Scott Lang, listen to his every move, watch that sad scene with his daughter and that cop guy Paxton, make Zoe tear up inside and feel bad about herself because she'd basically got Scott fired, because Scott obviously did care and wanted to really make a difference in his life, make sure he gets to Hank Pym…but find out that it's completely empty, and on top of that, there's nothing here, but a silly old suit folded up on the table. She scratched her head in confusion.

Scott nodded, hearing her beside him as she was in shock as well. The only thing she could see in front of her was an old red and pewter colored suit on the table with a peculiar helmet.

"It's a suit," Scott said, shaking his head.

Zoe gulped, and lowered her head.

Scott pulled the helmet and handed it to Zoe. He took the jacket off the table, inspecting the heavy object in his hand. "It's an old motorcycle suit," he said responding to Luis's questions in his earpiece.

"There's no cash, no jewelry, no nothing?" Luis said.

"No," Scott said. Scott placed the jacket back down on the table, and Zoe handed the helmet back to him. Scott slammed the helmet down on the table. "It's a bust."

Zoe frowned.

"I'm really sorry, Scotty. I know you needed the score and that Zoe chick too," Luis said.

Scott sighed, and nodded. "Sorry, about this, Zo," he said.

Zoe shrugged. "At least you didn't skip out on me this time," she said.

Scott smiled at her and shook his head. "I've changed a lot since then," he said.

"Well, let's take it with us anyway. Maybe it's got some historic value, and we can try to sell it on ebay," Zoe suggested.

Scott chuckled. "It's good to have you here, Zoe," he said.

"Same," she nodded. She didn't think it was going to be like this, and she definitely wasn't expecting to find an old random suit in the safe. She really expected it to be a lot of money, and riches. Why would Dr. Hank Pym keep a suit like this? Zoe wondered curiously as Scott took the jacket and helmet with him, and offered Zoe to head out of there first. "Well, let's at least clean up a little bit before we leave," she said, with a pleading look on her face.

Scott looked at her like she was crazy.

"Please?" she asked, as her top lip folded over her bottom one, quivering and pouting.

Scott grimaced and groaned. "But what if someone comes home and we're caught?" he asked.

"Gone for a week," Zoe reminded him. "I read it on his calendar in the kitchen when I was searching for a fingerprint. He'll definitely be back in a week. And you owe me big time," she said. "That dinner cost me a fortune."

Scott winced. "Fine. We'll make it a little tidier," he said.

Zoe beamed widely. "Good," she smiled and started to clean up their mess.

Unbeknownst to Scott and Zoe, a tiny ant watched them leave the broken safe. Through those antennas and eyes of the ant, Dr. Hank Pym sat in his office, watching the footage through his security, running a curious hand over his chin. He was curious about this man and this woman who called herself Zoe, even though she was the spitting image of Ava Sawyer. Hank was utterly surprised she'd become some sort of spy, spying on this type of man next to her. She seemed to know him, and Hank wondered if he could use that to his advantage or if she was an enemy, either way, he'd gotten Scott's attention, and this curious woman from his own past, may just be a bonus, since they were after the same thing.

~*A-M*~  
The rain started to pour down on Scott and Zoe as they ran back to the hotel. Scott covered the suit with his arms, protecting the raindrops from seeping into it, while Zoe glanced around her and up at the cloudy skies above her that had suddenly opened up. She pulled on her hood and jogged inside. She opened up the door for Scott and he ran in, diving inside to shake the water off of him. Zoe ran in right behind him, shivering as the cold weather seeped through her sweatshirt.

They jogged up the stairs and headed toward Scott's place. Scott fumbled for his keys, and Zoe helped him take them out of his pocket. She handed them to him, and she walked over to her door.

"Hey, um," Scott said as Zoe attempted to unlock her own door. She used her body to try and push her door open. Once she pushed the door open, she looked up at him, sniffling as she felt the raindrops fall and trickle down her face. "I know the score, kind of sucked, but would you like to get some coffee later?" he asked.

Zoe chewed her bottom lip and looked down. "I…I'm tired. I think I'm just going to crash for the night."

Scott's eyes danced upon her awful form of rain, San Francisco weather messing up her hair in stringy different directions, covered in water from head to toe. They were both wet, and tired, but Scott didn't mind the company.

"Want to find out what's up with this suit?" Scott asked, wondering if that would entice her a bit more.

Zoe's lips slowly curled into a smile, as intrigue lit up her eyes. "Kay, let me just change, I'll meet you in ten," she said.

"Got it," Scott said with a small smile on his face. Zoe smiled at him and walked inside her apartment, closing the door with her back foot as she walked inside. She sighed.

Zoe pulled out her ponytail, elastic and tossed it on the coffee table, as she walked into the bathroom. She stood in front of the mirror and brushed her hair with the palms of her hands and pulled it straight back. Her tired eyes stared back at her in the reflection of the mirror.

She lied to Scott. She lied to him about Dillard's. It was just a cover that Fury had set up, and she'd pulled it off, making him believe that she really did get fired. If anyone of his friends decided to check her up, they could see it would be legit. It still didn't make her feel any better than what she felt right now. Yes, he left her at dinner all those years ago, but he was here and he had changed in her eyes, but only just a part of him. He was still into crime, maybe for the right reasons? She sighed. Whatever the case, she lied to an old friend. She placed both hands on either side of the sink, keeping herself steady. How many more lies was she going to get herself into? Were they going to continue for as long as she was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent?

The lies were starting to take a toll on her. She could already feel the lies seep into the lines of her skin, once smooth and poreless. She felt so old, and aged, even though she'd always been told her entire life that she didn't look like her real age, so she could lie about that too if it were necessary. She had been graced with the ageless genes and fast metabolism. When she was at the Barton's, she'd learn a daily routine set that she hadn't learned since she was a kid in high school, waking up early in the morning, eating three meals a day, with small snacks a day. She was only thirty-one years old. Then why did she feel like she was eighty?

Maybe that's why Fury gave her this little mission? Maybe he noticed how burnt out she was becoming, so he'd given her this little escape window as a reminder that she was where she belonged. She chewed her bottom lip to the side, and frowned. Steve was right, she thought. She was all over the place. That statement never left her and she'd felt bad about it ever since. She was trying to do right by S.H.I.E.L.D., by the Avengers, by Steve, by her sister, by protecting the people, and helping Thor, and then Tony dropping a bombshell on her that she was still trying to process.

Going to the Barton residence had been a nice change in her life, and it almost felt like a vacation. She focused on helping Laura, and focused on learning how to handle herself in a fight better with Clint as her trainer. She never should have opened up those email files Tony sent her, but she was curious and desperate to find out her mother's murder mystery that had haunted her over the years. She had tried not to let it bother her, but what was the point? She always wondered about the past. People say not to let the past define you, and move on from it, but it's bloody hard to do. It's easier said than done. She ran her fingers over her eyes and messaged underneath and around her dark circles. She felt and looked like hell warmed over.

It wasn't like what she was used to: her same old, boring routine that she'd got sucked into where she just woke up, grab a coffee on the go and go to work, working into the hours of a day with just a salad for lunch or soup whatever she could get down into her system to keep her going. It was nice, having a daily routine. It made her feel normal again. But that normality was gone, and she was back at work. It's what she loved to do, or at least she used to love to do. She'd been extremely overwhelmed by the amount of information handed to her that she hadn't even continued to research the Infinity Stones, and has since put it off.

Maybe once this was over with, she could just go back to being a desk agent. She was happier then. She was happy answering phone calls, being in her own little world, researching things for Agent Hill, and… Agent Coulson. She licked her bottom lip as he drifted over her mind. She missed him so much, and his candidness. He loved his job, and loved every minute of recruiting the Avengers. She wished so much she could be more like him and be more like Agent Hill with her strong fierceness she always carried. She really had her confidence nailed down. So, why couldn't Zoe be more like her superiors? Why did she always feel like she was going back to square one? She wished she could've saved Coulson like she'd always set out to do. Saving people was something she'd admired to those men and women in the army. She couldn't do the army, but she could try to help within S.H.I.E.L.D. the best way she knew how, and that was...being an actress...lying was pretty much her professional job. But she didn't want to lie anymore, especially to Steve...and especially to Ava, and the people she generally cared about.

Zoe shook her head, and grabbed her towel from the towel rack and washed her face dry, taking her day-makeup off with her. She set it down on the sink and took off her sweatshirt. She tossed her sweatshirt over her tub so that it could dry, and walked out of the bathroom into the living room where her bag of clothes rested. She took out a pair of black slacks, and a gray long-sleeved fitted top, along with another dry towel so that she could dry herself off.

She let out a content sigh. The past was the past, Zoe, and you need to get over yourself…and love Steve with all of your heart, she thought. It was her own little mantra that she developed in hopes it would keep her going. And of course, she had Steve. Steve kept her going in more ways than she'd realized. Though she was working hard on trying to be her own person, she knew that he was personally and mostly responsible for keeping her alive, and she was grateful. Zoe smiled. She was in a relationship with Steven Rogers. Captain America. The First Avenger. It seemed so funny to her that she was actually in a relationship with him, but she was ecstatic. She'd crushed on him ever since she learned about him, ever since the rumors and whispers around her old home had surfaced about the Captain's return from the ice. She smiled, starting to feel a little bit better and more like herself. She was just tired, and homesick. That's all. She could get through this tiny mission and be back home in no time. She just still couldn't believe that they were together now. They'd started dating. It'd been such a long time since Zoe's been on a date. Scott was her first, and she'd thought last ever date. Her first date with Steve had been awkward, but he was willing to give it another chance. Zoe couldn't believe it. She was really lucky to be with Steve. Would anyone else have given her another chance? She always wondered if she was dreaming her dates with Steve. Were they really real? Had she actually gone on a date with Steven Rogers? The First Avenger? Sometimes it felt too good to be true.

She pulled off her shirt slowly, peeling at the end seams of the fabric between her fingers. Her fingers brushed along the harsh ripple of her scars beneath her belly button on the sides of her lower stomach, making her wince. They weren't exactly battle-scars, although some of them were…she'd been stabbed by Rumlow in that elevator, crystal clear…they were mostly scars given to her by her father when she was little.

She could try to move on from her past all she wanted, but the scars would be there as an ill and bitter reminder of what she went through and how she killed him in self-defense, and how she was going to break this news to Ava. She still hadn't told her. She didn't know how to tell her.

A small frown creased within her lips as she ran a finger along the rough edges of broken skin that never healed. The only person in her life who ever knew about them was Clint. He'd caught a glimpse of what she went through. He'd understood. But she was scared to show anyone else but herself. She didn't know what they would think about it when they actually saw the marks on her. She shivered and grabbed her folded shirt from the floor, and put it on her to cover herself up. She made a point to wear something tight fitted and nothing so frumpy so that she could hide her impurities. If she did wear a frumpy shirt like she did tonight, she'd wear a sweatshirt to keep her shirt from lifting up on her. She pulled on a new pair of slacks, and socks to keep her feet warm, as the rain slowly pitter-pattered against the rooftop outside.

She didn't even want to know what Steve would think if he ever saw the real Zoe. And if their relationship ever developed further in the future….Zoe winced… at the thought, too fast, and too soon, she thought. She was not ready for it.

She disentangled her hair, and wrapped it up in a messy bun. Done.

She walked over to Scott's place and knocked on the door. She placed her hands behind her back, waiting for Scott to answer. He opened the door and Zoe jumped. "Jesus…you look like someone from an episode of Lost in Space!" she cried, holding a hand to her heart.

Scott pushed the button open and the red crystal eyes of the helmet lifted to reveal his face. "What do you think?" Scott asked. "Pretty cool right?"

Zoe chewed her bottom lip. "I'm not sure if cool is the right word," she said slowly.

Scott pulled her inside, and closed the door. He dragged her all the way back to the bathroom where he'd set up the suit.

"So, what does it do?" Zoe asked.

"I don't know, but when the guys return, I don't want them to find out yet," he said. "You're my eyes and ears."

Zoe wrinkled her nose at that, but she nodded. She ran a hand to ease the muscle strain on her neck and looked at him, pacing back and forth as Scott tried to figure out the mechanics of the red and silver suit.

"What is this…" Scott muttered to himself, glancing at the red push buttons that rested in between his thumb and index finger.

"Hey Scotty man," Luis called out, walking in the apartment.

"Go, go," Scott said as he stepped into the tub, and pulled the shower curtain to hide.

"What?" she asked.

Scott poked his head out from around the shower curtain and looked at her with wide eyes. "Just go, stall him!' Scott said, shooing her toward the door.

Zoe scrunched up her nose at him, but then quickly whirled around and stumbled out the door, closing it behind her. "Luis," she greeted with a smile on her face.

"Zoe!" he smiled. "It's been a long time darling."

"Yes, it has," she said.

"Is Scotty in there? Gotta talk to him," Luis said.

"Yes…but we're um…actually… I mean we…well…" she blushed slightly. Luis raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, say no more….girl, reminiscing like old times, huh?" he chuckled. "I always knew there was something going on. Well, have fun, girl. Keep it short though, right?"

Zoe grimaced. "Right," she opened the door and walked back inside the bathroom, closing it shut. She blew out a sigh of relief and walked over toward the tub to try and find Scott, but he was nowhere to be found. Her heart sunk.

"Scott?" she asked, peering around the curtain. She looked inside the rusty tub. "Scott…?" she called out.

He was nowhere to be found.

"Down here! Zoe! Down, I'm down here!" Little tiny Scott was jumping up and down against the tub's tile, and waving his arms in the air, trying to get his attention. "It's a trial by fire, Scott, or in this case…water," the voice said in his ear.

"Well…maybe this will keep Luis occupied for awhile," she said, and turned on the tub, starting the water. The water swooshed in and Zoe's hand ran through the cool liquid, and hissed at the coolness of the water, narrowly missing tiny Scott in his suit as he'd suddenly disappeared.

She turned the knob on to warm. Not that she was going to go in for a bath, although it was really tempting, she was just using this time to figure out where Scott was, so that Luis or his friends didn't get anxious and worried about him like she was.

"At least until I can figure out where Scott went," Zoe said worriedly, as she looked out the window. She paced back and forth. "Okay think Zoe…he was here…now he's gone…there's an explanation for everything…" she said….

She walked around the bathroom, glancing down at the black and white tiled floor beneath her feet. She was trying to hold herself together, but in reality, she wasn't sure how she could. She just lost her target. She lost her protection detail.

And Zoe had no idea that Scott was trying so hard not to get stepped on by the sole of her boots, as she tried to figure out where he was. He suddenly found himself flying out of the bathroom, down into the small nooks and crannies beneath the apartment, while Zoe sat down on the edge of the tub, and folded her hands together, placing her elbows on her knees.

She had to think of something fast because she was not about to tell Fury that she lost her protection detail.

~*A-M*~

Scott suddenly jumped up and grabbed onto the ledge that belonged to Luis's bathroom window. "Zoe!" he shouted, knocking on the window. Zoe turned around and she ran toward the window. She unlocked the window sill and lifted up.

"Scott! Oh my god…are you crazy?" she demanded, lifting his arms up as he pulled himself inside. But with the weight of his body and suit, they fell against one another onto the hard tile. Zoe winced out a small groan in slight pain.

"Sorry," he mumbled as he scrambled up off of her. He stood on his feet and helped her up off the ground.

He pulled the helmet off of him and started taking the suit off in a rush. "What is going on? Where were you? I've been worried sick," she said, watching him take his backpack and stuff the suit inside it. "Scott, just, please slow down for a second…breathe…" she said.

Scott had knelt down on the floor to stuff the suit inside his backpack when he looked up at her with fear in his eyes. "You don't want to know what I've just been through…" he said. "This suit? It's dangerous. We shouldn't sell it. I don't want it. I don't think anybody would want it. It's hell." He said.

Zoe frowned. "I'm not following," she said.

"You wouldn't want to," he said. "You and I are returning it."

"Why do you need me?" she asked.

"Because you helped me steal it and if I get caught, I am not getting caught alone."

Zoe tilted her head to the side. "Yeah, good point," she said. "Alright, let's just get this over with."

He zipped up the suit into his backpack crushing it shut. He threw it on over his shoulder and together they walked out of the bathroom, only to find Scott's roommates fast asleep against the couch, and the floor on pillows and blankets. Zoe and Scott scooted out the door.

~*A-M*~

"Okay, remember what we talked about?" Scott asked as they ran over to Pym's house. "Stay here, keep an eye out. Alert me through the earpiece if anything happens."

Zoe nodded. "Got it," she said, checking to make sure that her earpiece was hooked over her ear. She'd never worn a hook-over earpiece before. It was always designed for the inner alcove of her ear to fit in nice and snug. A reminder of why she'd fallen in love with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s awesome technology that she'd admired once before. Scott was old-school. It wasn't what she was used to.

Zoe paced back and forth on the sidewalk, hugging her arms against her chest as she breathed in the cool San Francisco air. California was a lot different than New York.

She stopped pacing in her trek along the sidewalk when she heard the faint sound of wheels crunching the gravel on the roads. She gulped and glanced around her. Shit.

She made a move to hide behind the bushes, but Scott had barreled down over the fence and rolled over onto the streets before she could warn him that something was amiss. She ran to his side and grabbed his arm off the ground, "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said with a slight groan. "Any problems?" he asked.

Zoe helped him up off the ground and she was about to respond until blue and red flashing lights appeared in the dark.

"Yup," she said, pointing to the cops in front of them. Scott turned to face them and let out a small exasperated groan.

"Get down on the ground!" The cop said, pointing his gun at Scott and Zoe.

"But I didn't steal anything! I was returning something I stole," he said, and then just realized what he'd said and groaned.

"Smooth," Zoe muttered as she raised her hands in the air, glancing behind her as another cop car had blocked them both from going anywhere.

"Don't move," the cops said, and advanced closer toward them as Zoe and Scott slowly got down on their knees with their hands in the air.

"Thinking of ways to bullshit out of this one?" he asked her as they pulled their hands behind their backs.

"Yeah, except you wouldn't like what idea I've come up with," Zoe said. "And because I'm such a kind and generous person, I'm not going to do that to you."

"Thanks," he said, glancing at her. "In that case. I'll warn you. You can't flirt with this one cop who works at the local precinct, kind of a pain in my ass. His name is Paxton," he said.

"Why?" she asked, glancing warily at the cops as they kept their guns fixated on them.

"He's the fiancé to my ex," Scott said.

"And, we're screwed," Zoe muttered, watching the cop take him away from Zoe. Zoe was pulled back too. They were both getting dragged into jail…a place that Zoe had worked so hard to avoid.

~*A-M*~

"I'm sorry, Zo," Scott said after a moment of silence. He was sitting on the bench with his arms draped over his knees, while Zoe had chose to sit on the floor, legs out, and hands folded in her lap, trying to process of what she just went through. She looked at the back of her fingertips and frowned at the black ink still covered on her skin.

The process they'd just gotten through had been long and tiring. Zoe got herself finger printed, and everything. She'd move out to the women's prison in the morning, and Scott would be back in the men's prison.

"I didn't mean for you to get caught up in this," he said.

Zoe shrugged. "It was my fault, Scott. I wanted to come," she said. "I thought maybe…" she sighed. "I don't know what I thought."

She really thought Scott would be with Hank Pym right now. And now here she was stuck behind bars, ready to be shipped out to prison, a place she'd dreaded for as long as she could remember.

"We're going to get out of this," Scott said.

"How?" she asked. "You said he couldn't be flirtered with because he's in love with your ex," she paused slightly. "You're lucky you know," she said.

"I am?" he asked.

"Mhmm," she said. "To have people that care about you and want you to succeed in life. I'm sorry."

"But…you didn't do anything," he said, slowly, as he looked down at her. Zoe chewed her bottom lip. She may as well confess to everything about who she was, how Scott got here, how she got here. It was only fair. "If anything, I just made your life worse. I didn't mean to walk out on you."

Zoe rolled her eyes. "Yes, you did. Our date was going nowhere that night," she said.

"Well, if you'd talked when I asked you questions," Scott began, but then stopped when a shadow loomed over them. Scott looked over at Paxton and closed his mouth shut. He groaned, and leaned his head against the wall. This night was just getting better…and better. "Zoe, this is Paxton, Paxton this is Zoe," he said.

Zoe looked over at him and she chewed her bottom lip nervously.

"I don't understand how a girl like you could get involved with a guy like this," Paxton said, pointing to Scott.

"It's…a long story, we knew each other from high school, and-" Zoe said but was cut off by Paxton.

"Say no more," he said. "I read your file. You were personally responsible for that robbery in Soho. You tried to get your act in gear, but then you just got fired, right?"

Zoe grimaced. Yup. "Burglary, actually," she said, and Scott couldn't help but grin at her.

He shook his head. "Once a crook, always a crook," he said. Then silence caved in between the three of them.

"You know you almost had us convinced that you were going to change your ways," Paxton said. He looked down at the ground with his arms crossed over his chest. "They were really rooting for ya."

Scott turned to face him.

"It's gonna break their hearts," Paxton continued.

Zoe frowned, glancing up slightly at Scott as Scott looked at Paxton. She could feel the tension rise between the two of them, and wondered if she should say something, but Paxton's partner joined them, not to long afterwards. "You got a visitor."

Scott and Zoe shared a small look before he jumped up from his seat.

"What about her?" Scott asked.

"He only asked for you," he said.

Scott frowned, but Zoe nodded. "Go," she said. "I'll be alright," she said.

Scott sighed, and looked behind him. "I'll talk to him. See what I can do for you," he said.

She smiled slightly at him as he walked out of the jail cell, and followed Paxton's partner to one of the interrogation rooms. Paxton looked at Zoe and she looked down at the ground before Paxton shut the cell door shut and walked away from her.

~*A-M*~

"I told you I'd be in touch, Scott," Dr. Pym said, leaning back in his chair. He folded his arms across his chest. "I'm starting to think you prefer the inside of a jail cell."

Scott closed the door behind him, standing there as he registered the fact he was talking to the same voice he heard through his shrinking suit that nearly got him killed. This man wasn't exactly what Scott had expected him to be...Scott didn't expect to see this old man in a gray sharp suit sitting across the table from him with glasses perched on his nose. He looked as old as the hills, like he'd just crawled out of retirement.

"Oh…man," Scott breathed gently, as he placed a hand over his forehead, and a hand on his hip.

At least a hundred tiny black ants covered the camera inside the interrogation room.

"Sit down," Pym said.

Scott walked over to the empty chair and sat down. "Sir, I'm sorry I stole the suit. I don't even want to know why you have it. And Zoe, wasn't involved in this…I dragged her along, do you think there's any way that you can help her? Maybe call this as a warning? She just had a rough day and she wasn't thinking straight…"

"Maggie was right about you," Pym said.

Scott stopped talking and frowned. "How do you know about…?"

"The way she's trying to keep you away from Cassie. The moment things get hard, you turn right back to crime, and find those same friends of yours who never change," Pym leaned forward against the table. "The way I see it, you have a choice. You can either spend the rest of your life in prison, or go back to your cell, and wait further instructions."

"I don't understand," Scott said. He furrowed his eyes in confusion.

"I don't expect you to," Pym said. "But you don't have many options right now, and frankly, neither do I. Why do you think I let you steal that suit in the first place?" he asked.

"What?" Scott asked, turning his head in shock.

So it was this guy who let him break into his own house. Scott frowned at the realization…so then how did Zoe fit into this whole thing?

"Second chances don't come around all that much, so next time you might see one, I suggest you get a real close look at it," Pym said.

"And…Zoe?" Scott asked.

Pym's lips curled into a small smile. "I'll take good care of Miss Sawyer, don't you worry. She won't be waking up in a jail cell any time soon," he said and patted Scott's shoulder on his way out for reassurance. As soon as Pym left, the ants disappeared from the camera, leaving Scott alone in his thoughts.

~*A-M*~


	80. Chapter 80: Ant-Man Part 2

**A/n: Bit of a warning, this chapter is pretty !**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Ant-Man or anything related to the MCU. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 80: Ant-Man Part 2**

Zoe woke up in bed, and opened up her eyes so that she could focus on her surroundings. She was in an old fashioned like room where the walls were painted a light rosy color wash. She looked down at the quilted covers wrapped around her and her new set of purple stripped pajamas she wore with a lavender tank-top fitted quite nicely. She frowned. If someone changed her, they saw the scars on her stomach, and they saw what she'd been through. She gulped. Who had changed her, and who saw them?

"Zoe Sawyer," A voice said, stopping her from disentangling herself from her covers.

She sighed, and brushed her fingers against her eyelids, to ease out the dead sleep in her eyes. "Who are you?" she asked, looking up at him. He was sitting in a chair, in between the bed and the dresser that rested against the wall across from her.

She chewed her bottom lip, as she blinked her eyes back into focus. She sighed, looking at the face she recognized from her profiling. His eyes were wide and awake, watching her with curiosity through those spectacles that hunched over his nose. A beard formed around his mouth, trimmed neatly that matched the color of his hair, brushed back. He was dressed in a crisp and grey suit with a red silky tie tucked underneath his vest.

"Dr. Hank Pym," she said in realization.

"Yes, that is me," he replied. "You know for a minute there, you actually had me convinced that you were Ava Sawyer, but when you weren't killing people on instant, I figured you must be Zoe."

"Uh-huh," she said slowly. "Where's Scott? And how did I get here?" she asked, glancing around the room. "And where is here?"

"This is my daughter's old room," he said. "Scott is okay. He's sleeping. We're waiting for him to get up, and I was able to convince that nice policeman you were my daughter, just caught up with the wrong people, trying to help an old man with medical bills."

She swallowed hard and stared at him.

He smiled, and leaned forward, placing his elbows over his knees. He closed his hands within his fists and leaned his chin against them. "I know a fake rep sheet when I see one, Agent Sawyer."

"Okay, but how did I get…here? Last I remember…Scott was big, then small, and I passed out…because I'd never seen anything like it…" she said.

He chuckled warmly at her. "I took you in," he said.

"And you knew Ava?" she asked, trying to make sense of what happened last night.

"And I knew you're father," he said. "Dr. Richard Sawyer the second. He was a brilliant scientist, though sometimes a little…crazy right?"

She chewed her bottom lip and nodded. "Did you…." she swallowed hard, wondering if he saw her scars.

"I didn't tell Scott anything," he said. "He doesn't know you're an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., or your history…thought I'd leave that up to you."

She nodded. "Okay," she said. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he said with a nod of his head.

She let out a small sigh. "So, you knew my father?"

He smiled at her and he got up from his seat. "Why don't you join us for breakfast, Zoe," he said.

She swallowed hard. "Because my assignment was just to make sure that Scott got to you actually," she said. "And now that he's here, I guess my assignment is done. I can go home!" she smiled, beaming up at him. She was about to take her covers off and step onto the floor until all of a sudden she let out a scream. She quickly crawled back onto the bed, and dove underneath the covers.

Her heart beat against her chest as she looked on the other side of the bed; she saw more black ants on the floor. She swallowed hard. Trapped. And she knew exactly who he was just from the profile she read about him. Myth or not, this was real.

"You're Ant-Man," she whispered slowly, as the realization hit her like a ton of bricks, and making her extremely dizzy. She winced, and rubbed the side of her forehead with the butt palm of her hand.

"Was," he said. "Now, I'm looking for someone to take over the mantle, so to speak. Scott is the perfect man for the job. These are called bullet ants, or if you really want to be specific, Paraonera Clavata. Number one on Schmidt's pain index. Here to keep an eye on you when neither my daughter or I can't."

"Schmidt…" she said, trying to remember. She placed two fingers against her aching temples. Everything was a little hazy right now. "Why does that name sound familiar?"

He smiled. "That's because he was Red Skull, your boyfriend's number one enemy in the 1940's. That's probably an important tidbit that you should know."

She widened her eyes and opened her mouth to speak, but he'd held up a hand to keep her from talking, as if he wanted to let everything sink in. "I haven't told Scott about that either, thought I'd leave that up to you. Come down stairs for breakfast, everything will be explained, I promise."

"But…my job is finished," she said with a small frown.

He chuckled. "You didn't think I'd let an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. get away so easily with the knowledge of my location, and my tech now did you?"

She chewed her bottom lip and let out a small sigh. She looked down at the floorboards covered with ants, and shook her head. Nope.

"I know S.H.I.E.L.D, and what they're capable of," he said, pulling out her phone out from the inside of his suit pocket.

Her eyes darted to the phone in his hands that swiped the clear screen, brushing his thumb against the screen as if he was searching for something, like he was texting, or looking for a text.

"It was just a simple protection detail, I promise," she said, but then he suddenly handed her phone back to her and she caught it. She frowned, and turned it around to see the latest text from Fury.

'Collect the suit, and come home.'

"I need the suit, Zoe," he said simply. "I can't…"

"Dr. Pym…" she began but he continued to talk over her in a strong and firm tone of voice.

"I will not let them get it," he finished saying.

She sighed, and ran a hand over her face, reading the text over and over until she set it down on the bed. She looked up to explain, but he was already out the door.

"Breakfast is getting cold," he hollered, walking down the hallway.

She groaned. Collect the suit, and go home, she read to herself, and pursed her lips in pure thought. Really, Fury? She was about to respond to his text, but then paused, her finger lingering over the keyboard. Why was the suit important? Why did Fury want to get his hands on it? And why in the hell had Dr. Pym decided it would be a great idea to kidnap an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.? And how in the hell did he know so much about her? Just when she thought she was getting more answers, she was getting more questions!

She growled in frustration. That's it. She needed answers. No. She demanded answers and she was going to ask Dr. Pym on why he was so interested.

She frowned, and placed her phone back down on the bed beside her, and pulled off her covers. She threw her legs over the side of the bed, but then quickly paused, forgetting the ants were still there. She cringed.

"Okay, please don't bite me, please don't bite me, I really didn't mean to step on any of you guys, it's just…well, you're ants, and tiny, and we're human and, okay, okay, I'm sorry, don't bite me," she pleaded to her self as she looked down at the ants. She shivered. Still didn't make this any less creepy, she thought. She found a small space in between the sea of ants, and carefully placed her feet onto the cool floorboards and tried to find another space.

As she walked, the ants slowly trickled away, making a safe pathway for her out the door. "Ugh, I'm going to have nightmares about this," she muttered. "Ever hear of arachnophobia well…this is similar except I'm going to develop ant-o-phobia," she said, tip-toeing out the hallway and down the flight of stairs.

"Myrmecophobia," A woman said next to her.

Zoe blinked at the woman dressed in a black suit, as if she was ready to work. She dressed in a buttoned down blazer jacket that fitted her in all the right places, making Zoe feeling very inadequate right now. She frowned, and looked at the dark black hair, and purple lipstick with the smoky eye makeup that completed her look. She only guessed that this was Dr. Pym's daughter, Hope van Dyne from her files.

"Hope," she said. "Right?"

Hope's eyes traveled from Zoe's head to her toes, taking in her own pajama's and smiled. "Hope you're hungry." she said.

Zoe blinked again. "Uh-huh," she said.

"After you," she said, and looked up from her cell phone from either texting or reading emails, Zoe wasn't exactly sure what Hope was up to, but Zoe was indeed famished.

The two women walked over to the dining room, and sat down across from one another. Hope sat down diagonally from her father, who was reading the paper in front of him. Four white teacups set out in front of each chair, and a white teapot with a bowl of sugar cubes sat in front of Zoe, as she took her seat across from Hope. There was a tray plate full of bread and butter.

"Why won't you let me do this?" Hope asked. "It's a cake walk. I can do this in my sleep. We don't need these guys."

Zoe was eyeing that bread piled onto the plate in front of her She was about to reach for it across the table until she heard Hope include her in something. She looked at Hope and Pym with curious eyes. "What?" she asked.

"I think help from a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent would be a great benefit to us," he said. "And he's one of the best thieves in the city. Given their history, we can knock this out in no time," he replied.

"Knock what out?" Zoe asked.

Hope didn't like her father's answer. She tightened her lips together and folded her piece of paper with a snap, and set it down. "No. We don't. I can take down the servers, and Cross wouldn't even know it."

Zoe continued reached for a piece of bread, and set it down on her plate. Dr. Pym poured some tea into her teacup and she smiled in her thanks, while she started to butter up her bread. Her stomach grumbled at the smell of toast and she cut it in half. She plopped it into her mouth, and paused when she spotted Scott, changed out of his clothes and in pajamas too.

"Morning," she said in a mouthful.

"Morning…" Scott said slowly, glancing at the curious scene before his eyes. Why did he feel like he'd just woken up in the Twilight Zone?

"I assume you already met my daughter, Hope?" Pym asked.

"I did," Scott nodded. "She's great."

Hope sent a glare over toward her father and rolled her eyes before she glanced down at her work in front of her.

"She doesn't think that we need you," Pym said, taking a sip of his tea.

Zoe bit into her toast and chewed silently, listening between Pym, Hope, and Scott.

"We don't," Hope stressed, clicking her pen in her hands tightly. "We can do this ourselves."

Scott walked over and sat down across from Zoe. She offered him a piece of bread on her plate. "There's plenty to go around," she said in a mouthful and gave Pym an okay sign with her fingers, along with a wink.

"Really buttery and delicious, not harmful to my stomach at all," she mumbled.

Pym smiled at her. "It's lightly buttered," he said, and sighed. "I go to all this effort to let you steal my suit and then Hope has you arrested. I hadn't account for you to get arrested, Zoe, I apologize."

Zoe swallowed and placed her half of the bread down onto her plate. She dusted the crumbs off of her fingers. "No worries. So long as I stay out of jail…"

"Keep the suit away from him, and you got a deal," Pym said.

"Done," Zoe grinned. Pym poured her a cup of tea. Scott glanced between Pym and Zoe with pure confusion in his eyes.

"Okay," Hope said, glancing between Zoe and her father. "We can try this, and if then when they fail, I'll do it myself."

"She's a bit anxious," Pym said, pouring himself some tea after Zoe looked into her cup full of delicious tea. She grinned excitedly, and grabbed her half of toast into her hands, happy to have food in her system. Food for Zoe means that she can function properly and focus on this mission.

Hope took a sip of her tea while her father continued to explain for poor little confused Scott. "It has to do with this job," he said. "Judging by the fact you are sitting opposite me, I take it that you are interested in it."

"What job?" Scott asked.

"Would you like some tea?" Pym asked kindly.

"Uh," Scott looked at the tea in Zoe's hands and she nodded. "Sure," he said with a nod.

"I was very impressed with how you managed to get passed my security system," Pym continued, and poured Scott some tea into his teacup. "Freezing that metal was particularly clever."

"Were you watching me?" Scott asked with a small frown on his face.

"Scott, I've been watching you for awhile," Pym pulled the top newspaper off and showed him the one underneath it with his picture on it. Zoe glanced over her teacup as she slowly started to take a sip from it. The tea on her tongue was lukewarm, perfect enough to drink.

"Ever since you robbed Vistacorp," Pym said, and placed the teapot down on the wooden surface of the table.

Scott looked at the picture and frowned. He looked over at Zoe with guilty eyes but she shook her head.

"Oh, excuse me," Pym said, leaning back in his seat. "Burgurled. Vistacorp. Vista security system is one of the most advanced in the business. It was supposed to be unbeatable, but you beat it. Would you like some sugar?"

Zoe placed her tea down onto her saucer.

"Yeah thanks," he said.

"I'll take two please," Zoe said.

Pym smiled at her and at Scott. Suddenly four tiny little ants brought sugar cubes, white as snow onto the wooden surface.

"You know what, I'm okay," Scott said with a small shake of his head.

Zoe chewed her bottom lip. As much as Zoe loved sugar, having an ant on top of it was not her cup of tea, either. She shook her head. "Yeah, I lost my appetite," she muttered, and pushed her plate away from her.

Hope rolled her eyes at her father, giving him a sardonic look, while she put her items away into her brief case.

"How do you make them do that?" Scott asked.

"Ants can lift objects fifty times their weight. They build. They farm. They cooperate with each other," Pym explained.

"Right," Scott said. "But how do you make them do that?" Scott pointed toward the ants lined up, as they tossed the four sugar cubes back into the sugar cube bowl.

"I use the electromagnetic waves to stimulate the old factory nerve center. [He pointed to his earpiece that was attached to his ear.] I speak to them. I can go anywhere. Hear anything. And see everything," Pym replied.

"And still absolutely know nothing," Hope said, taking her brief case into her hand, and Zoe chewed her bottom lip worriedly. "I'm late to meet Cross," she said and left without another word.

"She's icy," Zoe said slowly, glancing after her.

"You'll get used to her," Pym shrugged.

Scott blinked at Zoe. "You're just totally fine with this?" he asked.

Zoe smiled. "He was gracious enough to give me food," she shrugged. "I'm totally fine with it," she said.

Scott inhaled a sharp breath and tried to keep from freaking out inside. Why did his whole world feel like it was spinning in circles?! "Uh, Dr. Pym?" Scott asked, raising his hand.

Zoe glanced beside her at Scott and shared a small look with Pym. She rolled her eyes and took a sip of her tea.

"You don't need to raise your hand, Scott," Pym said, sharing a smile with Zoe.

"Sorry, I just have one question. Who are you? Who is she? Why is Zoe just suddenly cool with you? And what the hell is going on, and can I go back to jail now? How come you don't want to go to jail?"

Zoe looked up from her food intake and forced a grin, as the crumbs fell from her lips. "Um…" she cringed. "Kind of a long story," she said.

Pym's eyes glanced between Scott and Zoe. "Come with me," he said. He got up from his seat. Scott and Zoe pushed themselves out of their chairs and followed him down the hallway and rounded down a flight of stairs that would eventually lead them to a basement.

"Basements, always basements, dark and creepy," Zoe muttered. "Last time I was in a basement, I fell fifty feet with a ton of cement block on my head."

"And you didn't die?" Scott whispered next to her as he offered her to walk ahead of him first.

"Uh…" she said slowly, glancing behind her. "Kind of a long story."

A basement that looked extremely hard to get into, but he opened the steel door with a keypad lock, allowing Zoe and Scott inside with him.

"So what's up, Dr. Pym?" Zoe asked. "Why so creepy?"

Pym glanced behind him and smirked at Zoe. "Forty years ago, I created an automatic relative distance," he said, standing in front of another door with an interesting lock on it.

"Huh?" Zoe and Scott asked in sync.

Zoe looked at the green keypad locked door ahead of her as Pym pressed the finger passcode and pressed opened the door after it light up green.

"I learned how to change distances between atoms," he explained, turning to face Zoe and Scott. He pushed the door opened and Zoe and Scott followed him further inside the creepy room that looked more like a workshop with many different things on desks all around the room, computers, monitors that stretched from ceiling to floor. "That's what powers the suit. That's why it works," he continued, passing by a glass ant-farm that Zoe thought was kind of creepy but at the same time amazing. She stayed closer to Scott though, getting totally wigged out by all the ants in his basement. Sure, totally normal for a guy to have an ant collection if one really liked ants. Pym must've not have very many friends as a kind, she thought sadly. She walked over to an ant-hill like mound that was encased in a cylinder glass and looked inside. She tapped the glass with her fingers and the black ants moved, making her jump.

"Whoa," Scott said next to her.

"Yeah," she muttered.

"But it was dangerous," Pym said. "It was too dangerous," he walked over to one of his workspaces and took the suit off of it. He placed it onto the lighted up table in the middle of the room. "So, I hid it from the world. And that's when I switched gears. I started my own company.

"Pym tech," Scott and Zoe said.

Scott gave her a curious look on his face. And she shrugged innocently.

"Yes," Pym said. "I took on a young protégé called Darren Cross," he crossed over to the room, passing Zoe and Scott. They turned to face him and she looked over at the table where she spotted red and blue liquid bottles of the particle that Pym had created. He took three red ones in his hands and walked over to the suit, where he started to place them in a little pouch on the side shoulder-blade.

"He's a big deal," Scott said, and then eyed Zoe curious if she was going to be spooky again and read his mind or something. She smiled at him.

"Well," Pym formed a small thoughtful frown on his face. "Before he was a big deal, he was my assistant. I thought I saw something in him, a son I never had, perhaps. He was brilliant, but as soon as he became close, he suspected that I wasn't telling him everything. He heared rumors about what was called the Pym Particle," he said, holding up one in his hands, showing Zoe and Scott. "He became obsessed with recreating my formula, but I wouldn't help him, so he conspired against me, and he voted me out of my own company."

Zoe frowned.

"How can he do that?" Scott asked.

"Oh, it's quite possible," Zoe said. "Happened to me in middle-school, actually. A group of friends voted me out like I was on Survivor."

Scott looked at her with a small frown on his face and then turned to Pym.

"The board chairman is my daughter, Hope," Pym replied. "She was the deciding vote. But she came back to me when she saw how close Cross was to cracking my formula. Cross is highly volatile. When it is protected, my specialized helmet can affect the brain's chemistry. I don't think Darren realizes this, and you know, he's not the most stable guy to begin with," he said, frowning slightly at the memories drifting over his mind.

Zoe chewed her bottom lip, looking at him curiously.

"So what do you want from me and Zoe?" Scott asked.

"Scott, I believe that everyone deserves a shot at redemption, don't you?" Pym said, glancing at Zoe cautiously.

"I do," Scott said with a firm nod of his head, also eyeing Zoe. He looked back at Pym.

"If you help me, I promise, I can help you be with your daughter again. Now, are you ready to redeem yourself?" he asked.

"Absolutely," Scott nodded. "My days of breaking into places and stealing shit are done. What do you want me to do?"

Pym looked at Zoe and then at Scott. "I want you to break into a place and steal some shit."

~*AM*~  
Zoe stepped around inside Pym's little workshop. He had at least a dozen t.v. sets lined up against the wall in one part of the room. Pym, Zoe, and Scott were seated in chairs beside the makeshift desk that held up the television station-like set in front of her.

Pym had gathered up files and showed them on the television display. Zoe smiled at how old-fashioned it was, and old-tech she really admired. She was always in the middle when it came to technology. She liked the new and the old. It was really interesting to her what people could use each one for.

"This isn't the first time these guys have tried to get their hands on game-changing weaponry," Pym pointed at the screen. On the screen above them, they were staring at a younger man dressed in artillery wear as if he were ready to fight in war.

Zoe studied him, and looked into his determined eyes. They kind of gave her the creeps.

"That's Mitchell Carson," Pym said. "Ex-head of defense of S.H.I.E.L.D., Presently in the business of toppling governments. He always wanted my tech," he said. "And your sister," he said, glancing at Zoe.

Zoe turned to face Pym as she stood beside Scott and Pym.

"You have a sister?" Scott asked.

"Yeah," she said. "Another long story."

"Unless we break in and steal the yellow-jacket, and all the data, Darren Cross is going to unleash chaos upon the world," Pym said.

Zoe's lips dropped in realization. 'Collect the suit, come home' It was a direct reference to the Yellow Jacket Suit, not the Ant-Man suit. That had to be the only explanation because the Ant-Man suit seemed to tally harmless to her, except Scott was a criminal and he could probably use it to steal anything he wanted, but so far, he hasn't done that. Hmm, maybe she should just keep an eye on him just in case, but at least she knew what Director Fury truly meant.

"Oh….I get it now," she said.

Pym and Scott looked at her with raised eyebrows.

She let out a small chuckle and then cleared her throat. "It's okay, I totally got this."

Scott rolled his eyes. "I think," he said, glancing at Pym and Zoe. "Our first move should be to call the Avengers."

Zoe closed her mouth in amusement, and looked up at Dr. Pym as he got up from his chair. He let out an exaggerated sigh. "I spent half my life trying to keep this technology out of the hands of Stark. I'm sure as hell not going to hand-deliver it to him now," he walked over behind his lit up table. Scott and Zoe turned around in their chairs to face him. "This isn't some acute technology like the Iron Man suit! This could change the texture of reality."

Scott got up from his seat and Zoe crossed her arms in her chair, sending Pym a small frown.

"Besides they're probably too busy leveling cities out of the sky," he said.

"Hey," Zoe got up from her seat and joined them. "At least we got the civilians out of there safe and sound! You don't know what we've been through."

"We?" Scott asked.

"Oops," she said, and looked at him in fear. Zoe let out a small groan of annoyance and winced. Maybe she was burning out! She was having a difficult time keeping everything bottled up as of late.

Scott was stunned that Zoe had been apart of the Avengers. He'd never even heard of her with them, and he wanted to know more. There was so much he wanted to ask her, but now wasn't the best time.

"I know, Stark created Ultron," Pym said, glaring at her.

"For good reason!" Zoe said in defense of Tony. "He made a very good point on how much we needed Ultron."

"An evil Ultron?" he asked.

"Okay, that was a terrible mistake," she said, cringing. "But I mean…the important thing is, is that we stopped it, didn't we?"

Scott raised his hand in the air. "Question," he said.

They looked at him.

"Why don't you just send in the ants?" he asked in hopes that would lighten the current mood between Zoe and Dr. Pym.

"They are ants," Pym said, after a moment of staring at Zoe. Zoe looked down and kicked the floor with her shoe. She sighed, and walked around back over to her seat. She buried her face within her hands. Sokovia had been a disaster, but at least they got everyone safe. Wasn't that what mattered in the long run?

"Ants can do a lot of things, but they still need a leader," Pym continued. "Somebody that can infiltrate a place that's designed to prevent infiltration."

"Hank, I'm a thief, alright? I am a good thief, but this is insane," Scott said.

"He's right, Hank, and you know it. You've seen the footage; you know what he's capable of. I was against using him, thinking we have months, now we have days," Hope said, walking into the basement with a rolled up paper in her hands. She laid it out on the table. Zoe looked up from the floor and walked over to the workspace table. Hope looked at her father. "I'm wearing the suit."

"Absolutely not!" Pym said.

"I know the facility inside and out. I know how Cross thinks. I know this mission better than anybody here," she said.

"You're too close to Cross, otherwise this mission cannot work," Pym tried to reason with her.

"We don't have time to screw around-"

"Hope please-"

"He is a criminal!" Hope pointed toward him. "And she is a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent," she pointed to Zoe. "I'm your daughter."

"No!"

Zoe glanced at Pym's facial expression, tight and hard. He was really determined to keep his daughter from using the suit and going in such a dangerous place.

Pym looked at his daughter, and Hope looked back at him, shocked at his firm response. She closed her mouth and looked between Zoe and Scott, while Pym walked back over to take a seat at his chair. Hope's eyes lingered on Scott for a brief moment before she walked out of the room, leaving Scott to wonder after her.

Zoe could definitely feel the tension in the room, and she felt like she was intruding. Maybe she shouldn't be here. Maybe this was something that they had to work out as a team and a family of their own.

Zoe looked down at the lit up table, not wanting to meet Scott's eyes. She hadn't told him anything about her past and she was going to have to at some point. There were a lot of rising issues coming to light.

"She's right, Hank, I'm not your guy," Scott said. "Take Zoe. She's more suitable for this job. She's worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. after all."

Zoe frowned. "Scott…" she said in a small whisper.

And there it was. His look of disappointment and sadness in his eyes that made Zoe's heart twist.

"I can't," she said. "I was given a specific order. At S.H.I.E.L.D. we go on certain missions, and my mission was you."

Scott raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'm supposed to protect you, and steal the suit," Zoe said. "I'm thinking the suit of what my boss was thinking of was the Yellow Jacket Suit that Cross has. So I have to be close to Cross," she said in realization. "So…that leaves me out. It has to be you," she said.

Scott shook his head. "I'm not…" he sighed. "Why don't you wear the suit?" he turned to Pym.

That's a good point, Zoe thought, as she turned to face Pym. Pym ran a hand over his wrinkled cheekbones and crossed his arms. "You think I don't want to? I can't," he said. "I spent years wearing it. It took a toll on me. You are our only option."

Scott walked over to sit down beside him.

"Before Hope lost her mother, she used to look at me like I was the greatest man in the world," Pym said, smiling. "It was…like how most daughters look up to their fathers, like how Ava used to look up to her father when he carried her in his arms. He loved her very much," he said, looking over at Zoe. Zoe smiled softly and continued to listen to him in silence. "Now…she looks at me with this huge disappointment. It's too late for me. But not for you. This is your chance, a chance to earn that look in your daughter's eyes. To become the hero that she already thinks you are. It's not about saving our world. It's about saving theirs," he said.

"Damn, that was a good speech," Scott said with a small nod of his head, taking it all in.

"Scott, I need you to be the Ant-Man," Pym said.

Zoe chewed her bottom lip and decided to walk out of the workshop after hearing Pym's speech.

She ran out, passing by Hope and ran through the house, opening the door behind her, she slammed it shut and closed it.

She sighed and slid down to the ground, and sat down on the porch steps.

"Scared of a little yellow-jacket?" Scott asked her.

Zoe turned and looked up at him. He smiled at her and closed the door behind him. He joined her and sat beside her on the porch step, glancing out at the empty streets.

"I've faced worse," she said.

"So, I've heard," he said. "So the Avengers, huh?"

"Yeah," she said. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you the truth, it's just…protocol."

"Right," he said. "Right. So which one is your favorite?"

She turned to face him, and a small smile appeared on her lips. "I don't have a favorite," she said.

"You don't have a favorite?" he asked.

"I don't know the Black Widow is pretty cool," she said, smiling lightly on her face.

Scott laughed. "Figures, you'd go for the girl."

"We women gotta stick together," Zoe said.

"How about old friends sticking together too?" Scott asked. "We could use your help, especially if you're supposed to steal the Yellow Jacket and get it to safety."

Zoe nodded. "Oh, I'm not going anywhere," she said. "I'm just…thinking…you know about family and stuff. My past is…uh…well, it's interesting let's just say that."

"Interesting?" he asked.

"That guy Mitchell Carson?" she asked.

"Ex-Head of S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Scott said.

"Pretty sure he's working for Hydra," she said.

"Hydra?" he said with confusion in his eyes.

Zoe smiled. "You have a lot to learn, my friend."

"So teach me," Scott said. "I'm a quick learner. I'll learn fast. I want to do this."

"For Cassie, I know," she smiled at him. "I think it's sweet that you're doing this for her. My father never did anything for me."

"But he did something for Ava," Scott said.

"Keeping her out of harms way, only for me to find her trapped in a steel box with scary bad guys who inflict pain on innocent human beings? Yeah, that's father of the year, Scott," She scoffed.

"He kept both of his daughters safe," Scott said. "And I want to be that same dad for my daughter. I want to keep her safe out of harm's way. I want to learn everything about S.H.I.E.L.D., and about this mysterious company, HYDRA. Now, Hope and Hank? They can help me and teach me to become the Ant-Man, you need to teach me all the other stuff. Please? It'll be like old times, except this time…we're the good guys."

Zoe let out a small laugh and sighed. She looked at him, facing his pleading facial expression.

"Please, Zo?" he asked.

"Well," she said. "We do need more fathers like you," she said, glancing at him up and down and then a thought occurred to her. She pursed her lips together. "Promise me you won't leave me to pay for dinner?" she asked.

Scott grinned. "I promise," he said.

"Pinky swear it," she hooked her pinky in the air and Scott rolled his eyes.

"What are we seven?" he asked, but she insisted. He sighed and hooked his pinky with hers.

"Good," she said. "Now, first rule of dealing with any type of information, is finding some real food. I'm starving," she said, and she got up from her seat.

Scott grinned. "Like Baskin Robbin's?"

Zoe laughed. "I'm lactose, you idiot," she smacked his shoulder as they walked back inside the Pym house to join Hope and Pym inside the living room, ready to train Scott.

~*AM*~  
Zoe paced back and forth, reading her tablet in her hands, while Scott worked on the Ant-Man suit. So far in his training he had learned the basics. Hope trained him through martial arts during the morning, Dr. Pym trained him how to jump through keyholes and small spaces in continued time, and Zoe helped him learn key figures of S.H.I.E.L.D. and H.Y.D.R.A. in the past. She explained to him in detail that they no longer existed, as far as her knowledge served. She only remained in close contact with Agent Maria Hill and Director Nick Fury, her now go-to bosses since the passing of Agent Phil Coulson. There wasn't much he needed to know, just basics.

"So, you have a sister," Scott said, taking his tool from his mouth. He leaned forward and started to tink with the suit's circuits and power to make it more his style and his size. "Want to elaborate that?"

Zoe looked up from her screen and smiled. "Not really."

Scott looked up at her, feeling his shoulders slump forward. "Why not?"

"Oh please," she scoffed. "Like I'm going to introduce you to my sister."

"Still hurt I ran out on you, huh?" Scott asked.

Zoe placed her hand over her hip and looked at him. "Do you know how many insecurities I developed over the years because of you?"

Scott winced. "Um…"

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I don't want the same thing to happen to my sister."

"Zoe, regardless of what happen to us, she'll probably go through the same thing when she starts dating," he said.

Zoe looked at Scott and frowned. She stopped pacing and gulped. Right, she thought. She didn't think about that. Ava would want to start dating or would she because of her enhanced powers? Zoe had to make a mental note to give her the talk about dating and…she swallowed hard at the thought. Since when did Zoe's responsibilities become so much? It was overload. It was overkill. And she wasn't even sure if she could handle all the stress that was coming to her, or already feeling inside of her that she never really told anyone. She just wanted to make people happy. She drew in a small sigh.

"Let's just um, focus on S.H.I.E.L.D.," she said.

"Former," he smiled up at her.

She smiled and nodded. "Good. So, the director of the Avengers is now who?"

"Director Nick Fury," Scott said.

"Right," Zoe tapped the button on her screen. She'd made a little quiz for Scott to take at the end of the week. She'd given him some print-outs to read about the Avengers, and the weaponry and technology that was at S.H.I.E.L.D.'s new headquarters.

"Is he bad or good?" Scott asked.

"Huh?" she turned to look at him.

"You're Director," he leaned his elbows on the table and stopped his work on the suit's regulator.

"Well…I like him," Zoe shrugged.

Scott tilted his head to the side and gave her a look of discontent. "That doesn't help."

She grinned up at him. "You know, I love that wall climbing gig Hope's got going on over there. It's pretty cool. Any luck on that regulator?"

Scott wrinkled his nose. She was totally dodging the question. The way she described Director Fury was almost like a mysterious pirate. From the files that he read about him, the guy seemed like an incredibly tough person. Scott wasn't sure if he wanted to meet the guy or not, but Zoe seemed to have high hopes for the director.

"Sort of…I think," Scott muttered and glanced back down at the red button.

Zoe lifted a strand of hair and pulled it over her ear. She decided to walk over and see what was up. She scooted some of the clunky items away to create a small space with her hand and set her tablet down. She leaned over his shoulder to see what he was up to. Just then, Dr. Pym walked into the training room.

Zoe smacked a hand over his shoulder and Scott looked up, noticing that Pym had walked inside. "You know I think that the regulator is holding me back."

"Do not screw with the regulator," Dr. Pym said and walked further into the room. Scott looked at Pym's pointed finger, and Zoe watched with wide eyes. "If that regulator is compromised you would go subatomic."

"Sub-a-what?" Zoe asked with a small shake of her head.

Scott looked at her, and then at Dr. Pym. "What does that mean?"

"It means you would enter a quantum realm," Dr. Pym explained, folding his hands across his stomach.

"What does that mean?" Scott asked, sharing a confused look with Zoe.

Dr. Pym looked down at Scott and Zoe with serious eyes. "It means you would enter a reality where all concepts of time and space become irrelevant. It makes you shrink for all eternity. Everything that you know and love, gone forever."

Zoe turned her head to face Scott. "You know, I think this is one of those times in life where science somehow comes really handy…maybe we shouldn't have skipped fourth block?"

"You're probably right," Scott said.

Dr. Pym raised his eyebrows raised his eyebrows at her and Zoe grinned sheepishly in return.

"Cool," Scott shrugged and looked at Dr. Pym. "If it ain't broke…"

"Oh….dear God…" Dr. Pym muttered, and ran a hand over the back of his neck, nearly wanting to tear off his skin.

"So, you and the Avengers, when were you going to tell me?" Scott asked.

"Until you were able to get through a keyhole?" she asked with a small shrug.

"That's not fair. The metal part of the door is in the way, every time," Scott said.

"Look-" Zoe was about to respond until Dr. Pym cut her off. "Zoe, may I see you for a moment?"

"Um…sure," she said. "Just continue with, uh…that," she pointed to her tablet, showing him S.H.I.E.L.D.'s data. There wasn't much for Scott to really learn, except key figures and loyal allies like Maria and Nick, that sort of thing. She wasn't ready to go all out and tell him about her own family and her own past.

He had a tough week with Hope's training of martial arts. Zoe was impressed with Hope's skill's and even wanted to learn from her. Obviously it took time and practice, and no one was going to learn anything over night, but Scott had been a true quick learner for the past week and it was almost the weekend.

Zoe followed Dr. Pym and into his computer workshop room where he had everything set up for Scott to learn about the ants. That was the next level for Scott's training next week.

As they walked into the room, Dr. Pym closed the door behind him. Zoe looked up at a screen in particular. She brought a hand to her lips, ajar from her shock as she studied the picture in front of her. The woman had light green eyes, pale skin, and red flaming hair that cascaded around her shoulders. On her hip, a little Zoe at five-years-old was smiling brightly with hazel eyes shining back at them.

"Mom," Zoe gasped out loud. She barely remembered this moment or where they were. It looked like they were outside. Zoe could see the sunlight behind the red flare of her mother's hair.

"She was the only thing that mattered to your father when I met him. He carried this photo with him all the time. He wanted to protect her from his line of work and what we do. He really tried to keep you two out of harm's way, while he tried to find a cure for Ava's illness. He didn't want to alarm you both. Did she…have a good life?" he asked.

Zoe swallowed hard, and nodded slightly, as she tried to swallow down her emotions and not cry in front of Dr. Pym. "Yeah," she said. "Until someone murdered her."

"I'm so sorry," he frowned sympathetically.

"Thank you," she mumbled and looked away from her mother's picture. Dr. Pym noticed this and leaned forward to change the photo, switching it out to Mitchell Carson. Zoe looked at Carson on the screen and walked over to the television screens. She placed her hands over the desk and tightened her jaw. "Who's this guy, Hank?" she asked. "Who is he really? And why did he want Ava so badly?"

Hank sighed and pulled up a chair. "I'll tell you, but it has to be completely off the books."

"It's off the books," she said. "I want to know more about Ava and why my father was so adamant about keeping her away from us. Telling me that it was about protection is a flat-out lie and you know it."

"It's not completely a lie," he said. "It's…complicated. Ava's safe?" he asked.

Zoe nodded. "Ava's safe. She's with the Avengers."

"Better to have kept her in a cage," he sighed.

Zoe frowned at him. "Why?"

"You're sister's enhancement of the future of death-in-seconds has proved an interest in H.Y.D.R.A.'s eyes. If they get their hands on her, again, who knows what can happen. They could use her to their advantage. They could use my tech in advantage. It's very important that these two items never get in their hands, which is why I want you close by my side with Hope when this all goes down. When you see a chance, take it, and grab it before Cross can."

"Well, you don't have to worry about Ava," Zoe said with a firm nod of her head. "As for the yellow-jacket suit, I'm totally your girl. I'll never let anything happen to it, or the Pym Particle. I'm trained for this sort of thing. You can count on me."

Hank smiled at her. "It's funny. Never would have accounted you to become a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent."

"Well, technically I'm an information specialist, so I don't even know why Fury really wants me out here. My guess is that I could be close to Steve…by the way how did you know that?" she frowned, pursing her lips out in question.

"You have your ways," Hank smiled at her. "I have mine."

~*AM*~  
"You've learned about the suit but you have yet to learn about your greatest allies, the ants," Hank explained to Scott as he turned to face the ant farm behind him.

"The ants go marching one by one Harrah, Harrah," Zoe sing-songed, and chuckled until Hope, Scott, and Hank looked at her curiously. She cleared her throat and dipped her head into her teacup, drinking her tea in silence. "Continue, doctor," she mumbled in her drink. Zoe's eyes darted over to the wall glass full of ants inside. Each pillar of glass had four different colors of sand and soil that kind of freaked Zoe out. They were listed as Carpenter Ant, Bullet Ant, Crazy Ant, and Fire Ant. She hated the last one in particular. She can recall a couple of times she got bitten as a kid growing up while she played outside, barefoot. She probably shouldn't have been barefooted or worn sandals. Maybe she shouldn't have been outside…

"Loyal, brave, and your partners on this job," Hank continued.

"All these ants have different jobs to do?" Zoe asked, glancing at Hank.

Hank nodded and looked over at his daughter. Hope sighed and got up from her seat. She and Scott walked over to the ant-farm while Zoe sat back and listened in awe of a whole new world that she was getting a taste of.

"Follow me," he said, taking his earpiece that he used to control the ants and walked out of the room. Hope, Zoe, and Scott followed him to the backyard of his house. Scott had the suit on and he fixed his helmet.

Hank stood in front of Scott and held his hands out, talking animatedly as he explained the next part of Scott's training. "Now, you're going to go underground and become friends with them, let them know who you are, and that you are in charge."

"This should be interesting," Hope muttered next to Zoe.

"Do I shrink first, then dive into the soil?" Scott asked curiously as he glanced around the backyard of the house. "Like underground?"

Hank and Hope nodded at his question before they went to sit down on the brick steps.

"They certainly don't like tall humans," Zoe said, as she sipped her tea, licking the honey off the rim of her teacup.

Scott made a face at her and she grinned, as Scott pressed his button to make him shrink in size.

Hank motioned Scott to shrink in size with his finger.

Scott dove inside underneath the ant hill and ran under ground. His world became much smaller than the outside world as if he was apart of the ant's world now. He could hear Hope's voice in his earpiece as he ran through the soil.

"Paratrechina longicornis commonly known as crazy ants. They're lightning fast and conduct electricity which makes them useful so they can fry out enemy electronics."

"Ooh, that's why I loose my internet! It's always when I need it most…how do you get them out of your apartment?" Zoe asked, leaning over Hope's tablet in her hand as Zoe looked at the particular crazy ant picture on the screen.

Hope reached behind her, and placed a bug spray bottle on the side step and Zoe let out a small chuckle.

"Right," Zoe siad. "But I don't want to kill them….so…any chance I can have a cool little ear thing?"

"When you're older," Hank said.

Zoe scowled, and sipped on her tea.

She got up and walked around the pretty backyard. She liked Dr. Pym's house. It was nice and cozy, the type of house Zoe dreamed of when she was younger.

Hope sighed and took off her jacket revealing a dark long sleeve shirt and watched Zoe pace back and forth, drinking her tea every now and then.

Hope walked over to the table and chair set and sat down to relax. She placed her computer tablet on the table and watched Zoe in particular while Scott was underground. Why was this woman here really? What was she doing interfering with Hope's life? This didn't seem like a SHIELD thing to do…to send out SHIELD agent this far out, especially when nothing major like New York was happening.

"What?" Zoe finally asked, turning to face Hope.

Hope quickly diverted her eyes elsewhere and landed on the ground. "Nothing," she said with a small shrug of her shoulders. She crossed her legs just as her father came to join the girls. He sat beside Hope.

"Think he's doing okay down there?" Zoe asked.

"Ten minutes," Hank replied, glancing at his watch. "I think that's a new record."

"Oh, you're not so crazy," Scott cooed as he attempted to get to know the crazy ant underneath the ground. The crazy ant suddenly jumped up and tackled Scott to the ground. He started to chuckle as he hugged the crazy ant. Then all of a sudden a swarm of over a thousand crazy ants started to cover up Scott until he finally became life-size again, popping out of the soil, dirt spluttering everywhere.

Scott freaked out and Zoe looked over at Hank and Hope before she eyed Scott questionably.

"That was…a lot scarier a second ago," Scott said.

"We'll try another group tomorrow," Hank said, and got up from his seat to help Scott out of the soil. Scott rolled over onto his back and sighed. Hank patted his shoulder and walked inside the house.

Scott sat in his spot, hands curled in his lap until he finally took off the helmet. Hope had already walked inside, calling it a day. Zoe walked over and knelt down beside him.

"Was it scary?" Zoe asked.

Scott looked at her and nodded. "This stuff ain't easy," he said. "It's a lot harder than it looks believe me."

Zoe nodded. "It's practice." She bit her lip and looked down at the tall grass shards beneath her feet.

"Truth is, I didn't even know this world existed," Scott admitted quietly.

"The ants?" Zoe asked.

"All of it, even you," he said.

"Well, I had really horrible acne back then. Makeup covered it pretty nicely. Still does," she smiled.

Scott frowned at her with a tilt nod forward of his head. "Come on, you know what I mean."

"Yeah, I know," she said. "Come on, I think we should shower and get some sleep. We have another busy day ahead of us tomorrow." She pulled herself up and pivoted on her heel. "I meant that we both should shower in different showers because I have a boyfriend and um…there's more ant-training." She cleared her throat, while Scott pulled himself off the ground as she spoke a little bit heatedly while blushing.

Scott grinned at her, and placed his helmet underneath his arm. "I know what you mean. Having a lot of fun seeing you all flustered like."

Zoe glared at him. "I'm not flustered," but she just blushed even more.

"Yes you are," he teased.

"Ugh, just go inside!" She said, pushing him forward as he walked passed her.

He chuckled. "So who is it?"

"Who?" Zoe asked.

"You're boyfriend," Scott said. "I mean you're insecurities must have vanished like that to get a boyfriend." He snapped his fingers in the air and she rolled her eyes.

"I'm not telling you anything," she said. "I do like to keep some parts of my life secret."

"Like SHIELD," Scott coughed, as they walked into the house. Zoe closed the backdoor behind her.

"You ran out on me during dinner, so I'd say me not telling you anything makes us even," she smiled brightly at him, as she stepped into the kitchen. She placed her afternoon teacup into the sink and washed out the residue of sticky honey off of the cup.

Scott placed the helmet down on the table and sighed. "Should we order take out tonight?" he asked.

"More mooching," Zoe said with an exaggerated sigh. "But that sounds good. Can we order Chinese?" she asked brightly, turning around as Hank and Hope walked inside.

Hope grabbed her brief case from the chair next to Scott's helmet. She looked at everyone who had expected eyes for her to stay with them but she shook her head. "Um, you guys have whatever you want. I have dinner with Cross tonight," she said, and strung her brief case over her shoulder. "See you tomorrow." She walked out of the house without another word.

"Chinese food sounds great," Hank said. "Zoe, you tell me your favorite and I'll call it in."

Zoe nodded and wondered why there was such a big gap between Hope and her father. Hope had an icy air about her that Zoe tried to figure out, but she wasn't going to pry if Hope wasn't ready to say anything, but whatever it was, it had to do with Hank, and by Zoe's notes, she was guessing that it had to do with Hope's mother. Zoe frowned. She could relate to that. Maybe Zoe could help Hope one of these days if Hope was around to it.

"I like anything," Zoe said. "Go ahead and order, and I'll just mooch off of Scott." She stuck her tongue out at Scott before she jogged off to follow Hope to her car outside the house.

"Hey, Hope…" she said.

"What?" Hope turned around in annoyance and stared at Zoe.

Zoe backed off a bit with her icy stare. "Sorry, I just…thought if you want, you can talk to me about anything."

"Oh no," Hope said with a chuckle. "I'm not about to talk about my most inner secrets and resentments to a SHIELD agent."

"Hey, former, SHIELD agent," she said. "I'm an…information specialist."

"Exactly," Hope said. "I'm already running late to meet Cross. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Hope," Zoe tried again, stopping Hope from driving away. Hope looked out of her window at Zoe as Zoe stood beside the car. "I lost my mom too. I know how hard it is to loose someone."

Hope blinked up at Zoe several times before she drew in a deep sigh. "Yeah, and you had SHIELD to look after you. I had no one," Hope said and drove away from Zoe.

Poor Hope, Zoe thought with a small sigh leaving her lips. Maybe there was a way to help her. She watched Hope turn the corner of the residence and disappear, leaving Zoe to look back at Hank's house that was probably once a family filled home. Zoe chewed her bottom lip and crossed her arms, wondering how she could get through to Hope. There was got to be a way to help her. Maybe she could talk to Scott or Hank to try and break this icy barrier in hopes that they could accomplish their goals.

~*AM*~  
Zoe flexed her arms and held them up to protect her face inside the training room, dressed in her work-out clothes. Hope had her boxing gloves on to go with her tank-top and work-out pants. "Not only do you have to eat right, Scott," Zoe said. "You have to focus on your opponent, watch and learn."

Scott glanced between the two women in the room as they stared at each other, ready to show each other some action. "Didn't know you knew so much about this stuff, Zo." Scott commented lightly.

"I know a lot about swordsmanship," Zoe cleared her throat. "Hand-to-hand is a little bit harder than that."

"I think it's easy," Hope said with a smirk on her face.

"You had years of training," Zoe muttered.

Hope swung her arm and tightened fist at her, which had caught Zoe off-guard a little bit, for she wasn't entirely prepared for Hope's sudden hit on her face. Zoe fell onto the matt, and Scott widened his eyes at how much force Hope had against her. Hope inhaled a deep breath and brushed her black hair out of her face.

Scott helped Zoe up, "I let her hit me," she said, glaring at Hope.

"Oh, right, you let her hit you," Scott said. "Seemed like she clocked you good there," Scott said and turned her chin to take a look at the blue and black bruise forming on the bottom of her chin.

Zoe wretched her arms away from him and got back to face Hope. "I'm okay," she said. "I won't let her hit me this time."

Hope smirked. "Ready pumpkin?"

Zoe glared at Hope, and formed her hands to protect her face. "Ready, Queen of Darkness. Really, a black and blue work-out-fit? Isn't that a little Backstreet boy?"

Hope chuckled. "At least I don't look like a pink and fluffy cotton-candy underneath those sweats."

"I happen to like cotton-candy," Zoe glared at Hope.

"Because your boy-toy likes it?" Hope guessed.

Zoe coughed. "He's not my boy-toy…we're just…" she sighed.

"Who is he?" Scott asked, glancing back and forth between the two women in front of him.

"Not telling," They said in sync, and both laughed.

"Alright, fluffy, let's go," Hope said. "If you're ready."

"Oh, I'm ready, bring it on sister," Zoe said. Hope threw another punch and this time Zoe dodged to the right. Zoe swung her body back up and whirled around. Hope threw another punch at her but Zoe ducked the other way, each time Hope would try to switch her moves, Zoe would duck. Zoe was trying to find some kind of window so she didn't get it and she could throw Hope off her game.

Scott watched Zoe with such agile speed of her dodges that were the only things protecting her at the moment because Hope was ready to punch her lights out if Zoe wasn't careful.

Zoe threw a punch at the same time Hope threw a punch in which Zoe ducked; her arm slowly contacting Hope's left side of her cheekbone. Hope flew sideways and into Scott's arms from Zoe's sudden hit.

"Damn it," Hope breathed out, lying in Scott's arms and against his chest.

Zoe looked at the situation in front of her and cleared her throat. She looked at her gloved-hand, loving these hand-gloves. She was totally going to get a pair when she got home so she could try them out.

"Sorry?" Zoe asked with a small shrug of her shoulders. "I mean if anything I did you a favor." She pointed to Scott and Hope. Hope looked up at Scott and Scott looked down at her with wide eyes. Scott dropped Hope onto the floor and she hissed. "Or not…"

"Don't ever do that again," Scott said.

"Got it," Zoe said, holding her hands in defense. "I'll take five. Scott needs the practice anyway."

"Yes, he does," Hope said through clenched teeth, as she pulled herself up off the matt. She rolled over onto her stomach and pushed herself up with all of her strength and might. Zoe was taking off her gloves so that Scott could wear them next. "Alright, gerbil let's go."

"I think I liked princess better," Scott mumbled.

Zoe let out a small giggle and sat down on the desk to eat her lunch, a hearty spinach salad with walnuts and crushed cranberries.

Scott and Hope started to engage in a fight. Hope was a lot more ruthless in her fights as Scott protected himself the best way he knew how and how she and Hank taught him.

Hope threw a punch in his face, while Scott held up his hand to block it. She threw her knee up into his chest and he let out a shout of pain as she threw her knee into his chest again, this time he blocked it. He bravely moved forward and grabbed her neck when she blocked his knee high hit, but she was also quick enough to try and hit him across the face in which he dodged much like how Zoe had dodged before when Hope tried to hit her.

"That's good, Scott," Zoe called out.

Scott tried to throw another hit with his arm but she took it and threw a round-house kick, taking them back on the matt together in one heavy heap. Scott groaned and moaned at the forcible impact it had on his body.

"That's not good, Scott," Zoe said, shaking her head. She sighed and looked at Hope. "Dodge quicker next time."

"Shut up," Scott groaned.

Zoe smiled and dug into her salad after she pulled out a satisfied helping of spinach into her mouth. And just for good measure, Hope twisted his arm backwards that made him groan in pain even more.

Zoe gulped down her lettuce and drank some of her water. She definitely was going to watch her back around Hope.

~*AM*~

"It looks like the future's lab has it's own isolated power supply," Scott said pointing to the inside map of Pym Tech.

Zoe crossed her arms and studied the blueprint lines that outlined the building. "So, we'll be able to get in?" Zoe asked, turning her head to face Hank.

"There's a security guard posted around the clock," Hope replied to Zoe. Zoe frowned and straightened up her pink sweater over her skinny jeans.

Hope turned to Scott. "We'll need you to take him out to deactivate the security systems."

~*AM*~

"Okay, who's next?" Scott said, walking down underneath the soil. He was in his ant-man suit and training with the next set of ants. Scott tried to remember who the ants he was going to be dealing with today.

"Paraponera clavata," Hope said, holding the clicker remote in her hands as Scott looked at the chart screen.

"I know, bullet ants, number one on Schmidt's pain list," Scott said.

"Remember me, from the bedroom?" Scott asked, as he started to back away when more scary black ants that towered over him started to come at him.

Zoe was trying her best to research Mitchell Carson and Darren Cross, while she and Hope waited outside for Scott's encounter with the bullet ants.

Hope looked over at Zoe who was in her own groove, studying and reading her tablet, resting on her knees. Zoe was an adorable and interesting character. Her clothes were mostly vintage and plain. Hope always had an upscale city-like look, but Zoe's was more laid-back and casual, like now, how Zoe wore just jeans to her ankles, flip-flops that were tucked in the grass. She was currently barefooted, but her feet were protected underneath her, and she wore a tank-top underneath her black sweatshirt.

"You know one would think that after being with HYDRA for almost a year, you'd be able to crack into their system, but no they had to be all smart and stuff and change their stupid password," Zoe mumbled underneath her breath.

Hope raised an eyebrow. "What?" she asked.

Zoe looked up from her tablet. "Undercover stuff."

"Right," Hope said and turned to her earpiece. "Scott?" she asked.

Scott suddenly popped up in normal human size. Soil exploded around him. Zoe looked up from her tablet, and peeked at Scott's scared expression on his face. She turned to face Hope and Hank who were both standing together, watching closely this time to be with Scott when he needed the help.

~*AM*~

"The YellowJacket pod is hermetically sealed and the only access point is a tube estimated to be about five centimeters in diameter," Hope explained inside Hank's workshop where they still had the plans hung in his office. Hank was seated at his chair as he held the clicker in his hands, listening to his daughter, and staring up at his computer screens.

"Why do I have a sick feeling in my stomach?" Scott asked.

Zoe leaned in beside him. "Because that's really small," she whispered as if they were in a classroom-like setting and Hope was the teacher.

Scott turned to face her. "Not helping," he said.

"The tube is protected by a laser grid and we can only power that down for fifteen seconds," Hope said.

"We're gonna need to single the crazy ants to blow the servers, retrieve the suit next to the vaults before the backup power comes on," Hank explained.

~*AM*~

On Tuesday, Zoe stood beside Hank against the wall, while Hope taught Scott how to connect with the ants. Hank was there to assist and teach Scott about connecting with the ants, while Zoe read about Darren Cross, Hank's old prodigy now turned psychopath, on a hunt to become the next YellowJacket. How was he funding this? Where was he getting the money? Maria Hill always taught her to follow the money trail and that's what Zoe was trying to do, follow it.

Hope leaned against the table and lifted a strand of her hair over her ear and focused through their little mini spyglass, looking down at the carpenter ant.

"Camponotus pennsylvanicus," Hope said.

"Alternatively known as a carpenter ant," Hank said. "Idea for ground and air transport."

"Wait a minute, I know this guy," Scott said, peering down inside the spyglass. The wings twitched as the ant looked up at Scott and Hope, but particularly Scott when he said he knew who the ant was. "I'm going to call him Ant-thony."

"That's good, that's great, because this time, you're really going to have to learn how to control him," Hank said, walking over to Hope and Scott as they turned to face him.

~*AM*~

"Tell him to put the sugar in the teacup," Hank said.

Scott sighed and stared at Zoe's teacup. She pushed it a little further and grabbed a new teacup that wasn't infected with ants from the kitchen.

Scott tried really hard to focus and touched his earpiece with his fingertips. "Come on guys," he pleaded, but the ants weren't doing anything. They were just sitting there with the sugar cube on the wooden table.

Scott groaned, and leaned back in his seat.

"Alright, let's blow off some steam, maybe that'll help," Hope said.

Scott frowned and looked from Hope to Hank. Hank nodded. "Might help clear your head a little," Hank agreed.

Scott got up from his chair and wondered if Zoe was going to come with. "No you go ahead, I might be onto something…" she said, completely distracted from her own work.

Scott walked over to Hope and together they walked down the basement and into the training room. It was Wednesday afternoon, and they'd been focusing a lot on the ants and trying to get Scott to connect with him.

Hope flipped the light on that illuminated the room, lights shining down on the matt before them. Hope pulled off her shirt that revealed her tank and got ready to fight him.

~*AM*~

It seemed like Hope and Scott had been practicing overtime, so Zoe went to go tell them that dinner was on the table and waiting. Scott threw a few punches and Hope got a double hit in her stomach when Scott threw a punch at her.

Zoe could hear her groan in slight pain, and jogged inside to see if she was okay.

"Awe, are you okay, did I…" Scott mocked, but Hope threw a mean punch underneath his nose to shut up. He stumbled backwards to make room for Hope to jump up and twirl her legs around Scott's neck. She brought him down on the matted floor in biting anger that left Zoe stunned and frozen in her spot.

Scott smacked the side of Hope's leg-calf a couple times to let her know that he was in definite pain.

"Uh…." Zoe said and cleared her throat to get their attention.

"What?" They asked in sync, glaring at her.

She held up her hands in defense. "Just wanted to say…dinner's ready." Zoe took their glares as her moment to leave and head back upstairs. Hope let go of Scott so that he could finally breathe. He let out a huge breath of air.

~*AM*~

On Thursday afternoon, she'd gotten him pretty bad. Scott had his shirt off and was dabbing rubbing alcohol on the side of his stomach. Hank and Zoe were waiting outside for target-practice. The more she learned about Darren Cross and from what Hope already told her, she hated the guy. He definitely lost his mind.

Hope walked in on Scott as he winced at the stinging alcohol, seeping into his wound.

Hope looked at him, eyeing him curiously, unable to help it as Scott tended to his wound. He looked up into her eyes.

"Hank wants you outside for target practice," she said and walked away so that he could finish up healing his wound and patching it up himself. He put his gray shirt on over his head and sighed. He was trying to process everything that he'd learned in the passed almost two weeks. The second week was ending soon, and they didn't have much time to focus on Scott's training. The days were soon coming to an end, and Scott had to focus.

He still couldn't make the ants listen to him. He wondered if he ever could.

~*AM*~

"Hey peaches," Zoe said.

Scott waved at her. She was curled up in her chair with a tablet on her knees. She was biting down on a stylus pen. She was seated by the white flower bushes behind Hank in his casual yellow and brown suit. Even Zoe looked picturesque in her yellow spaghetti-strap shirt and jeans. She didn't have to worry about the physical pain like he did.

"You know," he drawled. "Scott works too. I like the name that my parents gave me."

Zoe giggled. "First wounds are always the hardest."

"Yeah, yeah, what do you know about it?" he muttered.

Zoe frowned and got up from her seat. She put her tablet down on the seat, careful not to put it on the grass. "I know a lot about it, thank you very much."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah," she said, standing up to Scott. She was nose to nose with him as he looked down at her.

Hank finished placing the gnome in the middle of the various bottles on the wooden table and looked at the two that had suddenly gotten in a bit of a banter.

"I know a lot about pain. Physically and emotionally," she crossed her arms over her chest and pursed her lips together in thought. "Mostly emotionally."

Scott raised his eyebrows and smirked down at her. "Really. Care to elaborate on that?"

"Guys, let's not get into a tiff. Let's start the afternoon right," Hank said, pulling Zoe and Scott apart a little bit, sensing the tension between them. "We're all different here."

Zoe sighed, and turned to Hank. "Sorry," she said.

"Yeah," Scott looked at her curiously.

Hank pulled out two tiny discs in which Zoe noticed they had different colors of red and blue.

"Sorry," Scott mumbled to her. He was curiously however about Zoe's life with S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers. He thought that was so cool that she got to work with them.

"The suit has no weapons," Hank said. "So, I made you these discs. Red shrinks," he tossed a red disc and it flung over like a Chinese throwing star toward one of the bottles on the table and it suddenly shrunk right before their eyes. Hank handed Scott the blue one.

Zoe's mouth dropped ajar. "Wow," she said.

"Blue enlarges," Hank said and pointed to the tiny gnome in the grass.

Scott threw the blue disc at the gnome in the grass and the gnome grew twice its normal size.

"Can I try?" she asked.

Hank smiled and handed her the red one.

"It's all in the wrist, Zoe," Scott informed. "Like a Frisbee."

"Got it," she nodded and tossed the red one over to the large garden gnome and it disappeared down to the grass shards covering it. She grinned. "Awesome!"

"Not bad," Hank said quietly.

~*AM*~

"Solenopsis mandibularis," Hope said.

"Known for their bite," Hank informed.

"My least favorite kind," Zoe sighed.

Hank smiled at her and then turned to the screen. "The fire ants have evolved into remarkable architects. They are handy to get you in and out of difficult places."

As Scott listened to all three in his earpiece, he was under grown working with the red fire ants as they build rivers of bridges made out of fire ants to create a pathway for Scott's training exercise.

~*AM*`~

It was Zoe's turn to make tea that afternoon so she poured three cups of tea for Hank, Hope, and Scott. She poured herself one last, and walked over to sit next to Scott, while he tried to get three of the ants on the wooden table to move the sugar cube. She'd only made enough for one cup, figuring that would be enough.

"Here," she said. "Maybe this will help."

Scott looked up at her when she placed his teacup down in front of him full of fresh Earl Grey, and sighed. He leaned forward and lowered his chin toward the table so that he could see Ant-thony and the ants on the sugar cube closer.

Hank watched intently, arms crossed over his chest as he hoped Scott could do this right this time. He needed to focus. The ants were struggling to listen as one of them sat on the white sugar cube, biting into the bits of sugar.

"You can do it Scott, come on," Hank encouraged.

Zoe chewed her lower lip nervously and brought her fingers to her mouth. She started to bite her thumbnail as she watched Scott try to control the ants on the table.

It almost looked like they were cooperating from what Zoe could tell, but as she looked further down onto the cube, the two ants were just mingling and Ant-thony flew away.

Scott sighed and ripped off his earpiece, tossing it down on the table. Zoe dropped her fingers to her teacup and twisted her lips to the side in a sympathetic frown. She could see how frustrated he was, and wondered what she could do help and make this work, but there didn't seem like anything she could do at this point. It was up to Scott alone. She couldn't really interfere, she just had to watch and make sure the job got done, and play her part, keep the Yellowjacket and Pym Particles from getting to HYDRA. She winced at the thought. No pressure. She figured that Darren Cross must be working with them, other than the fact he was a self-made millionaire. He kept his money-trail clean. She pictured him as very clean and crisp. He liked everything to be orderly at least when he was at Pym Tech. He had become obsessed with trying to get Hank's substance right.

"They're not listening to me," Scott said.

"You have to commit, you have to mean it," Hope said, holding the back of her neck to release tension in her shoulders. "No short cuts, no lies."

Zoe let her eyes wander around the kitchen, glancing at the pretty blue and white floral pattern wall paper, listening to Hope's faint voice in the background. She wondered who picked out the color of the wallpaper in the house because it was nice and had a calming affect on her.

Hank sighed. "Throwing insults into the mix will not do anyone any good, Hope!"

"We don't have time for coddling," she snapped back at him.

"Our focus should be helping Scott," Hank pointed towards him.

"Really?" Hope turned to face her father. "Is that where our focus should be?"

Zoe could see Hope's facial expression with the back of her head turned, but she could hear the strain of her voice.

Hope turned around and reached for the earpiece on the table. She placed it over her ear. All of a sudden a line of bullet ants started to crawl on the wood, one by one, and right after the other. Another line formed right next to it.

Scott looked up a little bit nervously as Hope focused all her energy and emotions into the ants, controlling them, as she lost herself within the science and power of the earpiece.

The lines of ants had pushed the sugar cubes into Scott's teacup, plop by plop as the liquid rippled with each sugar cube drop.

Scott and Zoe looked up at the sounds of the ant's legs crawling along the chains that belonged to the chandelier lights above them. Thousands of tiny ants covered the light that created the room much too dark for Zoe's likings. She scooted closer to Scott and cringed as the ants started creeping around the kitchen under Hope's control. She could handle robots and arms dealers at any given day, but ants? This was something else. She didn't mean to but she grabbed onto Scott's arm and pulled up her feet onto her chair worried that the ants might climb onto her chair and get her next.

"Hope!" Hank said.

Startled out of her dark reverie, or whatever the heck that was that Zoe didn't like, Hope looked at her father. The ants disappeared and the afternoon sunlight returned.

"Yeah, definitely nightmares after this," Zoe whispered as she let go of Scott and put her legs back down on the floors once the ants disappeared.

Hope looked at Scott and Zoe. Zoe frowned at her, and looked at the tears threatening to fall, but she held them back. Hope stormed away and stopped beside her father. She turned her head to face him. "I don't know why I came to you in the first place," she hissed through her clenched teeth.

Hank looked down.

Zoe's frown deepened, as she listened to her shoes hit the wooden floors as she stormed out of the house.

Scott watched Hope leave and looked at Hank curiously.

"We can't do this without her," Hank said softly.

Scott got up from the table and patted Zoe on the shoulder to reassure her that things will be okay. He needed to talk to Hope. He left Hank and Zoe in silence. Zoe looked up at Hank and formed a smile on her face.

"So, how are my tea making skills coming along?" she asked.

"Not bad, a little spicy, though, too much ginger root," Hank said. "Less is more. All in all, tea is much better for your health than that caffeine crap you're drinking. You're basically drinking nicotine."

Zoe shivered. "I'd never smoked in my entire life," she said. "That I can be proud of at least."

Hank smiled at her and leaned back against the wall. He sighed. "What am I going to about Hope, Zoe?"

She licked her lips and curled them underneath one another. "I think you have to tell her the truth about her mother."

He was afraid of that answer, but Zoe was absolutely right. He just didn't know how to tell his daughter that he lost Janet while they were on a mission together.

It was true, Zoe thought. They didn't have much time for coddling or any of this right now. They all needed to focus. Something Zoe often struggled with, but tried to learn and move on from her mistakes. It was already Friday afternoon and the weekend was approaching fast. How much time did they have left? She sighed and placed her elbow on the table and leaned her chin on top of the palm of her hand.

~*AM*~

Hope's door suddenly opened and she turned to look who had entered her car. Scott sat in the passenger seat and closed his door.

"Oh god," she groaned, rolled her eyes and leaned her head back against her seat.

"You gotta lock your doors, I mean really," Scott said. "There are some weird folks in this neighborhood…"

"Do you think this is a joke?" Hope asked outrageously. "Do you have any idea what you're going to risk? You have a daughter."

"I'm doing this for her," Scott said.

"You know when my mother died, I didn't see her for two weeks?" Hope said, glancing at him.

Scott widened his eyes. "He was in grief."

"Yeah, so was I, and I was seven," Hope pointed out. "And he never came back, not in the way it counted. He just sent me off to boarding school. You know, I thought with all this at stake, that maybe we might had a chance of making peace," Hope inhaled sharply and sighed a bit. "But even now he still wants to shut me out."

"He doesn't want to shut you out," Scott said with a shake of his head. "He trusts you."

"Then why are you here?" Hope asked and placed her hand on the wheel as she looked at him questionably.

"It proves that he loves you," Scott replied.

Hope tightened her jaw ruefully at Scott's words and looked away.

"Hope," Scott said. "Look at me."

She turned to face him.

"I'm expendable," Scott explained. "That's why I'm here. You must have realized that by now. I mean that's why I'm in the suit and you're not. He'd rather loose this fight than to loose you. Anyway," Scott said and went to reach for the door handle, but Hope stopped him.

"You know, I didn't know you had a daughter when I called the cops on you," she said with a small wince.

Scott closed his door and turned to face her.

"What's her name?" Hope asked.

"Cassie," Scott replied.

"It's a pretty name," Hope smiled. "You have to clear your mind, Scott, you have to make your thoughts precise. That's how it works. Think about Cassie," she handed him the earpiece. He took it from her and listened to her expertise. "About how badly you want to see her and use that to focus."

While Scott hooked the earpiece onto his ear, she reached for a penny in one of her cup holders, and placed it onto the dashboard.

Scott straightened up his posture and closed his eyes, trying to focus on his daughter. He really wanted to be the hero he was supposed to be for her, he loved her so much and he just wanted to be apart of her life, a father that Zoe never had. He could be that father for Cassie.

"Open your eyes and just think about what you want the ants to do," Hope explained.

Scott drew in a small breath and opened his eyes. As he opened them, one of the most remarkable things happened. He felt and told the ants to come inside the car from the ground crawl towards Hope's penny on the dashboard. Several ants crawled on top of the dashboard over to the penny.

The four ants picked up the penny together in a group and lifted it up high.

Hope watched with a smile on her face and in her eyes as she felt excited and hopeful for once in her life. Maybe they can work this thing out after all, she thought. "Good," she said.

The ants spun the penny around.

Scott grinned at the penny as it spun around on the dashboard and toppled over. The ants disappeared back underneath the dashboard's folds and back to their home. Feeling elated and wanting to tell Hank his success, he and Hope walked inside the kitchen, but found Hank and Zoe inside the living room.

Zoe was reading one of Hank's old books when Scott and Hope walked inside to tell them the good news that they could move onto the next step of his training.

"You're mother convinced me to let her join me on my missions," Hank said. Hope slowly started to walk further into the living room. "They called her the Wasp. She was born into it. And there's not a day that goes by that I don't regret it. It was 1987," he said and turned around to face his daughter. Zoe closed his dusty book and placed it on the bookshelf. She crossed her arms and leaned against it, listening to him. She already knew the story from what she dug up into her database files that belonged to SHIELD. "Separatists had high jacked a Soviet missile site, low," he said slowly. "They launched an ICBM at the United States. The only way into the eternal mechanics was through solid titanium. I knew I had to shrink between the molecules to disarm it, but my regulator has sustained too much damage. Your mother, she didn't hesitate," Hank said at the brimming memory flooding his mind as he looked back at that moment in his life where she turned the regulator on, the light blinked red, and she flew inside. He cried out in anguish, watching the love of his life dive under to save the world, when it should have been him instead. The missile dived into the ocean, and the Wasp had saved a million lives.

"She turned off her regulator and went subatomic, to deactivate the bomb, she was gone," Hank said. "Your mom died a hero and I spent the next ten years to learn all I could about the quantum realm," he said and walked over toward his daughter.

Zoe swallowed hard and looked at Hope's face as she started to tear up. Even Zoe was moved by the Wasp's sacrifice. She'd always hoped to be a hero like the Wasp, but in truth she was scared.

"You were trying to bring her back," Hope said in realization.

"With all I learned, has me known nothing," Hank looked at her with ashamed eyes.

Zoe tip-toed quietly over to Scott, thinking that maybe they should give the two some privacy. She was about to shoo him away, until he grabbed her arm and stopped her for a moment, already too much involved and invested into their past. She rolled her eyes.

Hope tilted her head sympathetically. "It's not your fault. She made her choice. But why didn't you tell me that sooner?"

"I was trying to protect you," Hank said.

Hope nodded and tried to contain her tears that threatened to fall as she processed the information in.

"You lost your mother," Hank frowned. "I didn't mean to loose you too."

"I'm sorry," she barely whispered, as she tried to keep the tears at bay.

Zoe's tears had already fallen down on her cheeks as she wept. It reminded her so much of her family just a bit and how really messed up she was compared to this family. At least Hope could reconcile with her father. Zoe couldn't, but Zoe was grateful nonetheless that the father and daughter could work things out. It just gave her more hope for the world in the future.

"This is awesome," Scott said suddenly.

"It's awesome, you know? They're breaking down walls," he turned to face Hope and Hank. "You're healing."

Hope and Hank turned their heads to face Scott's ridiculous comment, hanging in the air. Zoe looked up at the floor and tilted her head to the side. She brushed her tears off of her cheeks and punched him in the shoulder.

"I ruined the moment, didn't I?" Scott asked, pretending to rub his shoulder. Zoe's punches didn't quite affect him now that he had training from Hope. Hope was a lot stronger than Zoe.

"Yes you did," Hank nodded. "Yes."

Scott pointed his two index fingers in the air and grinned sheepishly. "I'm gonna go make some tea. Zoe, help?"

"Yep," she said and together they ran to the kitchen, wanting to run away from the awkward moment.

Hope crossed her arms and sighed at Scott's antics and Zoe's interesting relationship with him that seemed no more than friendship. She smirked and shared a small look with her father. Perhaps there was hope yet in the world after all. Perhaps.

~*AM*~  
The next day Scott walked into the kitchen wearing the Ant-Man suit ready to rock and roll. Hope was the first to look up from the array of papers she had scattered in front of her. Zoe looked up next after she finished peeling the red skin off of her apple. She bit into the juicy fruit and smiled. Scott coughed to get Hank's attention.

Hank slowly lifted his head up from his morning newspaper that had become apart of his morning routine.

"Well…?" Scott asked.

Hope smiled and looked over at her father. "I'll meet you in the living room," she said, and scooped up her papers so she could place them back into her brief case. Zoe looked over at Hank. "Can I eat this in the living room?" she asked.

Hank looked over at her. "We do not eat food in the living room."

Zoe frowned.

"House rules," Hope said, eyeing her father as she followed Scott into the living room.

Hank followed suit after his daughter and Scott, leaving Zoe to sigh. She plopped a couple of apple slices into her mouth and took one more for her on the way to the living room.

Scott was eagerly ready to try his training again. Zoe joined Hank and Hope, but Hank looked at her before she could walk inside. She looked at her slice of apple as she tried to chew the apples already inside her mouth. "You weren't kidding," she said in a mouthful.

Hank smirked at her.

"Apple slice?" she offered.

Hope rolled her eyes, "Just get in," she pulled Zoe's arm and Zoe stumbled forward beside her.

Zoe swallowed her chopped up pieces and plopped her last slice in her mouth. Hope closed the door, and stood there listening to Zoe's chewing of her apple.

Scott broke into a run through the hallway and pressed the button so he could shrink just in time to dive through the keyhole and not hit the door. He pushed the button so he could run on his own two legs. "Nailed it!" he said excitedly rushing passed Hank, Hope, and Zoe.

Over the next course of the day, Scott worked with the ants again, raging from the crazy ants, to the bullet ants, carpenter ants, even the fire ants. As long as they stayed underground with Scott and under his command, Zoe was totally cool with just standing by and finding out some very interesting details about Mitchell Carson that she wondered if she was even supposed to find.

"That's a good boy Ant-thony," Scott said in a cooing manner as he gave him a water droplet to sip on.

Zoe smiled as she listened to Scott, getting cozier with the ants down underground as she stood in the kitchen, stirring a spoon into the coconut sugar and water with Hank.

"How's our boy doing?" Hank asked, washing a basket full of lemons underneath the water beside Zoe.

"Good," Zoe smiled. "I think he's getting better at it. I hope Hope's okay, and yes I meant to say that."

Hank smiled but tried to hide it when he turned to reach for the paper towel on the rack. "Yeah, she'll be fine. She knows how to handle herself well."

"Yeah," Zoe winced. "My ribs know that very well." She coughed.

Hank chuckled.

Zoe looked over at him and smiled. Hank could feel her eyes on him. She'd stopped stirring, while he made sure all the nasties were off of the lemons.

"Did my father ever talk about me?" Zoe asked.

"A little bit," Hank said. "He always carried that picture though. Never left the house without it. He was just…" he sighed, and turned the water off. "He was just trying to help your sister get better. He didn't want to loose you and your mom. I saw how desperate he was, and I wanted to help. I decided to use the Ant-Man suit to shrink myself so I can go deeper inside Ava's mainstream DNA and see what exactly is causing her illness, that's what your father called it before we even realized they were gifts."

"I hardly think death is a gift, Dr. Pym," she said with a small frown.

"No, it's not, that's why your father was so passionate about trying to cure your sister from it," Hank said. "Never found one."

"Why does HYDRA care?" she asked.

"HYDRA will care about anything that is useful to them," Hank said within a deep voice.

"Anything to get a head," Zoe realized.

Hank nodded. "Which is why we need to focus on Scott and help him get through this week, so that he can take on his final test in his training," Hank said.

Zoe nodded.

"Go on, stir, that sugar'll sit on the bottom and the lemonade will be so sour you'll be one of those sour patch kids or whatever you call them, I said that right, right?" Hank said, making Zoe laugh.

Zoe nodded and continued to stir the sugar and the water while Hank prepared the board and knife to cut the lemons.

Scott finished the day out with an army of ants behind him now that he's learned to control each kind. He was ready for his final phase and very sour lemonade made by Zoe.

Scott forced himself to drink the lemonade and make a smile. "It's good," he said.

Zoe beamed brightly as she turned to give Hope a glass who looked like she had one hell of a day at work. She looked sad, but working at that place must be sad because Zoe wasn't sure she'd want to work there, like ever, unless it was actually run by Hank, then maybe, but she didn't know a lick of science so she was totally out. Scott made a face at Hank when Zoe wasn't looking and Hope spit it out.

"I think I'll make the lemonade from now on," Hope muttered and brushed the drink off of her suit.

"She just needs practice!" Scott said after her.

Zoe frowned. "I thought we were cool," she said.

"Give it time," Hank said and Zoe nodded. She sighed.

"I'll clean this up," she said, pointing to the mess on the floor. She walked into the kitchen to grab some paper towels. She came back with a handful of paper towels and Scott knelt down beside her to help while Hank had disappeared to his workroom, so he could finish his shrinking particle substance.

"Zo, here," Scott knelt down beside her and she shook her head.

"No, it's okay, I got it," Zoe said. "I just screwed up…like I screw everything up," she sighed, and placed her hands over her knees.

Scott stopped scooping up the lemonade off the wooden floor and looked up at her curiously. "What are you talking about?"

Zoe let out a sigh and brushed her nose with her fingers, trying to stop from sniffling.

"You were the first boy I'd ever gone on a date with," she said.

Scott frowned. "That was my fault. I was a jerk, and I didn't respect you, I mean-"

"No," Zoe said, stopping him. "I mean, yeah, you didn't respect me. A lot of people didn't. I was the quiet one with the glasses. I had braces for two years. I still wear glasses sometimes when I'm lazy and I don't feel like putting in contacts,"

Scott smiled at her and leaned in closer to her. "I think everyone does that."

Zoe smiled. "Here you are redeeming yourself as an awesome character, like Ant-Man, and what am I?"

"A SHIELD agent?" Scott asked.

She shook her head. "An information specialist for the Avengers. And Fury sent me here to watch over you, to make sure that you become this great person without any interference. I don't fit in here," she said with a cringe. "I mean it's not like high school anymore."

Scott shook his head. "This is definitely not like high school. And besides high school sucked anyway. Who wants to go back to that hellhole?"

Zoe smiled. "Definitely not me," she shook her head. "Hank's the closest man I have to a father…and Fury," she added, but she always felt she had competition with Natasha…still kind of does. "But he knew my sister a lot more, and he knew my father back in the day."

Scott looked down at the floor and then back at Zoe. "Zoe, what aren't you telling me? You've been pretty distant. Is it your boyfriend of whom you will not tell me?"

Zoe smiled and shook her head. "No. It's definitely not him," she said. "I don't think. Our two dates were kind of…well I screwed up with those two," she said.

"How badly?" Scott asked. "And can you please just tell me who it is? I promise I won't tell a soul."

"You promise?" Zoe asked, pointing a finger at him.

"Pinky promise?" Scott held up his gloved pinky, still haven't taken off the Ant-Man suit.

Zoe wrapped her pinky around his and she sighed, preparing for how he was going to take the news to the fact that she was dating Captain America, if she could even call them dating right now, she was just so confused right now.

"Captain America," Zoe said.

Scott's eyes widened as though quarters were stuck inside. "What?" he asked.

Zoe closed her lips together and looked up at him as he got up from his seat. She nodded.

Scott blew out a whistle and looked at her. "What?" he asked. "Captain America is your boyfriend?"

Zoe smiled. "Ever so popular," she muttered.

"No way," Scott said.

Zoe rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone. She went through her pictures and found one of her and Steve together so she could show Scott. She pointed it up at him. Scott peered at the picture and blinked.

"Well, shit…" he said.

"Not to mention that my entire family is HYDRA so yeah," Zoe said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Oh, besides me and Ava that is because I got to rescue her with the Avengers, and not get killed. Fun times."

"Huh," Scott said. "You and Mr. fancy pants."

"Steve," Zoe stressed, glaring up at Scott as he paced back and forth, skimming her phone, looking for more pictures.

"This guy notoriously hates HYDRA, Zoe," Scott said.

"I know, Scott," Zoe retorted back. "He knows about me and my family, but he knows I'm with S.H.I.E.L.D. I'll never turn to them."

"Well, that's a relief," Scott said.

"So, you're not mad or upset with me?" she asked curiously. Scott frowned and looked down at her. He handed her her phone back and she put it back in her back pocket.

Scott knelt down beside her. "Zoe," he said gently, placing a hand on her arm. "We all have a past right?"

Zoe nodded.

"I like this Zoe," he said, lifting her chin up so that he could meet her eyes. "I like her a lot. I feel like she's learning from her mistakes, and moving on to better things in life. And I will not let her stray away so far that she get's lost in the dark. I promise."

Zoe smiled. "Really?"

Scott nodded. "Really."

Zoe's smile grinned even wider and she felt much better than she had in a really long time.

"So how badly did you screw up your date with Captain America?" Scott asked as he got back to wiping off the lemonade splatter that may or may not have gotten on Hank's carpet rug.

Zoe cringed. "You don't want to know."

"Yes I do," he smiled.

Zoe sighed. "You know, Steve's the kind of guy that goes out with girls like Peggy Carter," she said. "The bold and beautiful and women with confidence. I don't have that. When have I ever had confidence? Okay when I was shooting Loki in the face, but that's still…besides the point…well, I was pretty awesome smacking those aliens around in New York too, so that could've been the charm I turned on…" Zoe rambled, as Scott blinked at all of this from her mouth.

Who was Peggy Carter? Scott wondered, but he could tell that she was jealous. Maybe he could help her in some way and lower that jealousy so she could be more like herself. Zoe was talking pretty fast as Scott tried managed to comprehend what she was saying about her Avengers. The ones he knew were a little bit different.

"I can't believe you did that."

"I didn't have a choice, okay, he tossed me out of the sky inside a bullet-proofed cylinder with Thor, so Thor and I had to travel by lightning back to Stark's tower," Zoe said and let out an exaggerated sigh.

Scott listened to her in complete awe. "When can I do that?"

"Uh…" Zoe said, cringing at the fact she probably said too much. "Soon," she said. "After your training, I think." She cringed. "I don't know, talk to Hank. If you're good enough, I'll make a note of it in my database back at headquarters, deal?"

Scott grinned. "Deal," he said. "And I'll keep you dating with Captain America our little secret."

~*AM*~  
A tiny Scott flew up inside the airplane with Ant-thony, nearly dangling from the antenna's as he slid inside without being seen. He screamed all the way through as he rolled onto the floor in a rush, and landed hard on the floor next to one of his little flying ant friends. The ant moved Scott closer to the ledge with its big black nose, but Scott rolled over on his back, half awake, half asleep from the exhaustion of the pressure and the skies outside. He laid there to catch his breath…

"The final phase of your training will be a stealth incursion," Hank said.

"You must retrieve this prototype, a signal decoy," Hank said as he pointed to the item on the paper in front of him. Scott looked over at Hope, leaning her arms against the work-table. She looked particularly pretty today in a forest green tank top, very nice. Zoe and Hope couldn't be more different from each other, currently not present, out shopping in the local farmer's market to replace Hank's food that she's mooched off of for the past two weeks. She felt bad and she was even going to cook them some dinner, or attempt to anyway. She really wanted to learn to cook so she could impress Steve when she got back, so they became her guinea pigs. Scott's idea.

"It was a device I invented through my S.H.I.E.L.D. days," Hank continued and placed the piece of paper he showed in front of Scott, getting his attention back in order.

"We need it to counteract the transmission blockers that Cross installed in the future's vault," Hope explained, pointing at the floor plans in front of her with her pen.

Scott peered over at the floor plans and then looked at Hank's device that he was supposed to get at Stark's old facility. "It's in upstate New York. Should be a piece of cake."

"We're over the target area," Hank's voice boomed inside Scott's ear that woke him up. Ant-thony's antenna's tickled Scott's sides and he woke up and shivered. Why was it so damn freezing?

"God, I'm freezing," Scott said as he pulled gently on one of Ant-thony's antenna's to help him get back up on his feet. "You couldn't have made a suit with flannel lining?"

"Disengage now Scott," Hank ordered, staring up at the computer screen in front of him.

"Squadron eight go," Scott ordered, meanwhile back on the airplane. He ushered the ants out of the tiny little slit to the open world. "Zeke go! Alright Ant-thony, please don't drop me this time!"

Ant-thony clambered over to his new master and friend. Scott swung his leg over like he would on a horse and got up on Ant-thony's back. He held the tiny reigns he'd made during his training sessions, and held on tight.

Ant-thony jumped and flew out of the airplane. Scott drew in a deep breath as he held on tight. They flew down through the clouds and Scott groaned, trying not to feel air-sickness rising in his stomach. "Oh, it feels like I've been dangling sugar cubes to this!"

"Stay calm," Hank informed through Scott's earpiece.

Just then, the door opened and closed inside Hank's workshop. Zoe walked down the stairs and inside his computer station. "Hey," she said. Hope looked over her shoulder at Zoe and then back at the screen. "Where's Scott?" she asked.

"Final phase," Hope replied.

"Oh, well, I just wanted to know which oil I should use for the gas stove, or if it doesn't really matter," Zoe said, smiling as she held two different cans of oil. "I have Extra-Olive Virgin, and Coconut," she said, weighing the cans in her hands. "I don't know if it makes a difference but I don't really want to burn the house down so…" she said with a nervous laugh.

"Either or," Hope said motionless as she watched intently. "I think it's the temp that matters right?" she asked.

Hank nodded, listening to them faintly in the background, but more focused on Scott's invasion of the Avenger's facility. "Yeah, it's the uh…temp…"

Zoe closed her mouth together and nodded. She sighed and placed the two kinds of oil cans on the workshop bench. She looked over at the papers on the workshop bench and frowned, as one paper she thumbed through caught her attention. "Stark facility…" she whispered.

"That's where the device is," Hope said, pointing at the screen. Zoe turned to the screen and walked over to stand in between Hank and Hope, suddenly getting a very bad feeling about this.

"I think um…" Zoe began and put the floor plan in front of them on the desk. "I think you might want to tell him that Scott's actually….going to…"

"No, no, he's got this," Hank shushed her as he leaned forward intently, watching Scott and his ragtag team of flying ants behind him.

"Uh, guys, I think we might have a problem," Scott said through the speaker inside the work shop. "Didn't you say this was some old warehouse? It's not! You son-of-a-bitch!"

Hank suddenly looked down at Stark's building on the photo in front of him and pulled it closer. He looked up at the computer screen and saw the Avenger's symbol on top of the roof, the same roof that Zoe and Steve had their first date on.

"Oh…God," Zoe dropped her face within the palm of her hand and cringed as the view became more prominent on screen. It was the Avenger's New Facility building in New York.

Zoe quickly dipped down and leaned into the microphone. "I tried to tell them! Scott, be careful!" she could hear the worry in her voice that surprised her, but she tried to keep still as she noticed the two quinjet's in front of the building.

Hope gawked at Zoe. Was she crazy? There was no way Scott could handle himself against the Avengers. She leaned into the microphone in panic mode. "Scott get out of there!"

"Abort, Scott!" Hank warned. "Abort now!"

Zoe frowned slightly, as she watched him ignore Hank and Hope's warnings for him to not engage with the incursion. She hugged her arm over her chest and pulled at her bottom lip nervously.

"No, it's okay it doesn't look like there's anyone home," Scott replied.

Zoe's heart dropped and she felt ill inside. "Clearly he doesn't see the quinjet's," she said.

Hank and Hope listened to Zoe behind them and they were both thinking the same thing.

"Ant-thony get me to the roof!" Scott exclaimed, fueling with power and confidence.

"He's gonna loose the suit," Hank said, covering up his microphone in front of him.

Hope glanced at her father, also covering hers up so that Scott couldn't hear them. "He's going to loose his life."

"Or his mind," Zoe shrugged slightly with a shake of her head. Hope and Hank glanced behind them and looked at her. "I could name a few Avengers if you want me to."

Hope turned around and peered at the screen for any intrusions. Hank also turned around without a word to Zoe.

"Or not," she murmured.

Scott landed on the white gravel stones on the roof and rolled onto his feet with an oof.

"Alright, I'm on the roof of the target building," Scott informed.

Zoe watched with intensity as she felt so nervous for him, she was worried for his safety, wondering who'd they send down. And if she knew her people like she thought she did, Scott would have been breached by now. Like…now, she thought worriedly as she saw a cast shadow above them thanks to the ant's antenna's warning signal.

"Somebody's home Scott," Hope said, leaning into her microphone.

Zoe turned to face the screen as she saw Sam fly down with his speed and agile wings that were attached to his jet-pack on his back. He flew down in a swift movement and landed on his feet. The wings retracted back into its pack.

Sam peered through his crystal clear red goggles in search for the intruder caught on their screen.

"What's going on down there Sam?" One of the agents asked through Sam's earpiece.

"It's the falcon," Scott whispered in shock to Hank, Hope, and Zoe.

"Okay just stay calm," Zoe leaned into Hank's microphone. Hank looked up at her curiously. "I can help you through this."

Scott nodded, listening to Zoe's relatively calm voice. Since when the hell did she become so calm and confident? Then again, this is what she was good at…

"I had a sensor trip, but I'm not seeing anything," Sam replied into his wrist/arm guard. His radar on his goggles signaled the tiny ant-like creature on the ground. "Wait a minute…"

"Abort Scott! Abort now!" Hank said, grabbing the microphone from Zoe.

Zoe frowned. "He can do it," she encouraged.

"And get stomped on," Hope said.

"Trust me, I know that thing inside and out," Zoe said. "And since I know all about the Falcon, I can help Scott and tell him how to defeat him."

Hank and Hope glanced at each other. "You can do that?" Han asked.

"Why would you do that, you're allies?" Hope said in confusion.

"This is important to his daughter," Zoe said. "I want to see it through, and that he gets to have his life back together again. No one get's second chances like this. Not even me. Look, he's a good father, and we don't have many of those in this world. I saw it when I spied on him and Cassie at her birthday party. Again, sorry Scott," she winced at that.

Hope looked at her with the utmost curiosity and sighed.

"No, it's okay," Scott said. "I don't think he can see me."

Hank, Hope and Zoe turned to face the screen that showed the entire outside image of the New Avenger's facilty hidden within the green.

"I can see you," Sam said, glaring down at Scott's small ant-like size.

Scott turned to normal human size and tapped his helmet button so that he could see him clearly.

"Hi, I'm Scott," Scott greeted with a grin on his face and a tiny wave.

"Did he just say, hi, I'm Scott?" Hope asked outrageously.

"Uh-huh," Zoe said, leaning her hands on the table in front of her as she looked up at Sam and Scott together on the roof. Hank nodded with a dreaded feeling in his stomach.

"What are you doing here?" Sam asked.

"First off, I just want to say, I'm a big fan," Scott said, as if he was laying down rules.

"Appreciate it," Sam said. "So who the hell are you?"

"I'm Ant-Man," Scott replied with oozing confidence out of his voice that Zoe could hear back in the work-shop. She cringed. Over-boasting, over-boasting...she thought.

"Ant-Man?" Sam asked.

"What? You haven't heard of me? No, you wouldn't have heard of me," Scott shook his head.

"You want to tell me what you want?" Sam said, getting right down to business.

Scott pointed his arm across the clearing to the facility where Hank's device was hidden. "I was hoping I could grab a piece of technology. Just for a few days I'm going to return it. I need it to save the world. You know how that is," Scott chuckled nervously, but with a smile on his face.

"Yeah, I know exactly how that is," Sam said, and turned right into his wrist/arm band. "Located the breach, bringing him in."

"Sorry about this!" Scott said and suddenly pressed the red button on his gloved-hand and shrunk to ant-size before Sam could grab a hold of him.

Tiny Scott jumped up and hit him underneath Sam's chin that caused Sam to fly up and above out of whack. It didn't do well for Scott as he flew off the roof and landed on ground soil, hidden beneath the grass shards that covered around him.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Hank said in shock as he watched with worried and anxious eyes.

Zoe's muscles tightened as anxiety started to rush through her too. She was scared for both of her boys fighting each other, and she didn't realize how much it would have affected her emotionally.

"The breach is an adult male, with some sort of shrinking tech," Sam said as he flew up and above, using his inferred radar goggles to follow Scott, as he ran through the grass. "Where's Zoe when you need her?"

"I got it right here Sam, I think…" Ava replied. "I don't know she's got it all categorized in like six billion different categories with hair, eyes, tech, good, bad, evil…Scott was his name right?"

"Yeah, just tell me how to stop him!" Sam shouted at her. Sam winced. Damn it.

He flew down and landed on the ground, wings retracting back into his jet-pack suit. He landed close to Scott and stomped on him, but Scott was quick enough to roll away from him, and jump up onto his shoulder instead. Scott caught him completely off guard as he jumped up from his shoulder blade to his face, smacking Sam hard.

"Watch out for those-" Zoe said, leaning down into the microphone again as she watched Sam pull out the double guns that fired a hail of bullets at him.

"Yeah, thanks, for the heads up," Scott retorted back at her, hanging onto one of the gun's itself.

Scott jumped up and started hitting him left to right to make him stop wasting bullets. "Sorry! Sorry about this!" Scott said and jumped into the ground.

"That's enough!" Sam said and threw a nasty punch at Scott once he located him through the grass. Scott speed up and jumped in the air, but Sam hit him out of whack and balance that caused him to fly into his human-size. He rolled on the ground which allowed Sam to pick him up by the shoulders and throw a punch across the face.

Sam grabbed Scott by the neck and flew up in the air. He threw another punch at Scott who shrunk in ant-size again and flew downwards into the ground.

Scott suddenly jumped up into his human-size and wrapped his legs around Sam's shoulders, catching him completely off-guard. They fell into the grass and on the ground hard, as Sam tried to get Scott off of him.

Hope watched with an impressive nod. Zoe also was impressed with Scott's ability to handle Sam on his own. Maybe she wasn't needed after all, Zoe thought, almost sadly. He could take care of himself.

Scott dragged Sam across the ground with all of the suit's forcible energy and shrunk in size to avoid Sam's hits on his leg and tossed Sam across the field. Sam landed on his feet and held the ground with his hand to keep himself steady and from falling over. He peered through his goggles and looked at the reddened and insighted readings on his screen. Scott in ant-size form was running away from him and heading towards the facility where the tech was. He couldn't let that happen so Sam took out his wings and used them to smack them down on him. Scott groaned as he returned to his human-size again. Scott looked up at an angry Sam and he shrunk back in size to get away.

"Ant-thony a little help!" Scott said. Scott jumped up onto Ant-thony and flew into the small window of the old Stark facility where the Avengers kept all their new and old tech.

Sam watched Scott with curiosity and jumped up into the sky, letting his wings fly out so that he could get there faster. He landed on the ground and walked inside as the garage door with STARK printed on it opened up for him. It closed down in a heap, leaving all visual computers to be completely covered so that Hank, Hope and Zoe couldn't monitor and help Scott in anyway that he needed.

Both Hank and Hope were now standing in fear that something was going to happen to Scott. Zoe had turned her head away from the screen, unable to watch the fight anymore, but curiosity often got the better out of her so she turned back to the screen, as a frightful feeling pinched a nerve when Hank announced, "I've lost visual."

Zoe leaned into the microphone in a desperate attempt to help Scott. "It's in the back, the device it's in one of the box's…" she said. "Scott?"

Zoe looked up at the screen as her eyes danced worriedly for answers of anything but it was too silent for her likings. Had Sam gotten to him? He was extremely talented as the Falcon, and Scott was inexperienced.

"Come on…" she whispered.

Then all of a sudden Sam flew out of the Stark's garage, breaking through the door to pieces.

"He's in my pack!" Sam said.

"Be careful! This guy's still not in Zoe's files!" Ava replied worriedly. Sam could hear the worry in her voice and his heart quenched. He was not going to get kicked by an Ant-Man…but unfortunately he couldn't get to Scott because he was ripping the jet-pack picking out the wires to make him immobile.

"Sorry!" Scott said as he pulled out another wire. "You seem like a really great guy!"

Sam struggled to fly in sync, but the energy fire emitting from his jet-pack was dissipating thanks to Scott tearing him apart from the inside that made Sam fall on his back and slide through the soil all the way toward the trees.

Zoe cringed and felt really bad for how the fight ended…but glad that that Scott was okay too. At least Sam wasn't too badly damaged. Sam pulled himself up so he could catch his breath. His goggles no longer worked, unable to catch Scott, as they were fizzing in and out. Sam sighed and pulled off his goggles.

Tiny Scott jumped up on Ant-thony and flew away.

Sam sighed. "It's really important to me that Captain never finds out," he said into his wrist communicator.

Zoe closed her mouth together and smirked at that. She looked at Hope and Hank. "Well, I'm gonna go make dinner. Who's hungry?" she asked.

Hank and Hope looked at each other and sighed as Zoe took her two cans of oil for her dinner plan and skipped back up to the stairs. As long as her two boys didn't die, she was okay with that. And she wasn't exactly sure how she'd tell Steve what happened anyway. That would be a very awkward conversation she didn't want to have to explain to him, so she was totally fine with keeping this moment to herself…for however long she could.

~*AM*~

"That was totally and completely irresponsible and dangerous," Hank reprimanded Scott.

By the time Scott had returned home, showered, and got into regular and comfy clothes, Zoe was cooking a salmon dinner with a side salad that Hope had tossed and helped her fix earlier. It was resting on the counter beside her. Scott wanted to help, but Hank had his full attention.

Zoe had gotten into one of Hank's old cookbooks that seemed really interesting to her and she was going to try to follow that recipe to a tee, but with Hank's loud voice behind her and the sizzling bubbles from the oil that fizzed in front of her, she was having a little bit difficulty trying to figure out which spice to use.

Hope was seated at the table with her arms crossed as she listened to her father.

"You jeopardized everything," Hank continued, in a pacing manner.

Scott pulled something out of his pocket and he placed it on the table with a loud thump in Zoe's ears. After she flipped the salmon over with the spatula in her hands, she spun around to face Scott and the silver device on the table.

"He got it," Hope said with a small smile on her face.

Hank picked up the device in his hand and blinked.

Scott looked over at Hope and gave her a proud nod and a wink.

Zoe smiled, and crossed her arms over her apron. She was most certainly proud of Scott to have come this far in his life and beat out the Falcon so he could fight another day.

"Well done," Hank lightly complimented.

"Wait a minute, did you just compliment me?" Scott asked. "He did, didn't he?" he looked at Hope.

Hope smiled at her father. "It kind of sounded like you did."

Hank turned the device on and it lit up blue inside. "I was good wasn't I?" Hank asked, glancing at his daughter.

Scott looked at Hank and scoffed. "Hey how about the fact that I fought an Avenger and didn't die?"

Zoe chuckled. "I think Sam let you live."

"Oh, he let me?" Scott scoffed, shaking his head at her.

"Let's not dwell on the past, and don't let that salmon burn," Hank said in a slight sing-song voice as he studied his silver and blue device in his hands. "Five more minutes tops. Any spice will do. Gotta finish our planning," Hank said.

"After dinner," Zoe called after him as he walked out of the kitchen and into the living room.

"Don't mind him," Hope said, as she leaned her head against her hand, elbow on the table. "You did good."

"I'm really proud of you, Scott," Zoe said with a genuine smile across her face.

"Even though I almost took out your Avenger friend?" Scott asked.

"Even if," Zoe smiled. "He's a tough cookie to beat, so proud. So, since you were so lucky, you get to set the table."

Scott frowned.

"I'll help," Hope said, glancing at Scott with a small smile on her face.

Meanwhile, Hank opened the door that lead into his study, in which he stopped walking in his trek. Darren stood there dressed in a black leather jacket, slacks and looked every bit suspicious. "Darren," Hank announced, loud enough so that Scott, Hope, and Zoe could hear him.

The three of them turned their heads toward the study, and Zoe turned off the knob to slow down the sizzling, crackling and pop to pure silence in the kitchen.

Hank pocketed his device. "How the hell did you get in here?" he asked and closed the door.

"You left the front door open, Hank," Darren said, holding Hank's mail in his hands. "It's official, you're old." He dropped his mail down on his desk as Hank walked over toward him.

"The plans," Hope said worriedly. Back in the kitchen, Zoe had pulled out her knife out of her apron's pocket and tightened it in her hands. "He will kill him!" she said with fear written across her face. Scott looked over at Hope and then at Zoe.

"Go," Zoe whispered with a nod. "I'll cover you."

Scott nodded and searched for his earpiece in his pocket. Once he found it, he placed it in his ear, hooking it tight, and walked closer to the door so he could get to the study without being seen. Zoe followed in stealth and steady motion, while Hope stayed hidden in the kitchen.

Inside his study, Hank looked over at the plans on the table and then looked at Darren. "Well, what do I owe to this pleasure?" he asked.

"I have good news," Darren answered with a smile on his face.

"Really?" Hank said. "What's that?"

"Pym Tech, the company you created, is about to become one of the most profitable operations in the world," Darren began to explain as he started walking sideways. Hank kept his eyes on him warily. "We're anticipating fifteen billion in sales tomorrow alone."

Unbeknownst to Darren, while he was distracted with numbers and dollar signs, Scott told one of the ants to roll up the plans. Zoe was standing on the other side of the threshold, hidden. She gripped her knife tight in her hands as she listened intently to Darren. There was no way she was going to let him kill Hank, no way. And just for that comment alone, Zoe wanted to punch him in the face, but Scott quickly reached for her before she could get close to him. He pulled her close against him to keep her from going after him. She dropped her knife on the floor that hit Scott's feet and he let out a hiss. The knife clattered on the ground.

Darren's eyes glanced at the table, convinced that he heard something move, but it was very faint, so maybe it was just the wind. He looked down at Hank, waiting for an answer. Maybe the man was in shock because he kind of seemed it in his old features. "You're welcome!" he said with a bright smile on his face.

Hank forced a smile. "Damn cat," he said. "Yeah, I'm old."

Darren chuckled at Hank's comedic commodity that he admired.

Zoe leaned down to pick up her knife and she pocketed it into her apron. She stepped back with Scott.

"I know this is uh, odd, but I want you to be there," Darren said, putting a hand on Hank's shoulder. "This is my moment and I want you to see it."

"Sure, Darren, sure," Hank said. "I'll be there."

Darren let go and Hank walked away from him, wanting to give Darren that hint that he'd overstayed his welcome. Darren picked up a picture off the mantle to look at it and smiled. He placed it back down and looked down at the floor as Hank walked back towards him until they were inches apart.

"What did you see in me?" Darren asked, looking down at him.

Hank looked up at him. "I don't know what you mean."

"All those years ago, you picked me, what did you see?" Darren asked.

Hank lifted his eyes in pure thought of remembrance to that moment when he picked Darren out of those few candidates. He didn't see anything in them that were special except for Darren. "I saw myself."

"Then why did you push me away?" Darren whispered.

"Because I saw too much of myself," Hank responded in light regret.

Darren nodded and walked out of the door.

Scott and Zoe disappeared back into the kitchen and breathed out a sigh of relief. That was way too close.

"Um, Zoe…" Hope said. "I think the salmon's…I think it's…"

Zoe looked at Scott and she walked over to the kitchen where Hope was trying to fix the salmon that had gotten burnt and overcooked. Even though she turned it down, she hadn't turned it off, in which she probably should have. She sighed, shoulders slumping. "Take out?" she asked.

~*AM*~  
"What were you thinking?" Scott demanded, glaring at Zoe. Zoe was cleaning up her mess she made in Hank's kitchen, and while Scott reprimanded her, she really didn't need any of his shit right now. Zoe slammed the plate down in the sink that clinked against the sink. She turned around to face him.

"Are you serious, right now?" she asked. Scott glanced at her as she so animatedly spoke with a wave of her hand in the air. "I was thinking… oh, I hate this guy, let me get him now before all hell breaks loose, that's what I was thinking!" she said, letting anger slip out of her lips.

"And jeopardize completely everything," Scott said. "Oh, but I guess in the last few years, that's how S.H.I.E.L.D. has operated. Fab job."

Zoe gaped at him. "For your information, I was trying to prevent a catastrophe."

"No, you were letting your anger get the better out of you and you were going to stab Cross in the heart," Scott said. "The point is…"

"He knows," Hope said, breaking up the brewing fight between Scott and Zoe. "He's baiting you," she turned to face her father. "We have to call it off."

"We're all taking risks," Hank said, leaning his arm against the window seat.

Zoe let out a sigh and crossed her arms over her chest. She placed one foot in front of the other and looked up at the ceiling. Yes, she was taking a big risk. She was here and she knew what she had to do despite her own disbeliefs. She didn't want to do it, but it was apart of her job, a job she still loved.

"What if he saw me here?" Hope asked.

"He didn't," Hank shook his head. "There's no way."

"How do you know that?" Hope asked.

"Is your car parked in the garage?" Zoe joked lamely.

Scott looked over at Zoe and she shrugged.

Just then, Hope's cell phone buzzed a chime from the inside of her jacket's pocket. She pulled it out and looked at her screen, reading who was calling her. Hope looked at her father and Scott before she placed it on her ear. "Darren, hi," she said.

"Hope. Where are you right now?" he asked.

"I'm at home, why?" she paced back and forth nervously.

"I just saw Hank. I still get nothing but contempt from him," she winced at the ill words dripping out of Cross's mouth. That could've been her doing, but they both did share resentment of Hank Pym.

"Don't let him rile you up," she pulled a dark strand of hair over her ear. "He's just a senile old man."

Zoe winced. Ouch. That was mean. She gave a sympathetic frown for Hank and Scott shook his head to indicate that he wasn't.

"We need to start everyone working around the clock," he continued. "I'll get the assembly line up and running. And I'm tripling security. Full sensors at all entrances and exterior air vents fitted with steel micromesh."

"Great," Hope said, leaning on the counter. "Great idea."

"Thank you, Hope. I'm so lucky to have you on my team."

The call ended and she put her cell-phone back into her jacket pocket. The tension in the room did not faze out like Zoe had hoped.

"He's tripling security, he's lost his mind," Hope stressed. "And he's onto you."

"But he's not onto you," Hank counteracted.

Hope leaned forward to face her father across the kitchen table. "He's adding full body scanners to all entrances enclosing exterior events!"

"So, Pym tech is basically going to be covered up in infrared laser grids," Zoe said.

Hope looked over her shoulder and nodded at her. "How are we going to get Scott inside?"

Zoe gasped and pointed a finger in the air, as she looked at all three of them. "The Matrix."

Hope sighed, and rolled her eyes. "Not helping."

Zoe grinned slightly. "Sorry," she mumbled. She wasn't really supposed to help at all, technically. She had her orders and with Scott's background he could figure this out on his own.

"The water main," Scott said.

Hope, Hank, and Zoe turned their heads to listen to Scott.

"You can't add security to a water main. The pressure is too strong, but if we can decrease it, that's how I get in," he explained.

"Somebody would have to reach the building's control center to change the water pressure. I mean, Hank, Zoe, and I will be beside Cross, how are we supposed to do that?" Hope asked.

"So we expand our team," Scott said. "What do we need? A fake security guard on the inside to depressurize the water system, somebody that can hack into the power supply and kill the laser grid, and a get away guy."

Zoe smiled at Scott. Who knew his old break-in days as a crook would come in handy one day?

"No, no, no, no, not those three wombats!" Hank said, as he looked up from cleaning his glasses with the cloth in his hands. "No way."

"It is going to help us, if we want to get out of there alive," Zoe said. She cleared her throat. "Just my two cents."

Hank sighed.

~*AM*~

"You know, I didn't mean to…loose control back there," Zoe said quietly as she and Scott prepared Hank's dining room table, and turned it into a base of operations. They laid out the blue print floor plans, covering every inch of the table. Hope put out a peace of cinnamon cake on top of the floor plans once they were stretched out across the table and disappeared into the kitchen, getting the coffee ready.

"I'm just not used to not taking action, you know?" she smiled up at him, hoping her apology was enough.

Scott looked up from laying out his side of the table and looked at her, furrowing his brows in a thoughtful manner.

"I know a bad guy when I see one," she continued. "Cross seemed really dangerous to me, like he could screw up the world if Pym tech went global under his command. When it comes to technology, Stark is my man. I'd go to him in a heartbeat."

"Yeah," he sighed. "I guess. I just…I don't know as much about you like I thought I did."

"No one really knows someone unless they walk a mile in their shoes," she said, staring down at the floor plans of Pym Tech.

He arched an eyebrow at her cryptic response. It was an interesting time in his life that Zoe would come back to him and appear as a friend. She was so different from what he remembered of her. He shook his head, getting out of his past memories with Zoe when they were in their punk phases as teenagers, and robbing mini-marts in Soho, only specific kinds. The guy they worked for was a really mysterious character. How they got out of that contract was beyond him, still, and Zoe never liked to talk about it. That was when they started to drift apart throughout their years and grew into their own different lives.

He cleared his throat and focused on the mission. "So, you're going to be with Hank and Hope at Cross's celebrated moment of his success, as Hope's new assistant?"

"Yes," Zoe said. "Since Cross wanted some new security, I'm going to act as her "bodyguard". I'm already in the system." She grinned.

"Good," Scott said with a nod of his head. "That's good, because we're going to need all the help we can get."

"This way gentlemen," Hank's voice echoed in the dining room as he brought Scott's friends inside.

Scott's friends Luis, Dave, and Kurt glanced around the inside of the house, eyes wide with wonder as they looked around the expensive paintings on the walls with gold frames, the dark wallpaper underneath, and the shiny mahogany wooden walls and doors that outlined the dining room.

Kurt pulled out his laptop and placed it in front of him.

"Thank you for the coffee ma'am," Luis said with an excited smile on his face. Hope looked up from the table after she placed three cups of coffee in front of them. Kurt had a glass of milk next to his laptop. "You know it's not too often that you rob a place and then get welcomed back, cause we just robbed you," he chuckled, sharing a look with his friends.

Dave saluted Hope with his coffee and took a sip of the warm substance that warmed him down to the core.

Zoe bit back a smirk on her face as she held her teacup in the palm of her hand.

"You know that he was arrested for stealing a smoothie machine, right?" Hope asked, casting a worried look with Scott. Scott looked over at her and forced a grin.

"Two smoothie machines," Luis said.

"Are you sure they can handle it?" Hope asked.

Scott could hear the uncertainty underneath her tone of voice.

"Oh we can handle it! We're professionals!" Luis said. He was a little bit excited for this job, which only made Zoe slightly cringe and wrinkle her nose. She shared a worried look with Hank who shook his head in response to her.

"You'll forgive us if we're not instilled with confidence," Hank said dryly.

"Wait, everybody just kick back and relax a bit man, we know our business," Dave interrupted. He placed his coffee cup down. "We broke into this spooky ass house, didn't we?"

Zoe arched an eyebrow and took a sip of her tea at the same time Hank slowly walked forward and stood beside Dave with his arms crossed. "I let you," Hank said.

"Well, one could say that I let you let me," Dave said, turning to face Hank.

"It's okay, they can handle this," Scott intervened.

"Yeah, we can handle it," Luis said, completely full of confidence.

"You got their credentials?" Scott asked Hope.

Hope looked up from the fireplace, taking her chin off of her hand. "He's in the system."

"I'm in the system?" Luis asked.

"The system!" Dave pointed eagerly at his friend with excitement.

"The system?" Luis looked over at Scott, unable to believe that this was really happening.

"Yeah, we're doomed," Hank said, looking at Zoe and she nodded, taking another sip of tea.

"Got anything stronger?" she asked, eyeing Hank curiously.

Hank nodded and gently pulled her over to his mini bar.

"Alright, there's something you guys need to see," Scott said and jumped out of the room to get his Ant-Man suit.

"Gentlemen if you will," Hope said, offering the boys to take a seat in their respective chairs. Dave and Luis sat beside Kurt. They were ready to listen to what she had to say. She started to go over the notes of what she had already told Scott and Zoe earlier about the future room and how they had to get inside to take down the water pressure so that Scott could get it in undetected.

"What do you want to try, scotch?" Hank asked.

"Um…bourbon?" she asked. "I don't know, what's the difference?" she asked.

Hank let out a small chuckle. "They're both quite strong and acquired tastes for most people. Hmm, maybe a lighter touch will do for you."

"No, no I want the strongest you've got, with Harry, Curly, and Mo over there," she thrust her thumb backwards. Hank looked over his shoulder and saw Luis eating a piece of coffee cake with crumbs falling out of his mouth. "Good point. Alright, here try this," he opened up the cabinet and pulled out an Irish whisky bottle. He poured a little bit inside of her teacup and swished the teacup around in his hand. "This should be a little smoother, easier to inhale."

Zoe looked inside as the golden yellow liquid mixed inside her Earl Gray tea. He handed it back to her and she took in a deep breath. She'd never tried any type of whisky in her life, not even when her father was around, she didn't dare to.

She licked her dry lips and took a sip of her tea. She gulped down the hard liquor in her throat and coughed. She could still taste the sweet but hard Irish alcohol on her tongue as she drank it down.

"Hmm, maybe it's better with coffee," Hank mused lightly as he watched Zoe choke on her tea.

"Yeah," she inhaled sharply, placing a hand over her chest. "Hence why they call it Irish coffee. My mom used to drink that. If it's not wine, it's Irish Coffee. But um…it's still genuinely strong. I'm going to make my self a cup of coffee."

Hank chuckled. "Alright," he said, smiling after her.

She walked into the kitchen, passing by Scott in his Ant-Man suit. They shared a small smile as she headed into the kitchen and poured out the rest of her tea into the sink.

She sighed, and placed her hands onto the sink. She looked inside the drain and chewed her bottom lip as memories of her past washed over her. Hanging out with Hank was nice, but it was just an awful reminder of how much she truly missed her parents, even the times when her father was relatively decent and not trying to… she winced and placed her hand on her stomach. The scars would always be there. She could move on from the past, she could move on to the fact that her family was HYDRA and she could move on with her life, but she always carried the memories. And when she was with Hank, she felt normal, but at the same time, Hank really should still be focusing his time with Hope. And Zoe was taking more time away for them to be together, so come tomorrow when they were going to take down Cross and Pym tech, Zoe was going to do her part and go back home. Hope needed her father right now whether or not she realized it. And Zoe needed to go back to her own world and fix up her mess. She needed to tell Ava everything.

Hank had finished fixing his own drink and went back to the table to start on the operation, drilling it into their minds.

Scott walked inside and caught Luis's attention.

"Damn," Dave said, looking up at Scott's new red and silver suit.

Scott tapped the button on his helmet, and his shades pulled up to reveal his face.

"Whoa, that's so cool, bro!" Luis exclaimed.

"Now, look this is going to get weird, alright?" Scott said. "It's pretty freaky, but it's safe. There's no reason to be scared."

"Oh no, no, Daddy don't get scared," Luis said with a shake of his head.

"Really?" Scott asked in disbelief.

"Yeah," Luis nodded.

"Good," Scott smiled and shrunk into Ant-size, disappearing in front of his friends.

Kurt, Dave, and Luis started to freak out, and jump out of their chairs.

"This is the work of gypsies," Kurt stammered.

"That's…that's witchcraft," Dave stuttered.

"Wow, that's amazing," Luis looked up and around him to see if he could find Scott. "That's like some David Copperfield shit."

"Yeah, wizardy," David nodded.

"S-sorcery!" Kurt freaked out.

Meanwhile, tiny Scott was climbing up on Luis's jacket and hopped onto Luis's shoulder.

"How'd you do that bro?" Luis called out.

"Don't freak out," Scott said. "Look at your shoulder." Scott waved his hands in the air to get Luis's attention.

Luis glanced down slowly at his shoulder and spotted tiny Scott on his shoulder, but instead of being calm about it like Scott requested, he shouted in fear and started running through the hallway and around the room, shouting, "Get off, get off!"

"I thought Daddy didn't get scared?" Scott asked.

Zoe rushed into the room and held onto the threshold. "What's going on?" she asked.

Dave and Kurt pointed to Luis's freaking out mode. Hank and Hope looked at one another with their arms crossed, looking very perturbed.

She sighed and walked over to Luis. She helped him up. "Luis? Are you alright?" she asked.

"Scott's very tiny…" Luis said.

Zoe nodded. "Yes he is, come on we'll explain everything." She pulled his arm and helped him back up onto his feet. She looked over onto her shoulder and saw Scott sitting on top of her shoulder blade, smiling like a dork. "Off my shoulder now and help me calm Luis down before I shoot you."

Scott grinned and jumped off of her shoulder and back into human-size form. "Is this how you always are on missions?" Scott wondered as he grabbed Luis's other arm off the ground.

Zoe let out a small chuckle.

~*AM*~

Hope had taken care of the three wombats, knowing exactly how to handle a crazy person by giving them Xanax, which was pretty brilliant in Zoe's mind. Zoe was utterly exhausted, so she'd turned herself into bed already, and underneath her warm covers. She was nervous about tomorrow. Tomorrow is when she would part ways with Scott and probably never see him again. All she had to do was one simple thing and she hoped that she could do it right. If she could, maybe she could redeem herself. Steve always redeemed himself and always looked like a pro. But everyone was different, and Zoe was going to be on her own tomorrow. No Steve, no Sam, no Scott. Scott was going to be inside the water main and she was going to be by herself. Nervousness was an understatement. And for some reason, all she kept thinking about was her and Steve's fourth date before she went on this little mission of hers that probably screwed everything up.

Zoe turned onto her back and looked up at the ceiling, letting her mind drift off to her date with Steve, in hopes that it would calm her nerves down.

"Note to self Zoe, don't find a backdoor into a military op that could lead to World War 3," Zoe said.

Steve chuckled and turned off the rolling credits, leaving the television blank.

"This was fun, thank you," Zoe said, turning her head to face Steve's that was dangerously close to hers, not that she minded, as they sat on her couch inside her apartment with their legs intertwined on her coffee table.

"Yeah," Steve said. "Staying in was a great idea. No balls hitting me, no explosions, no car chases…it's nice."

Zoe cringed. "I'm really sorry. For the record, I told you those things were lethal. Every girl knows this. It's like in the handbook."

"This is our fourth date, right?" Steve asked curiously.

"Mhmm," she nodded, lying her head on his shoulder. She looked out her window that showed another side of Brooklyn, dark and dreary. "What do people do on their fourth dates? I've only dated one guy in my life and I never wanted to express my feelings for anyone else ever again…until…" she cringed. Should she tell him?

"Until what?" Steve asked, more curious than ever. He wasn't about to tell her that he'd never even passed one date either. They were both on the same level. But that was kind of nice, Steve thought, both on the same level.

She lifted her head up and turned to face him. "No, never mind, it's completely stupid."

"Stupid?" Steve asked. "Want to know what's stupid is that I never even got to experience my first date with Peggy. That's stupid." Zoe tilted her head from side to side, agreeing with Steve. That was pretty awful. She couldn't even imagine what that must feel like. She'd get to move on in the past, and he slept for seventy years just to be waken up for the future. "Just tell me, please? I promise I won't tell anyone. It was Clint, right? You did kind of like him…I remember..."

She winced. "Well…yeah, I did, but nothing ever happened. I was too scared to let him know how I felt," she looked down at her hands resting in her lap. She sighed. "But then one day, I became brave…I think it was all that fighting with the Chitauri army,"

"You were kind of going at it," Steve said softly.

"Loki's fault," she mumbled.

"Yeah," Steve said, tightening up his fist along the couch.

"The day after, I was feeling particularly brave, and I sort of…showed…or tried to show how I felt with Clint, but he didn't kiss me back. I felt really bad after that. And then two years later, undercover, Rumlow came back into my life and my feelings for him just sort of swept up again when we were working together…so that I could get information from him about HYDRA and when that went really sour… anyway, my likeness of guys have been on a weird scale, let's just say, and on an even weirder scale when your files came onto my desk and I was suddenly swooped into missions galore. Not that I minded, I really liked you for your personality and what you represented." Zoe cringed slightly. "I think Coulson got the message because he let me recruit you."

"Not just because of how strong I am?" Steve asked.

Zoe looked up from the thread of her shirt that had become unraveled and smiled, unable to help but blush. That's what he got out of that? "It's what counts on the inside…not the outside," she said.

"Uh-huh," Steve said, flexing out his arms.

Zoe tried to avoid looking at his muscles flexing underneath her lights. She was blushing terribly and he was teasing her.

"Steve," Zoe groaned, and buried her face within her hands. She wanted to hide her blushes. Even though, she really liked Steve for who he was and she probably would have liked him in the past even when he was skinny…well…she sighed.

"Like it when I do this?" Steve challenged as he hopped up off of the couch. She leaned down on her side and leaned her head on the palm of her hand, elbow resting against the cushion. She watched him lift the coffee table.

"No," she shook her head. "Now you're just showing off."

"Or this?" he placed the table back down and picked up a rose from her rose vase on the table next to her couch. He leaned down on one knee and handed her the rose.

She rolled her eyes and smiled. "Yes, that's the Steve I like," she took the rose from him and looked into his deep blue eyes. "I think it would be really fun to time travel back to the 1940's and see what the real Steve Rogers was like."

"The real Steve Rogers was boring," Steve sighed and leaned up from the ground. He picked up her legs and sat down beside her.

She swung her legs over and scooted to the other side of the couch, so she could rest her head on his shoulder. "I don't think so. It's what drew me to you. And besides, you are as real to me as you are right now. No matter what. Most men these days don't have hearts like you."

"Most women these days don't have hearts like you," Steve said, looking down into her eyes. She looked up into his and she chewed her bottom lip slightly, and blinked.

"If you think for one second that I'm courageous, and as kind and strong as you are than you're absolutely crazy. Because let me tell you-" she was silenced with a kiss, and a warm hand lingering on her cheek. Rose forgotten as it fell to the floor.

"I think this was just an added bonus," Zoe mumbled after she broke the kiss, and lightly squeezed his arm, making Steve chuckle.

Steve and Zoe looked at each other. "It's nice to know I come first," Steve said.

~*AM*~  
"Alright, just so we're clear, everyone here knows there role, right?" Scott asked. Everyone was in the basement; inside Hank's computer room that looked liked a complete bomb-shelter.

The table lit up the floor plan of the future room. Two floor plans rested on the side of Scott as he stood at the helm of the table. Kurt, Dave, and Luis stood across from him, looking behind him at Hope, Zoe, and Hank.

"Dave?" Scott looked at him just to ensure that his friends knew what they were dealing with.

"Wheels on the ground," Dave replied.

"Kurt?"

"Eyes in the sky," Kurt smirked.

"Luis?" Scott eyed him curiously. He was the one he had to really watch out for.

"Oh, man you know it! You know what? I get to wear a uniform! That's what's up?" Luis said excitedly, unable to help it.

"Luis," Scott said, slightly annoyed.

Hope smirked at Zoe and she shrugged, leaning her back against the desk behind her. She crossed her arms over her chest and couldn't help but grin herself.

"I'm sorry. I'm good. I'm good," Luis stammered, trying to stay cool. "It's just I got excited, and plus your girlfriend's really hot. So…you know…that makes me nervous too," Luis looked over at Hope's shocked glare. "And you are very beautiful ma'am."

"Oh my lord," Hank groaned.

"She's not my-!" Scott began to explain, but Luis interrupted him.

"Hey you know what I was thinking like a tactic, like when I go undercover, like uh, whistling, you know what I'm saying, to blend in…?" Luis asked.

Zoe chuckled. "Awe, Luis doesn't know the first thing about going undercover, it's so cute," she said to Hope. Hope forced a smile and raised her eyebrows. Right.

Luis gulped at Zoe's dry comment, but she instilled him with a glare. He shut up and Scott shook his head. "No. Don't whistle. No whistling. It's not the Andy-Griffith show! No whistling."

"Alright, let's move out," Hank said. "Everyone get ready in position by zero-six-hundred."

"That's military-speak," Scott muttered to Luis.

As soon as everyone piled out of the workspace, Zoe fell behind. She turned around and went back to Hank's workspace where she'd spotted the red vials of the Pym Particle.

She drew in a deep breath and walked over to the table, and placed her hand on one tiny vial. She picked it up out of its spot and into the palm of her hand. She was supposed to collect a couple of Pym Particle bottles of the Ant-Man suit correlated with the Yellow-Jacket suit. The Ant-Man particles were apart of the deal also. She just didn't tell them the truth, only half a truth.

"Zoe?" Hank's voice startled her, in which she nearly dropped the vials in her hands on the ground. She held onto the table with her other free hand for support so she didn't fall. She spun around on her feet and hid the tiny vials behind her back in fear of Hank's presence. "Can't leave my daughter's bodyguard behind now can we? Everything alright?"

She looked up at him and he stared down at her. She drew in a short breath and nodded.

"Yeah," she said. "Everything's fine. I just…" she looked at the computers on the wall and bit her lip. "Wanted to see my mother's picture again before we took down Cross."

"I figured that might be all," Hank said, and walked further into the room. Zoe met him halfway in the middle, closing her fingers into a fist to cover the vials in her hand, hidden behind her back. "That's why I made you this, as a thank you and an apology for kidnapping you. It may be a tad bit out of character of me to give you this, but it's the only good side I could find of your father."

Zoe gulped and looked at the red jewelry box that rested along Hank's palm. She quickly put the vials in her pocket and reached for her hair tie. She pulled out the hair out of her face and pulled it up to a ponytail. Then she took the jewelry box in her hands and opened it up. Her mouth dropped ajar. Two golden heart lockets that looked antique in their own unique ways shined underneath the dim lights of the workshop.

"I made one for Ava in case she was curious," Hank continued as he smiled at her distilled expression that was a mixture of awe and thankful.

She pulled one out and she set the box down on the workshop table, so that she could open the heart locket. It was Amanda-Lynn and Dr. Richard Sawyer the second. Amanda carried Zoe, and Richard carried Ava in their arms.

She drew in a shaky breath and studied the locket as Hank spoke to her. This was so beautiful that it made her eyes water and tear up. She'd never received something so precious like this before. And she was probably going way out of line here, but she had to hug him. She had to throw her arms around him and hug him tight. "Thank you," she whispered.

Hank chuckled and hugged her back. "I only knew your father for a short amount of time before he disappeared."

Zoe pulled apart from Hank and allowed him to help her put in on. "You should talk to Hope a little bit more you know?" she asked. "I think she'd like that, even though she doesn't really show it, she wants to talk to you."

Hank smiled. "We'll see if we pull this off won't we?" he said. She felt the cool clasp of the locket close against her neck and placed her hair back down before she turned around to face him.

The heart of her necklace dropped just below her neck, and hid slightly underneath her collared blouse.

She looked down and sniffled, fidgeting slightly as she looked at Ava's heart necklace. She decided to put that on and looked at the pictures of her parents before she completely broke down and into tears that she'd been holding for so long since the beginning of this assignment.

"I can't," she bemoaned. "I can't do this. Not to you." She pulled out the Pym Particles out of her pocket and handed it to him. "Here."

Hank blinked down at the vials in her hands and swallowed hard. He hadn't expected that, although he had some sort of inkling something was up with Zoe when she didn't follow the rest of them upstairs. He didn't think it would be this.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "And I don't think I deserve these either…" She was about to pull off her locket necklaces when he stopped her, grabbing a hold of her arm to stop her from taking them off. Her arms shook with sadness ridden in her body. She'd done many things for S.H.I.E.L.D., and lying to her friends was one of the hardest things she'd ever had to do. Taking the Pym Particle seemed easier somehow, no matter how un-right it felt in her heart.

"Zoe, Zoe, Zoe," he said. "It's okay. They're gifts. And thank you for being honest with me."

Zoe sighed and looked down at the workshop table-light., tapping her fingers lightly against it "I'm always honest."

Hank chuckled lightly, and put the vials back in their holsters before he turned all the lights off. "Depends on who you work for when it comes to honesty right?" he asked her, and she nodded. He threw an arm around her and gave her a gentle squeeze of reassurance. "I'll tell you a story of my S.H.I.E.L.D. days on the way there."

Zoe brushed her tears away with the pads of her thumbs and smiled as they walked up the stairs, closing shop for the night.

~*AM*~

Later that evening, Zoe and Hope walked side by side, forming a line as they went through the body scanner to be scanned and checked. The amount of security detail Cross put at every corner was unreal and unnerving in Zoe's eyes, as she looked around her surroundings. Hope smiled at the security guard as he waved a wand over her arms and legs, along her black pencil-skirt and black blazer that fit her perfectly. Zoe wore her usual casual work attire, a pantsuit with a buttoned down blazer with her badge attached to her pocket, named Agent Sawyer.

"I feel so naked without my knives," she whispered under her breath.

"Could've gone a whole lifetime without hearing that," Scott said in her earpiece that was hidden inside her silver post earrings.

Zoe smiled. It was true. She never left home without her knives, but in this case it was a rare exception. She had to act all bodyguard and buff for Hope's sake if she wanted to pull this whole operation off and not leave Cross suspicious.

Dave should've been driving Scott and Kurt to the outside of the building right now, putting up orange parking cones to secure the truck.

Zoe's turn. She stepped through the body scanner that beeped off when she went through and she cringed. She stepped back and pulled off her earrings and showed them to the security guard. He looked down and pulled out a basket. Zoe scoffed and rolled her eyes testily. She put them inside, her gun, and her badge inside the basket before it went underneath the computer scanner right next to the body scanners. She felt like she was at the airport. But whatever Cross wanted, she just had to be extra diligent this time.

"Please walk back through ma'am," the security guard said.

Zoe nodded. She twirled around and went back through and twirled around with her hands in the air. "Need an encore?" she asked.

"All clear," he said through his mic tacked to his uniform and nodded.

"Thank you," she muttered underneath her breath and picked up her items at the end of the scanning table. She put her earrings back on that were thankfully undetected. Unbeknownst to Cross, he didn't know S.H.I.E.L.D.'s technology that could hide underneath various places.

She pocketed her gun behind her and placed her badge back onto her hip. She followed Hope's side at a quick and brisk pace.

"We're set," Kurt slid inside the van.

Zoe and Hope shared a small look, knowing that Scott had shrunk into Ant-Man size.

"Dude, he's online," Kurt said.

As Luis got scanned, clear to be a security guard, he walked inside and down the main water pressure room. The nerves got to him; however, and he started to whistle, in hopes that he would blend in but also because he was nervous as he walked inside the dark and blue room by himself… or not so by himself like he thought he was because another security guard was there too.

Luis stopped in his trek and froze.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" the security guard asked.

"Uh…" Luis said. "Bossman said to secure the area, so I'm securing."

The security guard stepped forward and toward over Luis. "I'm the boss," he said.

"Oh," Luis gulped.

The top security guard started to radio in Luis's suspicious character downstairs, but was suddenly knocked out by Luis's balled up fist. Once he fell unconscious, face first, Luis quickly walked over to the water pressure tube and turned the wheel toward the right. He ran back outside, passing the pressure temp as it drastically went down to a 57.7.

"Water level is dropping," Kurt announced.

Scott and the fire ants were on their way, traveling through the tube and water waste. "Coming up on the extraction point," Kurt told Scott.

"I see it!" he exclaimed. "Alright, come on, I gotta get up there guys, that's it, that's it, you got it come on!" The fire ants helped steady him up and up until he got to the tiny opening where a line of fire ants hung down like a rope so that Scott could climb up and inside the building. A tiny ring fell from the sink, and Scott pushed his way out from the sink's facet. "Alright let's fly Ant-thony!" he hopped up from the sink and onto Ant-thony. An army of flying ants followed Scott inside the bathroom and up inside the air vents.

"The Ant-Man is in the building," Kurt said, glancing at his laptop inside the van.

"Pym's pulling up, right on time," Dave looked out the window. That was a nice car too. He turned his binoculars to the side in search for any issues and landed on a parked car with two cops inside. "Shh… got a crowd big right outside…." He said.

"Is this a problem?" Kurt said, coming up beside him as he spoke through the fenced off backseat.

"Considering the crowd's most commonly undercover cops man, yeah, this is a problem," Dave explained with a firm nod of his head.

Hank drove the car forward once he was clear to get inside and pulled up to the curb of the building.

Unbeknownst to him, Paxton and his partner Gale was watching for Pym's arrival. "That's him," Paxton said and they piled out of the car so that they could catch up to him, as Pym gave his car to the valet.

Meanwhile, inside the building, Scott was making his way through the air vents close to the future room where a guard in a crisp suit stood outside, hands folded neatly in front of him, and at full attention.

"Paraponera claramanatra," Scott announced. "I don't remember what it's called but I feel bad for this guy!"

Luis walked down the long white corridor and joined the guard beside him in greeting. He showed his badge attached on his pocket and motioned a quick nod of his head. "Sup man," he said.

Tiny black ants fell through the air vent and onto his neck. All of a sudden he started to shout in pain as the ants bit into his skin. He started to freak out and try to pry the ants off of him. He leaned forward for Luis to help him, but instead, Luis punched him in the face. "See! That's what I'm talking about! That's what I call an unfortunate casualty," Luis said as soon as Hope and Zoe walked toward the clear doors that held the technology inside. Hope swiped her card and gave Luis a cold and hard look before she walked inside. Zoe smirked at Luis as he finished his sentence in a quiet murmur, scared of Hope. "In a very serious operation."

"Stay out here, I'll be out in two seconds," Hope instructed Zoe.

Zoe nodded, and stood crossed her arms, guarding the room as Luis pulled the guard inside.

Hope walked inside the weave of computer monitors and walked over to the server. She pulled out the drawer. She placed Hank's device inside the server drawer and Kurt was getting an instant reading on his laptop.

"Signal in place," Kurt said more or less to himself. "Mean pretty lady did good Scott." Kurt said as he typed on his second laptop.

"Shh," Dave said as he kept a look out for Pym's whereabouts. "Look's like Pym's getting arrested."

"What?" Zoe exclaimed, turning to her earpiece. "Why?"

"Problem?" Scott said at the same time. "What's the problem?"

Without warning, Dave climbed out of the front seat of the van. Kurt called after him and Zoe looked at Luis with a worried look. Luis shook his head. "You know I hear if you worry too much you get wrinkles."

Zoe tilted her head to the side, shoulders slumping at his response. "Just change," she pointed to the unconscious man. Luis grinned at her and nodded.

"Listen to me, if I don't get inside, millions of people are going to die," Pym tried to explain it to Gale and Paxton.

"That's awfully dramatic," Gale said, clearly not believing him.

Paxton's car turned on and he looked up at the sound of his sirens going off. He widened his eyes. What the hell? "Are you kidding me?!" Paxton said. Gale and Paxton started to chase after it, Pym long forgotten so he could slip inside and make his way through security.

"Problem solved," Kurt said with an impressive nod toward his friend, joyriding in a police car.

Zoe had helped Luis get him inside his suit. He was taking too long for her likings, and Hope was watching the two try to put on his suit. She helped him string on the jacket. Zoe picked up the weapon and locked it on safety so that Luis didn't hurt himself. She handed it to him and gave him a look of warning as to be careful with it. Luis grinned and the three of them walked out of the room. "You're in charge now," Zoe turned to Luis. He nodded. "Just stay calm and cool. It'll be over before you know it," she said and straightened up his jacket before she walked over to Hope who was looking at her with a stern look as if to say Zoe was wasting time.

Zoe quickly tore away from Luis and stood right beside her only to cross paths with Darren Cross. She tightened her fist at her side and Hope looked at Zoe cautiously. Zoe nodded and let out a deep breath, keeping calm. Hope straightened herself out and forced a smile.

"Well," he paused, glancing between the two women before him. "How do I look?"

Zoe tightened her jaw and formed a casual and professional smile on her face.

"Good, Darren, you look good," Hope said and cast a wary glance at Zoe. "I hardly think extra protection detail on me is necessary."

"Oh, I think it is," he said. "Agent Sawyer is one of the best in the country. A first degree black belt in martial arts and weaponry mistress is smart. Anything to keep you safe."

Hope nodded. He hooked his arm out for her to take it and she stepped forward, placing her delicate hands onto the hook of his shoulder. Zoe was quick in toe to keep up with them as they walked down the hallway. The more ooze he spoke, the more her stomach churned.

They walked inside the busy lobby and spotted Hank walking through security. He picked up his mini-tank keychain from the basket and pocketed into his pantsuit. Hank looked up from the floor and saw Darren, Hope, and Zoe.

"Right on time," Darren said with a smile on his face. He held up his wrist to show Hank his watch. Hank looked at it and cast a small look with Hope. "Come on." Darren ushered Hank, Hope, and Zoe inside and down the lab. Everything was on high security alert that made Zoe wonder how big this Yellow-Jacket thing really was. Darren seemed quite proud of himself right now as he opened up the steel doors to his humble abode.

"12 point verification," the robotic female voice said.

"A little over the top don't you think Darren?" Hank asked.

"Turning authorization," The voice continued.

"Well, you can never be too safe," he responded.

Hank nodded and forced a smile at Darren. Darren smirked and looked down just as the doors opened up to reveal an interesting room that Zoe had never seen before. She wanted the awkward tension between Hank and Darren to ease up a little bit and she hoped that with the doors opening it would be a bit less.

"I gotta hand it to you Darren," Hank said as they walked inside the cylinder dome-like room covered in steel walls and blue infrared lights around the room. "You really did it."

Zoe looked over at the guard, guarding the door, making Zoe feel like a honeybee trapped in its own honey-hive. The doors slid to a close, and Zoe didn't like that either. She gulped.

"And you'll only know the half of it Hank," Darren said.

Zoe frowned at Darren's comment.

On top of the roof, Mitchell Carson and his investors climbed out of the helicopter and walked inside the building.

Meanwhile, Scott was flying through the steel vents, with an army of ants flying behind him. "Arriving second position. Alright top of the speed Ant-thony, let's go!" he pushed forward and zoomed as fast as he could with Ant-thony's strength and all the ant had on him. They got inside the server/future room and the fire ants crawled inside. "Commander assuming position."

He zoomed up and all the way up top and then dropped down at his highest point inside the future room with blue lights that illuminated from the servers. "Be right back, Ant-thony!" he dropped down and landed on his feet. He looked down at the maze in front of him. "Alright guys, I'm in position. Signal the ants."

~*AM*~

"Oh no, no, no!" Paxton cried as he finally made his way to his crashed vehicle. Smoke billowed out of the hood of his engine, completely toast. He let out a bitter growl and kicked his wheel with his foot.

Dave ran as fast as he could down to their van and climbed back inside. "Did you see that?!" Dave let out a laugh of pride and joy, as he settled inside his van. He looked over at Kurt, quite excited at his good work for distracting the police, but accidentally hit the horn of his wheel. He froze and looked in front of his windshield.

Paxton heard the familiar sound and looked over at the empty parking lot, glaring right directly at Dave and Kurt. Oops…

~*AM*~

"Assume formation," Scott ordered back inside the future/server room once the fire ants finished lining up. They raised their antennas under Scott's command now that they had bonded over the past few weeks. "Alright you crazies, let's fry these servers!"

Antenna's raised and hooked, they powered the servers and used all their energy and might to fry out the servers. The blue electricity that formed like a maze inside the room began to flicker.

Satisfied, Scott ran and jumped back up so he could hop back onto Ant-thony and fly in between the electricity lights that flickered off. "Let's go get him buddy!" Scott cried, feeling the excitement and adrenaline as he'd done something right for once in his life. "The servers are fried," Kurt said in Scott's earpiece. "Got the backup completely erased."

"Get me to the particle chamber," Scott said.

~*AM*~

Mitchell Carson walked forward down the hallway that led him inside the particle chamber along with his two investors side by side. They walked over to stand behind him as Mitchell greeted Darren with a firm handshake. Hank looked over at him with slight shock in his eyes, but knew he probably had this coming, after all Zoe had warned him about his recent dealings with a few ill companies he disagreed with.

"Hello Dr. Cross," Mitchell said and turned his head to face Hank, sending him a smug look on his face, and then looked back at Darren. "My associates have agreed to your terms."

Zoe licked her lips and folded her hands over her stomach, feeling the nerves prick her skin and the hair stand up along her neck.

"Wonderful," Darren smiled. He turned to look at Hank. "Mr. Carson introduced me to these fine gentlemen here. They're representatives of HYDRA. They're not what they were. They're doing some interesting work," he let out a small laugh. "And I'm enjoying myself. You tried to hide your technology from me and now it's going to blow up in your face."

As Zoe tried her best to stay neutral throughout this deal, she was literally screaming on the inside. All of the fiber and fire in her being screamed otherwise. HYDRA was evil, but Hank already threw a punch across Darren's face for her instead that only made her smile. Alright, Hank! Hank wretched his arm away from one of the guards that tried to stop him, and Zoe had stepped cautiously forward to intervene in case she needed to but Hope steadied her slowly. Zoe pursed her lips together and looked at Hope but then at Darren, Hank, and Mitchell.

"Wow….wow!" Darren nodded in approval. "I mean I saw that punch coming a mile away but I just figured it'd be all pathetic and weak," he nursed the side of his cheek, rubbing the stinging pain away.

"Well, you figured wrong," Hank said.

Zoe's lips curled into a smirk of a smile and Mitchell turned his head, noticing her movement as she tried to be subtle. "Is that who I think it is?" Mitchell asked, running a curious hand over his chin.

Hank's eyes slowly slanted over to Zoe.

Zoe looked over at Mitchell curiously as her eyes furrowed at him. "Who are you?" she asked, feigning all innocence.

Mitchell chuckled. "Mitchell Carson and you must be Ava Sawyer! You were so little, but your face is just…so familiar, I thought I recognized you! Dr. Sawyer's daughter, am I right?"

"Yes," Zoe said before Hank could correct Mitchell in saying he got the wrong twin, but she cleared her throat. "Yes, that's me," she chuckled nervously. "Agent Ava Sawyer. All grown up."

"I didn't figure you for a high-class bodyguard," Mitchell said, casting a glance over at Hope. Zoe shrugged.

"It seemed appropriate at the time. It was good discipline, especially since I had no one else to take care of me." Zoe said, eyeing him closely. She wasn't backing down from him and she kept her chin held up high.

Mitchell chuckled heartedly and warmly. "Nice. I'm thrilled you're alive."

Hope looked nervously at Zoe. Perhaps it was a good idea after all just to put Sawyer in the system. She didn't know whether or not it was brave for Zoe to pose as her sister or stupid to pose as her sister…and how long would that charade last?

The tension was definitely not going away anytime soon, Zoe thought with a gulp. At least she'd gotten Mitchell off her back.

~*AM*~

"I know this van," Paxton said as he looked around the seemingly empty van, but Kurt and Dave had crouched down hidden inside the dark backseat. Kurt was crouched down with his two laptops and they were both shushing each other, trying to get the other to clam down.

Meanwhile, Scott was working on killing the servers and setting the charges with the fire ants as they each carried small TNT's on their back, and carried one another through the tiny wires and particles to blow up the substance. "I'll take it from here guys. Final position," Scott announced to Dave and Kurt. Scott dropped a nail down to check out the grid to see if it was safe to go through. "Guys how are we doing on that laser grid?"

"Almost," Kurt whispered, as he watched the download close to sixty percent.

Dave looked at him from behind and smirked. "No you're not."

"I'm getting close!"

"No you're not!" Dave smirked.

Inside the building Scott and the fire-ants along with Ant-thony and his friends were waiting patiently for the download on Kurt's computer to finish.

"San Francisco PD!" Paxton pounded on the van and shouted. Gale walked up behind him. "Get out of the van!"

Kurt looked up from his computer screen and Dave looked up out his windshield but then looked back at Kurt's laptop. "Make it go faster!" he whispered.

"Dude, seriously!" Kurt hissed between his teeth.

Scott reached for the hook as the ants lowered it down. He hooked it onto his suit belt ready to jump inside.

Back inside the van, Kurt saw that the download was over seventy percent.

"Ready to jump, do you read Kurt?" Scott said, tapping into his earpiece.

"So close…" Kurt replied in a whisper.

Paxton and Gale finally managed to get the backdoors open with their guns raised at Kurt and Dave. Kurt and Dave looked at each other as they put their hands up in the air. "Wait a minute, wait a minute!" Dave cried. "There was a black guy that looked exactly like me who attacked us and kidnapped us and put us in this disgusting van."

"Enough," Paxton put his gun back into his gun and reached inside to grab him from the inside. Paxton threw him down on the ground as Dave caught the pavement with his two hands. His face hit the pavement and grimaced.

"Take it easy," he hissed.

Paxton rolled his eyes and shoved him down, not taking anymore of his b.s.

"Move," Kurt informed Scott once his download turned green.

The grid inside the Particle room was now clear so that Scott could jump inside. Scott ran and jumped down, zooming inside, head first.

"Wait!" Kurt said as Gale grabbed him from the van, trying to rip him away from his laptop.

"What?!" Scott asked. "What do you mean wait?!"

Gale wrapped his arms around Kurt's body, but Kurt fought with all his might as he hadn't quite finished getting rid of the grid. He needed to push one more button. He hit the space bar once he'd turned over to face his laptop and then sighed with relief once the grid was finally gone so that Scott didn't get caught inside.

Scott made it through without any grid glitches, but his hook suddenly stopped working right. He was so close to Cross's yellow-jacket suit.

"What?" he asked, feeling the string retract back from the suit. Scott looked up at the sound of loud banging against the glass that rang harshly in his ears. He looked up at the clear glass, and suddenly felt like a fish in a fish bowl. Darren's huge bald head appeared in front of Scott's eyes. Scott looked inside his hand and saw that Darren had the small Yellow-Jacket suit inside a tiny vial bottle. He'd already taken it out. Scott was too late.

The hole of the tube closed off, cutting Scott off from the cord and he dropped down onto the steel floor inside the glass tube.

Hope widened her eyes as Darren had caught Scott inside the round glass tube. Zoe had a sickening feeling in her stomach and a wave of dread washed over her. Why was the situation turning from bad to worse all of a sudden? Scott…she thought worriedly and wanted nothing more than to rescue him right then and there, but how could she? She didn't know how any of this stuff worked. She was just supposed to get at least a particle of the suit and keep it out of the wrong hands, but maybe she was too late. Maybe she'd lost this round…

"I always suspected you had a suit stored away somewhere," Darren said, wagging a finger in his face. "That begs the question, who is the new Ant-Man?" he asked, raising his voice.

He was a bit dramatic for Zoe's likings right now.

"Who is the man that my beloved mentor trusted more than me?" Darren asked, jealousy oozing out of his lips as he spoke out to the HYDRA men, Mitchell, Hope, and Zoe.

"Scott Lang," Darren said.

Two pictures of Scott's mug shots appeared on screen, one faced forward and the other was a profile side shot of him.

"The martyr," Darren continued. "Who took on the system and paid the price, loosing his family, and his only daughter in the process," he tightened the tiny cylinder in his hand that carried the Yellow-Jacket inside. Zoe licked her lips as she listened to him and kept her eyes fixated on him as he walked over to a table. That table had a silver brief case open. The image on the screen changed to Scott's family. "Exactly your kind of guy, Hank!"

Darren whirled around and looked at Hank expectantly. Hope looked at her father and he shook his head, looking down on the floor.

Scott listened inside his encased glass and looked up from the bottom.

Zoe looked over sadly at him and pursed her lips together while Darren opened up the brief case so he could place the cylinder inside it.

"He escapes his jail cell without any clue as to how," Darren said. "Taking a special lady-friend with him, Agent Ava Sawyer, who works for S.H.I.E.L.D., who I'm sure has been sent here to steal my suit and anything that could replicate it," he said, eying his HYDRA-men. They glared at her and Zoe gulped.

"And then he disappears magically, despite having no money to his name and now he brings me the Ant-Man suit!" Darren said, showing his men with his hands as he walked closer to the glass tube as Scott desperately tried to break it down with his tiny fists. "The only thing that can rival my creation." Darren said, holding onto the tube.

Scott tried to jump out but it was no use. He just kept getting bounced off the glass, landing on his back.

"Darren," Hank sighed finally. He shook his head. "Don't do this. If you sell to these men. There's going to be chaos."

"I already have," Darren smiled. "And for twice the price thanks to you. It's not easy to successfully infiltrate an Avenger's facility, thankfully word travels fast."

"You son of a bitch," Zoe said and went to go after him, but one of the HYDRA men grabbed her arm and yanked her back, squeezing her shoulder tightly to keep her in place. Maybe she should've focused more on Darren Cross rather than Mitchell at the moment, she thought with a realized frown on her face.

He chuckled warmly at her, glancing at the agent with such ferocity. He took out the yellow particle tiny bottle out of the brief case and held it between his fingers. "Oh, I'll send them the Yellow-Jacket, just like your boss wanted, Agent Sawyer, but I'm keeping the yellow particle for myself. They don't run on diesel. If you want the fuel, you'll have to come to me." He handed the yellow particle bottle over to one of his HYDRA men and he took it within his hands. Darren turned to walk towards Hank. "What do you call the only man who can arm the most powerful weapon in the world?"

"The most powerful man in the world," Hank responded.

"You proud of me, yet?" Darren asked with a smile on his face.

Hank shook his head. "You can stop this, Darren. It's not too late."

"It's been too late for a long time, now," Darren said and with a quick motion of his head, he signaled two of his HYDRA men that had been guarding the entrances to pull out their guns an aim at Hank's head.

"Darren!" Hope cried, unable to watch the madness go on for much longer.

Zoe looked over at Hope with wide eyes as she heard the clicks on their guns in her ears. The HYDRA man who held her captive pulled her close, but she shrugged him off and glared at him. He eyed her curiously as they stared at one another. She turned back to face the scene unfolding before her eyes.

"What are you doing?" Hope asked. Worry shined in her eyes as she glanced back and forth between Darren and her father now imperil danger.

"He wasn't capable of caring for you than he was for me," Darren said with a shake of his head.

"This is not who you are," Hope tried to reason with him. "It's the particles altering your brain chemistry."

Darren and Hope looked at each other, Hope pleading desperately not to kill her father. Zoe watched with dreaded anticipation unable to help but freeze with fear as it took a hold of her.

"Wait, wait, wait," Darren said suddenly, breaking the silence. He reached over and grabbed one of the HYDRA men's guns and took it in his hands, leaving a small room for a breathing moment. "You're right," Darren said suddenly. He took the gun away from him and looked at it in his hands. "I have to be the one to do it." Darren said and he aimed the gun at Hank's head.

Hope suddenly elbowed her HYDRA man in the face and grabbed his gun from his pocket. Zoe mimicked her move and grabbed her gun, aimed at the HYDRA-men who tried to come after Hope to stop her from killing Darren. She stood in between them, blocking Hope from harm's way.

"Here we go," Mitchell muttered and took a step back, just as everyone lost focus on him, and focused on each other.

"Drop your gun," Hope said through hissed teeth.

Zoe's gun was fixated on the HYDRA-men as she clicked her trigger, ready to fire at any second in case they made a move on her.

Scott tried to continuously get out of his glass tube.

"You know I came to the house the other night to kill him, but you were there," Darren said, turning to look at Hope, still keeping his gun on Hank.

"You're sick and I can help you!" Hope said. "Just put the gun down."

"I wasn't ready to kill you then," Darren said.

Zoe eyed the HYDRA men in front of her and then at Darren.

"But I think I am now!" Darren said.

Zoe looked over at Hope.

"Drop your gun now!" Hope warned angrily.

"You picked the wrong side, Hope!" Darren bit back and aimed for Hank's head, ready to shoot, but Scott had suddenly tossed one of the discs at the glass tube. The glass tube shattered around the room in an explosion like-light that made Scott bigger. Everyone took cover, and ducked for their life as Scott zoomed back into the Ant-Man form so he could take on the HYDRA men in the room.

Hank threw a punch at Darren who doubled over on the ground.

One of the HYDRA men came after Hope and ripped her weapon away from her, but she threw a punch across his face instead. He whirled around and landed on the ground.

Zoe swung her head back, dodging from one of her HYDRA-men and kneed him in the stomach. Another was about to shoot her, but Scott zoomed toward him and knocked him across the steel wall instead. She smiled and was about to go help Hank until a shot rang in the dark and a scream left Hope's lips.

"Dad!"

Hope and Zoe looked at each other and Zoe ran over to Hank as Hope froze in her spot, physically shaken that her father had been shot.

A HYDRA man appeared out from his hiding spot, and Scott ran forward, jumped on him and punched him in the face, growing human-sized again as the man fell unconscious.

Scott ran over to Hank and knelt down beside him. "Hank, Hank, listen to me, you're going okay, alright? You're going to be just fine…" Scott said as he tried to calm Hank down from his bullet wound. "Go find that particle, Zo-" Scott was about to tell Zoe, but he stopped talking when he heard the metal cling against metal behind him.

"Take the suit off or I'll blow your brains out and peel it off!" Darren warned.

"Hope!" Zoe cried out, looking up at her.

Hope pulled out her earpiece and started to control a set of ants to get to Darren's gun. They started to quickly crawl on top of his gun and gain control of it and his wrist as they crawled all over his body. He dropped his gun. Zoe reached for it and pocketed it inside her jacket. Hank lowered his head with a small smile on his face, knowing that his daughter was alright and more than capable of being on the right side.

Darren started to take off his jacket as the ants crawled on top of him, now distracted. He wanted out of the creepy crawly mess. So he grabbed the suit-case off the table and ran out of there as fast as he could.

Zoe ran a hand over Hank's head of hair and at the corner of Scott's eyes, he saw Carson reach for the particle before the ants could get to him that crawled on the unconscious man on the ground. He pulled out the vial of the Yewllow-Jacket particle and put it in his hands. Carson cried out as the ants got on him too. He tried to shake them off as he ran out of the room.

"Zoe, go!" Scott said, panicking.

"Are you sure?" she asked, looking at him, feeling her heart rush against her chest.

Scott nodded. "I can take it from here."

Zoe nodded and before she left, she threw a her arms around Scott for a hug. "Go before he gets away!" Scott said.

She got up off the floor and ran after him. She was not going to let Mitchell Carson slip by her.

~*AM*~  
"Carson, stop!" Zoe said, pulling the trigger slowly on her handgun. She held it tight within her hands just like she was taught at the SHIELD Academy. She raised her gun in the air and aimed for his head. "I said, stop!" she repeated when he didn't stop at her commands.

He finally put one leg down and looked at the yellow particles inside the vial in his hand, and twisted it between his fingers.

"I wasn't exactly sure if we'd ever get the chance to meet again, Miss Sawyer," Carson said.

Zoe rolled her eyes. "That's Agent Sawyer to you."

Mitchell chuckled, and turned around to face the young woman before him. Her eyes shined of determination yet slight trepidation within her hazel irises. She was scared underneath that tiny frame of hers at just five' two'. It really did amaze him that she would have come this far only to be working for S.H.I.E.L.D. then again, perhaps not so much with the interesting characters they've chosen as of late to work for them. Ava, among others, had proven to be the most interesting. So, she'd work for the good guys is that it? Her powers were too precious to let go to waste, and Carson wasn't about to miss his opportunity.

"Then again," he continued. "I'd hoped."

"The particles," Zoe said. "Give them to me now and I might let you walk out of here without a bullet wound."

Mitchell let out a hearty laugh. Zoe could see the sparkle in his eyes when he laughed and she gulped. She could feel her nerves start to prick her skin and the sweat pour over her brow. She probably should have known this wasn't going to be easy. That thing cost millions, and so did the Yellow-Jacket Suit, but Scott was taking care of that as she stood here at this spot, hoping that Mitchell would comply to her wishes. She didn't want to have to get bloody on this one. Why couldn't things just be easy for her? She frowned.

"I'm glad you ran out all this way to follow me into the dark, Agent Sawyer," he mused lightly. Zoe looked up at the dim-lit streetlight that seemed to flicker above him, shining down on the yellow-particle vial in his hands.

"Are you?" she asked, steadying her gun on him. She crept forward on cement pavement that clicked beneath her heels as she walked towards him. "Why?" she bit back a wince. Damn it, Zoe, now was not a time for Q&A! Too late, she'd already asked and she was almost sure he was going to oblige.

"Do you know what you're capable of?" he asked.

Zoe licked her dry lips and blew out a deep breath. "Death," she said. "I'm capable of killing you just by peeking into your future, Mr. Carson. Except I choose not to."

"Another martyr?" Carson bellowed into laughter until his lips curled into a small smile.

"I'm pretty sure you're confused with that term," Zoe muttered.

"No, no," he shook his head. "I understand it just fine."

"The particles, now, Mr. Carson," Zoe said. "Please. They're dangerous and you know it."

"Oh, I do know it," he said with a firm nod of his head. "Which is why I have them. They're in good hands, and now I have you."

Zoe frowned, and slightly lowered her gun. "I don't understand," she said, furrowing her brows tightly together.

Mitchell motioned a quick nod of his head to look behind her. She whirled around and was about to pull her trigger to shoot at her attacker from behind, but another guy had swept out from underneath her and grabbed her from behind. He twisted her arm backwards, that caused her to drop her gun onto the floor and he kicked it back so she couldn't get to it. She yanked herself upward and tried to kick her other attacker that had tried to come at her from behind. She managed to kick the soles of her boots at his face. He doubled over, and let out a groan. She tried to wretch her arms away but he only held tighter.

Mitchell watched curiously from behind at the pure struggle of Ava Sawyer as she tried to get away from his men. A black SUV drove down the shiny road underneath the moonlight above him, and then another. He hopped into one of them and took one last look at her to see if she would use her powers on any of them, but she was holding on to her heart. She really was a martyr. He thought with a smirk on his face. He told the driver to go ahead once one of his boys had grabbed a syringe from his pocket, annoyed that she'd made a red imprint of her shoe on his hard round face.

She bit down on his finger and the man nearly dropped her when her bite had stung his index finger. She tried to kick the other man who carried her legs, but he only gripped them tighter. She cried out, as he tightened her left leg calf. The man that had once carried her arms pulled her up back off the ground. He wrapped his arms around her to keep from struggling.

A stinging sensation suddenly coursed through her neck. She felt the tip of the syringe into the side of her neck, piercing her cream-colored flesh. She fell limp within their arms and her screams died down.

The two men carried her body into their car and set her in the backseat of the car.

He slammed the door shut and climbed into the passenger side. "Let's go," he said. "Before someone sees."

~*AM*~  
"So the yellow-jacket got destroyed, and we all came out unscathed," Scott said as he followed Hope inside her father's house.

"Except for Zoe," Hope said. "Any word yet?"

Scott stopped in the hallway and turned to face her. He shook his head. He'd asked Paxton to help send out a search party for her but so far no traces of her have been found in the wreckage of Pym Technologies, at least he hadn't heard a call yet from Paxton and he was just as anxious to hear from him.

It was like she vanished into thin air.

He shook his head. "You think I should have gone after her?"

Hope's eyes traveled from the floor and flicked upwards to meet his. "She would've been long gone by the time you got to her, Scott. I'm sure she tried to put up a good fight."

Scott listened to her words and he nodded in silent agreement. He pulled out his cell phone and highlighted her name in his contacts. He'd asked Kurt to find traces of Zoe's research that she'd been obsessed with for the past two weeks when she was here with them to see if anything triggered her whereabouts. Otherwise, he was going to have to make a call.

"If she's gone, that means the particles are gone too," Scott said.

Hope sighed. "Well, maybe we'll figure something out. Something's bound to show up, right?" she looked at him, and again he nodded slowly. He put his phone back inside his back pocket and together they walked into the living room where Hank was seated in his chair, nursing a cup of tea. "Oh, Scott, Hope, hello," he said, sipping lightly on his lukewarm drink. He put his teacup on his saucer and stood up to greet them. Scott reached his arm forward and shook hands with Hank before they sat down.

"You wanted to see me?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, I did," Hank nodded.

Hope leaned against the threshold and folded her arms over her chest.

"How's the arm?" Scott pointed to his arm curled up in a blue sling.

"It's uh…healing," he said, patting it lightly. He winced but then gave Scott a real smile and Scott smiled too.

"That's good," he gave him an encouraging nod. "That's really good. So, um, what'd you want to talk about?"

"It's about the Ant-Man suit," Hank continued, casting a small glance toward his daughter. "And how you defeated Cross. How did you escape?"

Scott froze in his spot and looked from Hank to Hope in a millisecond. He blinked at the question that hung in the air. He went subatomic. He was shattered into a million pieces, going through time, space, gravity, and everything that Hank mentioned Scott would do if he ever used the regulator and had the potential to literally die, much like Janet did, but he didn't. He came out the other end. Scott didn't know how to explain it. He'd skipped Chemistry with Zoe.

Scott ran a hand over his jaw and massaged his muscles loose. "I…don't know."

"Scott, please," Hank said. The tone of his desperation entered Scott's ears and he winced. Even if Scott remembered, he wasn't sure if he'd tell Hank. Hank probably would've become too obsessed with trying to figure out how to mimic Scott's grand escape out of that subatomic psychedelic scary hellhole that he pulled himself out of. All Scott wanted to do was to get back to his daughter, and he did. "You don't remember anything?"

Scott pursed his lips together and looked into Hank's eyes through his glasses. His heart went out to him, but Scott honestly didn't remember. He shook his head sadly.

"H-hank, I don't," he said, clasping his hands together.

"There must be something else," Hank tried again.

Hope's eyes fell to the ground floor in remembrance of her mother and looked up at her father's voice.

"I suppose the human mind can't just comprehend the experience," he explained.

Scott nodded his head in silent agreement.

"But, you made it," Hank said totally flabbergasted. "You went in and you got out. It's amazing."

Hope walked over to Scott's chair and placed her hand over the back of the chair. "Scott," she said, catching his attention. He turned to face her. "I'll walk you out."

"Will you please let me know if you find Zoe and she's alright?" Hank asked.

Scott nodded and then looked to Hank. He placed a comforting hand on his knee and got up from his seat. "Of course. Get some rest," he said.

Scott and Hope left the room, leaving Hank in pure thought and wonder about how Scott made it out alive. "Impossible…" he whispered, as he looked at the picture of his family of three.

He looked over at his teacup, half empty, and sighed. He looked at his chair and pushed himself out of it as he started to head out of the room. He opened the door and caught his daughter and Scott locked in a kiss.

Hank swallowed hard and caught his breath at the unfolding scene before his eyes. His eyes danced back and forth between his only daughter and his protégée.

Hope's lips fell from Scott's. His hands that gripped onto her shoulders lessened.

"When did this happen?" Hank asked.

"Nothing's happening," Hope said with a shake of her head.

"Whoa, hold on. Something's kind of happening," he said, glancing down at her and she pursed her lips to the side.

"Well if that's the case shoot me again," Hank demanded.

"Yeah, I don't know what you were doing, grabbing me like that…I'm a little, little surprised myself. I have to get somewhere. I'll see you later Hank."

Hope gawked at him. It so wasn't her fault. He kissed her first! Her mind screamed as he tried to brush it off like it was nothing.

"Really Hope…" Scott said.

"Huh, now I know Zoe's discontent for him in the past hasn't gone completely out the window," Hope mumbled.

"I'm sure she'll feel differently when I rescue her!" Scott called after her as he walked down the stairs.

"Hey Scott!" Hank yelled.

"Yeah?" Scott turned to face Hope's father.

"You're full of shit."

"Oh yeah," Scott nodded and jogged out the house to go meet with his family and talk to his friends and Paxton about Zoe's whereabouts.

Hope pursed her lips together in thought for a minute. "Shouldn't Captain America rescue Zoe?"

Hank looked at his daughter curiously. "One would think."

~*AM*~

Scott was thrilled to be allowed inside his old home and to be able to see his daughter again. He loved his daughter's hugs the most and he couldn't wait to have dinner with her. He wasn't thrilled about having dinner with Paxton, but the guy didn't arrest him, and he was laying down his reports about Scott's escape from prison.

"Well, Scott, I met with my Captain today. He wanted me to report on the night that you and your friend got out of jail," he explained.

Scott lifted his napkin to his lips and wiped them clean before he placed his napkin back down on his lap. He listened intently to what he had to say.

"Something happened with the cameras," Paxton continued. "Circuits got fried and I told him that you were processed correctly."

Scott widened his eyes as he felt the shock waves run through him. "Really?" he asked.

"Oh yeah. Can't be sending Cassie's dad back to jail on a technical glitch right?" he smiled.

"Thank you, Paxton," Scott breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm blown away. Thank you for everything that you do for Cassie."

Cassie looked over at him and smiled brightly, leaning her head against her hand.

"Yeah, well, that's my pleasure," Paxton said sincerely. "I did it for you."

Scott nodded, still taking every moment of this moment in. He was now a free man and he didn't have to worry about anything hanging over his shoulder anymore. He could breathe.

"This is awkward…" Scott said.

"Yeah," Paxton agreed.

"Yeah," Cassie chimed.

Maggie let out a laugh and smiled at her family, wrinkling her nose in delight toward her daughter.

"I mean what do we talk about all this?" Scott asked curiously.

"I know!" Cassie said.

"What?" Scott looked at his daughter with a smile on his face.

"I did my first cartwheel today!" she exclaimed.

"What?" Scott widened his eyes.

"Yeah," Maggie nodded. "She has been practicing all week. And today was the magic day."

"I recorded it on the phone for you," Paxton pulled out his phone and pulled up the video. He showed the video of Cassie performing a cartwheel in the backyard.

"No that can't be Cassie!" Scott said, shaking his head.

"Yeah it is," Maggie said.

"Yeah it is," Cassie smiled.

"This is a professional gymnast," Scott complimented in awe as he watched her cartwheel all over the backyard. "There's no way that's you."

"That's her alright," Paxton said as Maggie laughed, so proud of her daughter.

While the adults were talking, Cassie took one of her pieces of potato off her plate and gave it to their new house pet, a huge ant that had come up from the table and nibbled off the piece of potato skin as it fell onto the wooden floor. Cassie grinned and petted the top of its head. "Good boy!" she clapped her hands excitedly.

"Sweetie that is really amazing, peanut!" Scott said.

Cassie looked up from the ant and nodded, grinning at her father. She picked up her fork and tapped it lightly on the asparagus.

"Sorry," he said suddenly as he heard a light buzzing noise coming from his back pocket. "It's work." He placed the phone to his ear. "Yeah? On my way."

Scott sighed and looked at his daughter. "I hate to eat and run, but…"

"I know," Cassie said. "You gotta go save the world."

Scott got up from the table, along with Maggie, and Paxton. He walked over to his daughter and knelt down beside her. "Hey," he said. "I'm so proud of you, you know that right?"

Cassie nodded indefinitely. "I love you daddy."

"I love you too, and I'll always come back to you," he wrapped his hands around her tiny frame and hugged her tight.

"I'll walk you out," Paxton said.

Scott nodded and he reluctantly let go of his daughter before he left her with Maggie at the table.

Paxton walked Scott to the front door and opened it up for him. "There's something else I wanted to tell you that I think you should know."

"What about?" Scott asked, turning toward him as he grabbed his jacket from the coat hanger. He slung his arms inside each arm and shrugged it over him.

"It's about your agent friend, Zoe," Paxton said. "Now…Gale and I did a little digging back at the site, and we found this left behind." He reached into his own jacket's pocket that was hanging on the hanger and pulled out her gun wrapped in a small zip lock bag. He handed it to Scott.

Scott took the baggie into his hand and felt the hard metal around his fingertips. His fingers traced the bullet Paxton had found inside the bag.

"There were some tire-marks left behind of an SUV," Paxton continued in a small whisper. "Thought maybe you could make something out of this. I'm afraid this is out of my jurisdiction, Scott."

Scott swallowed hard and nodded. "Yeah, thank you for everything. I really mean it, Paxton."

Paxton nodded, and they shook hands. Paxton patted his shoulder before Scott left to go to work. He watched Scott leave in the middle of the night and hoped only for the best of him, as a newfound respect resounded within his heart.

~*AM*~

Outside downtown Chinatown of San Francisco, Scott made his way through the neon-lit up streets of the buildings that surrounded him. His friends were standing outside a Chinese restaurant beside Luis's van.

Kurt was leaning against the van, chowing down on some food, while Luis was looking suspiciously excited.

"Kurt, act alive man," Scott said as he tossed Zoe's gun toward him. Kurt gasped and gave Luis his food so that he could catch it with his hands, barely just making it before it hit the ground.

"Dude…" Kurt exclaimed.

"I said look alive," Scott said. "I need you to find out what you can about that gun. Who's fingerprints are on it, etcetera."

"Do you think I have an entire CSI lab in the back of his van or something?" Kurt asked, poking his thumb in Luis's direction.

Scott raised his eyebrows. "I know a couple people do…"

Kurt sighed, and pocketed the gun in his jacket. "I'm on it."

"Good. My friend's life hangs in the balance, so make it snappy."

"Once I have some Moo Shu I'll be good as gold, senior," Kurt said, taping his temple with his fingertip. Luis rolled his eyes and shoved his Chinese food box into Kurt's chest. Kurt took it and grabbed a handful of noodles.

"You don't gotta worry about that bro!" Luis said.

"I don't?" Scott asked. "Luis, this is Zoe we're talking about here. You remember she saved your life back in Soho?"

Luis cringed, nodded just the same at the memory flooding back to his mind. "Trust me, I know what I'm talking about. There's a guy who can help, but he wants our help too."

"A guy?" Scott asked.

"Yeah," Luis nodded.

"Here's the deal, just give me the facts," Scott said, giving him a firm look.

"Only the facts," Luis repeated quickly. "Only the facts."

"Breathe," Scott said, inhaling a short breath and he let it out. "Focus. Keep it simple."

Luis took in a breath and nodded. "No doubt, no doubt, okay," he said and got right into the story. "So, I'm at this art museum with my cousin, Ignacio, right? And there was like this art expressionism exhibit and you know I'm more like a Neil Cubis kind of guy but there was this one Rothco that was sublime, bro! Oh, my God!"

"Luis…" Scott stopped him right there. He lifted his lips up in a terse manner and shook his head.

"Alright, I'm sorry, sorry, you know uh, I just get excited and stuff!" he smiled. "Anyway, Maxi tells me like yo I met this crazy fine writer chick at this bar last night like fine, fine, like crazy stupid fine! And he goes up to the bartender and he goes, 'Look at the girl I'm with! Know what I'm saying? She's crazy stupid fine, right?' And the bartender's all like yeah, crazy stupid fine! So this writer chick tells Egnassio that I'm in the boss of the world of gorilla journalism and I got mad connects with the peeps behind the curtains you know what I'm saying? And Ignacio says, 'For real?' and she was like 'Yeah. You know what I can't tell you what my contact is because he works with the Avengers."

Scott's all hope and reserve diminished. "Oh no," he groaned and lowered his head down. He winced at the bitter memory coming across his mind fast. Oh no, he was so in trouble right now.

"Yeah and this dude sounds like badass man! He like comes up to her and says 'Yo, I'm looking for this dude who's mo unseen, who's flashing this fresh tat, who's got like bomb moves, right? Who you got? She's like, 'well we got everything nowadays, we got a guy who jumps, we got a guy who swings, we got a guy who crawls up the walls, you gotta be more specific.' And he's like, 'I'm looking for a guy who shrinks.' And I'm like damn because I got all nervous because I keep mad secrets for you bro! So, I ask Ignacio: Did bad-ass tell the stupid fine writer chick to tell you, to tell me, because I'm tight with Ant-man that he's looking for him?"

"And?" Scott asked. "What'd he say? Does he know where Zoe is?"

Luis grinned at Scott. "He said yes."

~*AM*~


	81. Chapter 81: Unkind Hospitality

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the MCU. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 81: Unkind Hospitality**

The smells of toxic mold entered her nostrils followed by the sounds of water droplets dripped to the floor one by one in a rhythmic nature. She felt an intense pain that seemed to caress her body like a tight rope when she tried to move in her chaise lounge chair. A lounge chair? She moved her wrist attached to the sides of her lounge chair and wrinkled her nose in complete disgust.

The cold metal of silver chains coiled against her wrists like a bracelet, loose, but not enough to break free on her own. That had been her first instinct was to break out of whatever room she'd been placed in because Zoe Sawyer was not the type to just sit willingly and take hell, not like this, not in some…some torture chamber, or whatever strange hell she was in.

She opened her eyes only to find herself blindfolded. More darkness. She let out a sigh in a huff. She tried to break free again and again, twisting her wrists against the metal as she tried to pull them out with all her might, with each grunt and strain that left her lips, but all of her struggling made her tired and achy. And with each pull against the loose chain, the chain would tighten, and it would pinch against her sensitive skin.

A door swung open, and a heavy gust of wind entered the room. Footsteps, then, suddenly entered her ears, and clicked against the pavement beneath their feet. The door shut slowly afterwards. Then she heard a chair's legs scraped against the pavement beside her. She could feel hot breath against her skin each time that person came close to her.

She didn't have time to really think since she felt a sudden flesh of contact against her arm brush against her body. Heat rose to her cheeks. How long had it been since somebody last touched her?

The hand against her skin belonged to a male's hand, rough and calloused, which made Zoe squirm in her seat, not expecting the strange touch. "Shh, shh, stay still, stay still," the voice was gentle, yet had an air of condescending tone laced into it that made her stomach churn like she was going to throw up.

Once her hand was free she tried to shove him away, but he grabbed it and twisted it upward so that her arm was exposed to him. She tried to yank her arm away, but he reached out and held her close toward his chest. "Let me go…" she whispered desperately. The struggle was real. She had a hand free but he was keeping it locked tightly against him.

Heels clicked against the floor, echoing in Zoe's ears. She gulped. Two people. Zoe counted two people in the room with her.

A sudden pain shot through her arm, causing Zoe to let out a strangled cry of pain as the drug infused inside of her. Sharp nails grazed Zoe's skin, digging deep into her flesh, enough to leave red imprinted marks on her skin. The woman pushed the needle in while Zoe tried to struggle against the man's chest and arms that cradled around her to keep her still. Tape secured the needle in her arm.

Once the substance was in place, and the warm liquid eased its way into her veins, Zoe soon began to feel dizzy, paralyzed, and numb. If it hadn't been for the lounge chair holding her still, she would have fallen flat on her face, as the fainting spell became more real, and caused her to fall into blackness.

~*A*~


	82. Chapter 82: Blind Heart

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the MCU. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 82: Blind Heart**

She half expected to open her eyes in a clean hospital with warm blankets wrapped around her, keeping her warm. She half expected to open her eyes to see Steven Rogers smiling down at her with those gorgeous blue eyes of his that always captivated her no matter what was said between those beautiful lips of his that tasted so sweet on her lips. The kiss she felt before all of this. The kiss she remembered that lingered over her lips for quite some time, the kiss and the gaze that she felt drowned in, but he would hold her with such a loving embrace that kept her totally sane. She half expected to wake up with him, and to see his face so relieved to see her alive and out of harm's way.

Instead, she woke up to a dim lit room.

The blindfold was off of her, and only a small light bulb hung above her head as if she was about to be interrogated. She sighed. She turned her head and looked around her surroundings. Grey walls closed in around her. She tapped the cement cracked floor with the sole of her boot. She wasn't seated in a lounge chair anymore. She'd been moved and seated in a regular sitting chair. She wondered if she could move her wrists, but they were tied behind her back, still in chains that made her slightly wince. Her left arm hurt like hell when she tried to move because it was attached to a…she frowned when she looked down at her arm. A needle? A needle was attached to her arm that traveled to a pole beside her. She gulped in horror when she saw what that needle was attached to.

An IV bag.

Her heart started pounding against her chest. Oh, God… she thought. What had she gotten herself into? She suddenly panicked and tried to get out of her chains and tried to break free from the IV, but it was too much. It was too much pain every time she twisted her wrists against the cold metal. It wasn't like she was drowsy anymore. Whatever drug she was infused with had warn off, and now she felt a bit stronger, like she was being pumped with nutrients and liquids instead of something harmful to her. If whoever had her was pumping her with something toxic to her body, she didn't feel it.

When she couldn't break free, she let out a tired sigh. At least she could see now. That blindfold was creepy. So with a new and grateful attitude for her eyesight, she let her eyes roam around the room before her.

She'd woken up to the same room she woke up a few days before because she could still smell the same toxic mold that adorned the walls like splatter paint in a dark alleyway.

She could somewhat see in the room. The small light above her helped elevate her sight senses become more focused instead of dizzying black dots she'd felt before for a long time. It was like she wanted to wake up, but she was in such a dreamy and drowsy state that she couldn't. Voices were said, and heard, but she didn't know who they belonged to. One woman sounded vaguely familiar, but Zoe was too afraid to find out what that familiar voice belonged to. It'd just make her sad in the long run.

"Yes. It was a pleasure doing business with you too, Mr. Carson. We'll take every precaution. By the book. Mhmm," it was that voice again, Zoe realized. She licked her dry lips and felt the cracks in between her skin. She may have an IV bag strapped to her, but that was only keeping her alive for their own dirty purposes. Zoe needed water. She needed a shower. She needed her family. She needed...her throat constricted at the thought of Steve. Her heart soared at the thought of him racing in her thoughts. Steve. She thought sadly. He didn't know she was here, locked in this horrible place. God, what was she going to do? She had to get herself out because she didn't think anyone knew of her whereabouts, so she continued to try and yank her arms out of the chains that pulled against her will. She closed her eyes tight and with her might she tried to twist and try to get out, while this woman was distracted on her phone, talking to Mitchell Carson. That bastard, Zoe thought bitterly, twisting her wrist against the silver chain.

"If she succeeds in the experiments," the woman's voice continued in an almost angelic way. "We'll take the blood samples to him so he can start making replicas. If it's an army he wants, it's an army he will get. For what her director did to my husband, I'm more than willing to comply." She paused again, and Zoe strained to hear the woman on the phone.

This woman was hiding in the shadows of the room, but she could hear the voice loud and clear and it was giving Zoe chills. It was nagging her and Zoe wanted to know. Just like magic, the woman's face emerged out of the shadows and into the light that made Zoe's heart slow to a slow beat. No. It can't be... April. Zoe gulped as the realization dawned on her. April had once been a dear friend to her mother and Zoe. Why would she suddenly be apart of this organization? Who was her husband? How did she get involved? Zoe had so many questions running through her head, and she was trying to process everything that was around her.

"Yes, Mr. Carson. Hail Hydra," she said and Zoe heard her snap her cell phone shut, making Zoe jump.

She couldn't help but jump. Zoe was in a dark-lit place, shadows all around her danced in a swaying motion that made her dizzy. She was a little bit disoriented and not her calm and reserved self she'd like to be in right now because the words: experiments, director, and replicas registered in Zoe's mind as she tried to figure out what April wanted to do with her. It didn't sound good, that's what Zoe could conclude.

Zoe chewed her bottom lip in tentative thought.

She tried to break free when the footsteps of heels clinked in her ears. She tried to struggle out of her chains, but it hurt to twist her left arm. Stupid IV, she thought with a small frown on her face. "Ava Sawyer," April tisked as she edged further underneath the light bulb. It was one of those old fashioned light bulbs that hung above their heads giving them a soft yellow and gold glow in the room. The kind that you couldn't find in the market anymore.

Zoe looked up from the ground and faced the woman in a plum dress that made its way to her knees. "I was delighted to hear about you. I thought Zoe was the only Sawyer to watch out for, but you, my dear, you have got our attention."

Oh no, Zoe thought. She thinks Zoe was Ava, her twin. Zoe was not Ava. Zoe was Zoe. It wouldn't really surprise Zoe if April got the two girls mixed up. April was never really there for Zoe anyway. She only went to the PTA meetings and rehearsals that her mother couldn't go to because her mother had to make money when her father couldn't pay them because he was away. She was positive on that thought. Her family was becoming a twisted nightmare, and Zoe wasn't sure if she could take all this confusion anymore. But this begged the question, why would April want Ava? Zoe blinked as she tried to remember in the first place how she got here in this peculiar predicament. Carson. He'd been her mission. Director. Nick Fury flashed in her mind in Tony's penthouse with a tablet in hands. He'd given her a new mission. She was supposed to get the Yellow-Particles that Carson stole. And it looked like he still had them, and Zoe was captured, mistakenly because she said that she was Ava when Carson got her confused. Huh. Zoe thought peculiarly. Was that done on purpose on her father's part? It was an interesting question, probably saved for another day if she ever got out of this.

"Why?" she couldn't help but ask her, as Zoe tried to struggle out of her chains again.

"You're capable of so much, my darling Inhuman," April replied in a cooing and gentle voice that made Zoe's skin crawl. She remembered April being so much more real than this fakery personality she had displayed before Zoe's eyes. "So, so much. My boss is interested in your powers. Death in seconds, right? The essence of nature…The Essence of Spirit."

"Yeah, it's just Essence, actually," Zoe smirked up at her.

April's dark painted crimson lips smiled the more she came into Zoe's view. The light shined down on her, creating April's black hair a shiny glow, wavy and passed her shoulders. She was tall and a little bulky around her torso when she straightened her posture. Her nails were painted plum to match the color of her dress.

"If you keep trying to struggle out of those chains, you'll tire yourself more and we need you. Trust me, I promise you are in good hands. I once took care of your sister after all."

"Trust you?" Zoe repeated, completely flabbergasted. Her jaw dropped, completely shocked that this woman could think she would trust her. Not now. Not after April's sided with Hydra. The agent let out an acidic and dry laugh from her lips. "You're Hydra! Why would I trust you?"

"Because if you don't," April said, twisting slightly, standing in front of her. "I'm going to send an army of Hydra agents to kill your sister in that sweet little farm house. She was last located there, I believe."

"H-how?" Zoe's voice was dryer than sand and she could barely utter a whisper, feeling the shock waves ride inside her heart. There was no one there. No one there but Clint and his family. How could they find her? Had she been tracked this whole time? Zoe's heart twisted in horror. How? Who would track her? How could she even let herself get tracked in the first place? No, she thought, shaking her head. She was smarter than this...wasn't she? Zoe gulped in her fear of insecurities. What was happening to her?

"You have your ways, we have ours," April clipped with a small casual wave of her hand. "Now be a good girl and everything will be fine."

"Who are you? Why are you doing this?" Zoe demanded, letting out a strained voice that escaped the tightness in her throat. She swallowed hard. She had to play the part of a scared Ava. She could only remember the days of when Ava was locked in the box in Sokovia to give her that edge she needed to stay alive.

"I think that's enough q&a for now. The man is getting impatient, let's get started," The man's voice. It spoke in the shadows. It was familiar too like Zoe heard it in a dream…it was condescending yet gentle. He emerged out of the shadows and into the light as he pushed a chair further in front of Zoe.

The person sitting in it had a black pillow case over her head. The girl squirmed in her chair and whimpered pathetically in Zoe's ears that tugged on her heart. Zoe looked over at the man who took off the pillow case to reveal a scared looking girl, completely unaware of what was going on around her.

Zoe looked away, blinking back in her own sadness and fear down, not wanting to see a scared civilian in front of her. She couldn't take seeing anyone scared like this. Instead, she concentrated on the man in front of her. Tall. Dark. He was rather handsome, Zoe wouldn't lie when she looked him up and down and that made her heart clench tightly with guilt. Handsome, sure, but he had an air of darkness that surrounded him that made Zoe ill. She continued to study him as he securely fastened the girl's restraints around her chair. The man was tall with a muscular frame, wore dark clothes to match the color of his bedridden hair but slightly combed back, like he only half cared who he was. Zoe licked her lips as the fear pooled inside her belly. His chin was stubbly and not clean shaved. His chocolate eyes gleamed at her. He smiled.

"Y-you said your husband was killed by my director," Zoe stammered in a small whisper.

April's lips curled into a smile, and the man let out a small chuckle. "Oh, we're not together. I am a friend of her late husband though. He taught me a lot about my family."

"Hydra," Zoe spat. It felt so acidic on her tongue and she hated them. She hated the lot of them. She twisted her wrist against the metal of her chains again, and tried to pull them out.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," he continued. "I see it as a gift. Nay, an awakening. I'm here to help you find what I found, a haven for people like us. Now, let's get started. Test subject number one. I want you to dig deep into her soul, her spirit, and find her future death. And kill her."

The girl whimpered in front of Zoe and Zoe's face fell. Zoe gulped. "You're insane," she spat.

The man chuckled and looked over to April.

April took out something hidden from her back and started to type on it. She showed Zoe Clint's farm house and Zoe's heart clenched at the picture on screen. "If you can make death happen in seconds, Ava, I will personally call off the Hydra agents, and have them dismembered."

Zoe swallowed hard and tore her eyes away from the picture in April's hands. She looked at the blonde-haired girl in front of her, shaking. She licked her lips with fear and trepidation.

How was she supposed to do this? Zoe thought frightfully and shifted uneasily in her seat that made her wince.

"Hydra takes no prisoners," Zoe said. "This is overstepping it a notch, huh?"

April chuckled warmly that sent chills down Zoe's arms. "That's why I said we'd bleed you dry."

"Why?" Zoe bemoaned, feeling every resolve of her own deflective shields wash away as the tension overpowered the room.

"I was a lost boy once before Hydra accepted me and took me in," the man spoke softly to her like he cared about her. Zoe shook her head, glaring at his eyes. "They were like family, and I thought you of all people would understand that."

~*A*~


	83. Chapter 83: Trying Times

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the MCU. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 83: Trying Times**

This wasn't happening, Zoe thought frantically as her eyes danced back and forth between April and this mysterious man in front of her, of whom she already was beginning to dislike. They weren't making her kill this innocent girl in front of her- who seemed nice and just wanted to live another day.

Zoe let out a tentative sigh. She glanced around her surroundings. Once again, she was going to have to get creative here. She had no weapon on her. All of her knives were back at home, and so was her spear. She may have left a couple of knives back at Dr. Pym's house too… how was she going to get herself out of this one? She had to try and stall them. Stall. Yes, Zoe thought. Stalling was good! But how long could she stall them for? She was no Ava, that's for sure. It wasn't like she could just reach out into this girl's mind and make her die. She gulped, and looked at the man who was waiting patiently for her to oblige. Yeah, Zoe shook her head, that wasn't going to happen.

"Tell me your name," Zoe breathed out as if she'd been holding in a breath for a really long time. "And then I'll do it."

He chuckled heartedly at her demands. His eyes flicked over to April for a brief moment when she was finishing snapping on her yellow gloves that shined like sateen underneath the light. "Only we do the negotiations around here. Kill her with your powers and then I'll tell you my name," he crossed his arms over his chest, and looked down at Zoe.

Zoe looked up from her chair, hair falling around her face. It was nowhere near perfect. It was tangled, matted, and greasy. Everything about this place and these people in front of her made her skin crawl as if maggots were already clinging to her, trying to get to her skeleton, but Zoe was trying to hold her own. She was trying to stay strong.

She chewed her bottom lip as she felt a trickle of sweat fall from the side of her temple and onto her shirt. She could hear April sharpening something sharp in the darkness. Every slice against blade echoed in her ears. It didn't faze Zoe, but it sure as hell made the girl whimper and cry in alarm. The sharpening of the blades in April's hands were enough to freak this girl out.

She was so nervous. What could she do? Zoe shook her head. "I can't," she whispered finally. "I can't do it…" she said, raising her voice a little higher as she saw the man's eyes expectant and trained on her.

"Can't, or won't?" April contradicted. "I can make this easy or trying for you. You'll want to put this girl out of her misery when I'm done with her."

Zoe gulped. "What are you going to do?"

April's lips curled into a cruel yet thoughtful smile. "So glad you asked. With each passing moment that you hold onto those dear powers of yours, I'll run this blade," April said as she showed Zoe the carving knife in her hands and Zoe almost smiled a weapon that she could use if she could get out of here… "Through her beautiful porcelain skin so much that she'll be begging for you to kill her. Just…put her out of her misery."

Zoe's eyes flickered over to the blade in April's hands, as she tapped the side of her carving knife lightly against her palm, and to the man who was growing very impatient with her. The man made a motion with a nod of his chin over to April, and April reached down to grab the blonde-girl's chin between her bony fingers. The blonde let out a fearful cry from her lips and Zoe widened her eyes as the blade started to dig deep into this girl's neck. "Okay!" Zoe snapped. "Okay. Okay, stop. I'll do it," Zoe rasped finally. "I'll do it. I'll do what you want, but you have to let me free."

April withdrew the blade from the girl's neck, and she shivered in her seat trying to calm down. She furrowed her eyebrows together and looked at the agent like she was crazy. "You're joking right?" April asked, hearing the uncertainty in her voice.

"Wish I was," Zoe said with a tilt nod of her head from side to side. "It's how it works. If you let my hand free, then I can…" she licked her lips and glanced at the man clad in black. He was reading her through his kind and beautiful eyes. How could this man be so gorgeous and yet at the same time be so evil? Zoe shivered. He reminded her a little bit too much like Brock Rumlow. He'd been attractive, and Zoe had fallen hard for the traitor. She frowned, chewing her bottom lip. How did she always pick the wrong guys to like? At least the guys never really liked her back. She got lucky with Steve. Zoe frowned, as her heart pained at the thought of Steve. She shook her head. All that mattered was getting home, and getting home to him, and getting this girl out of here. She hoped that Zoe could do both. She owed so much to him. She owed him her life. "Then she'll die. I promise."

"You swear?" he asked.

"I swear on my father's grave," she looked up at him with determined eyes. "You know who that is right?" she smirked at him.

His eyes slanted at her but he nodded slowly. Of course he knew him.

April pursed her lips together in curious thought. She looked over at her partner and nodded for him to unchain her.

Carefully, he strode over to Zoe and leaned behind her. He took out the key from his pocket and leaned his lips close to her ear. "Try anything funny, and we'll blow up that farmhouse. Got it?"

Zoe shuttered, feeling the fear of tingles run through her. She understood completely, but she also knew that Clint was smart, and a trained assassin. He could take out those Hydra agents in a flash, so to speak. Or at least, she'd hoped that would be the case. Knowing that did make this situation a little better at ease, but the fate of an innocent girl still hung in the balance, and Zoe was scared for her.

He shoved the key into the lock and the chains fell apart. He helped Zoe out of her chair and placed a careful hand onto her arm. He eased her forward gently, moving the IV bag along with her. The wheels creaked in Zoe's ears. She licked her lips and gulped a thick lump in her throat. She was still attached to the pole with the IV bag's tube and needle beside her.

She eyed it curiously as a thought occurred to her but then felt the pressure of his hand grip tight onto her arm, willing her to comply to their wishes.

The two girls stared at one another. Her blonde straight hair cascaded over her face like a curtain draped over a window.

Zoe studied her some more. She was wearing a waitress uniform, probably working her tail off every day just to pay for school, or whatever means of money she needed for, maybe a roof over her head? Car payments? Food for her stomach? She seemed the college student type, willing to pay her dues. And still, Zoe couldn't help but think…what if she made it out of here? What if she made it to the top and then she made Valedictorian one day? Would Hydra strike again? How many more Hydra heads were out there that Zoe didn't really know? She thought they were dismantled a long time ago. But it was becoming more apparent to her that if you cut off one head, another one will be in its place. Their motto was true and it made an ill hole in Zoe's heart.

And yet this girl was completely unaware of whom these people were, or who Zoe truly was, and scared out of her mind.

Then she smartly averted her eyes to the floor beneath her shoes. Zoe sighed. She didn't know how Ava's powers worked and it wasn't like Zoe possessed any kind of power whatsoever. Ava never really spoke about her powers to Zoe, or to anyone. She had seen them in action, though, back in Sokovia when she killed the scientist with her hand. She'd used her hand to reach out. She also used her hand to kill Zoe when she was under the influence of Scarlet Witch's mind control. So it wasn't like Wanda where she could just use her mind and pull it out.

Ava used her mind, but she had some sort of power attached to her hand too? Zoe shook her head. It was weird. She didn't understand it. Zoe was secretly afraid of it, not that she'd told anyone. Zoe had been afraid of Ava ever since she tried to kill her in the truck in Seoul, but like a good sister, she kept her mouth shut, and tried to stay brave and tried to actually help calm Ava down. She hoped the New Avengers would do the same, and help her too. Zoe thought that Ava seemed like they would be a good fit for her and Steve was very compassionate and good to her anyway, Zoe owed it all to him. She frowned. She owed a lot to Steve.

If she ever got through this, she was going to make it up to him.

"Stop stalling and work your magic," the man's loud voice made her jump out of her jungle of thoughts.

She tried to calm her nerves down the best she could and drew in a deep breath. "Okay," Zoe snapped back at him, giving him a wry look. "Okay. It's going to be okay," she said finally, looking at the innocent waitress before her eyes. "Though some people might argue that it's science."

Zoe took a tentative step forward, and raised her hand in the air.

April gripped tightly onto her blade's handle and watched intently. Her yellow-gloved hand flew to her mouth as if she was getting ready for the shock waves of her life.

Zoe's eyes slanted over to the pole with the IV bag. As the anticipation grew within her, her eyes flicked from the pole to the knife in April's hands, and then where the man's footing was on the ground. His arm was resting on her shoulder now, so she had a little more room to work with. She was a tiny bit outnumbered here, but with the items at Zoe's disposal, it was possible that she could make it out of here.

"And an invasion of privacy," Zoe muttered under her breath. She reached for the IV pole behind her and twirled it behind her captor. She hit him in the back of the head, causing him to loose his balance, and she whirled around and hit him in the chest with her elbow. He tried to get up from the ground, but she flipped the IV bag at him. He let out a yelp and a grunt as the IV bag hit him in the face. While he was distracted, she took her window, and kicked him down and shoved him away from her that caused him to yell as he hit the ground, totally unaware that she was going to actually hit him.

"Ward!" April shouted in alarm.

Zoe ripped out the needle off of her, not having time to think about the pain as it wrecked through her. She winced and gripped onto the pole, twirling it in her hands like a sword.

April got in front of her and gripped onto her knife. "Why couldn't you just listen?" April asked and charged after her.

Zoe used her pole to protect her from the knife. The blade hit hard against the metal pole in her hands. She shoved Zoe back into her seat, and scooted her further away from the innocent captive as the blonde tried to wrist her arms in her restraints, trying to escape.

"Because I'm an agent for Shield, and we don't negotiate with terrorists," Zoe grunted and with all of her might kicked her leg at April, hitting her squarely in the chest with her boot and April flew to the ground.

Zoe dropped the pole on the ground and ran to the girl tied to the chair. She was watching in horror. "Hi, I'm Zoe. I'm going to get you out of here. I didn't actually want to kill you. Can you walk?"

"Oh," the girl said in shock, but she nodded all the same. Her legs seemed okay, a little stiff from sitting in the chair for long, but she could move. "Well, that's a relief…" she gulped. The ropes fell off of her and Zoe grabbed the cell phone off the table. The blonde waitress reached for one of the poking utensils that were set aside for whatever torture April had in mind for her and gripped it tight.

"Smart," Zoe smiled at her. "You know what grab them all. Let's get out of here."

"Right behind you," the waitress said, and took the entire pouch of pointy items with her. She definitely did not want to stay in here with these unconscious people. She followed Zoe out the door and down the long corridor. "Which way?"

"I'm going to take a wild guess," Zoe said. "If I'm wrong, I'm very sorry," she winced. "Stay behind me." The waitress nodded and stayed closely behind Zoe as they ran down the corridor.

Zoe dialed Steve's number. She had half a mind to call Clint, but at the risk of scaring Laura and the kids? Zoe winced at the troubling thought as she heard noises bellowing behind her and in front of her. Best to just text him instead, while she could. She didn't know how long she had with these men on her tail. She halted against the corner of the hallway with the waitress close behind her, keeping the phone close to her ear as she tried to figure out where the voices were coming from. One of them belonged to April's and the other one was that guy Ward or whoever he was, Zoe didn't really care, she just wanted out of this place. "Pick up…" she pleaded.

"Hello?" Steve asked groggily on the other end of the line.

"Steve!" Zoe said excitedly. "Oh it's so good to hear your voice!"

The waitress glanced nervously behind her and then at Zoe as she talked into the phone.

"Zoe? Do you have any idea what time it is?" Steve asked.

Zoe frowned, still hearing the sleepiness that got stuck in his throat when he tried to talk. Had she called him in the middle of the night? He sounded exhausted. Maybe he'd finished a mission or training with the New Avengers. But whatever! She got a hold of Steve! "Uhm…no actually, I don't, see, uh, I've been sort of busy, and I'm kind of in a bit of a pickle…"

"They went that way!" The voices shouted.

~*A*~

Steve furrowed his brows tightly together as he tried to process what he was hearing on his phone. He sat himself up against his inn-table. His bed totally made, as if it hadn't been slept in. He'd been sleeping on the floor, curled up against a pillow and a blanket. He ran a hand over his tired face. He looked at his alarm clock as his covers fell off of his bare chest. It was two in the morning. He frowned. She didn't know what time it was? What was going on? He winced, and pulled the sleep out of his eyes with his fingers. "Ah, what kind of a pickle?"

~*A*~

The waitress let out a short gasp and clung onto Zoe's arm with her free hand. She took one of the utensils out and was gripping onto it tightly. "We gotta go," she panicked.

"Dill," Zoe replied as she made an ewe face, wrinkling her nose until she saw the shadows behind her. She turned into the phone. "Shit…Steve, I can't talk right now. Do me a favor, call Clint and tell him that he has Hydra-"

"I see 'em!" A guy shouted and a gun was pointed at them. Gunshots rang out. The waitress let out a small gasp and tapped Zoe on the shoulder frantically. "He wants the girl alive!"

"Which one?" One of the muffled voices asked. "Does it matter?"

"The brunette. She's with Shield, so yeah, it matters," the Hydra agent replied.

"Hey Steve, um, I'm putting you with…my new friend here, hang on, I'm in need of a weapon," Zoe handed her the phone. "Here, trade you this for those," she motioned with her eyes toward the pouch of utensils in her hands. She could use them to buy them some time to get out of there.

The waitress was dead set on keeping them for herself as protection. Zoe didn't blame her but Zoe was trained on this, and she wasn't. "I'm an agent. I work for the government. It's okay. You're safe with me," she said.

The waitress bit her lower lip. "That's what the man said," she said in a frightened voice.

"I untied you!" Zoe exclaimed.

The waitress looked at Zoe. "Heh…good point," she gulped and gave the pouch to Zoe. Zoe handed her the phone.

"H-hi?" the waitress asked once she cradled the cell phone against her shoulder.

"Hi, where are you right now?" Steve asked, trying to hide the worried tones in his voice.

The girl smiled at his calm voice over the phone. "Um, um, who is this?"

"Captain America," he winced on the other end.

Emily blinked and looked at Zoe as she grabbed a weapon in her hand. "We're in some kind of warehouse…we have Hydra men all over the place. Not exactly what that means but um…I'm scared…." She said with a little bit more instilled confidence once she realized who she was talking to, but still the fear was evident in her heart.

"Well, it's okay to be scared in a situation like that, but you are in great hands with Zoe. Just follow her lead. What's your name?"

"Emily," she stammered in a whisper.

"Nice to meet you Emily, I'm Steve," she liked the sound of his voice on the other end of the phone.

"Thank you for saving New York," Emily said with a small smile on her face.

"Well, we try..." Steve said. "What's going on now?"

In the middle of the phone call between Steve and Emily, Zoe knelt down on the ground and opened up the pouch on her leg-calf. She counted five utensils and sighed. Five. She didn't know how long that was going to prevent them from death. She didn't even know how many Hydra agents were there in this strange maze-like building.

Zoe took in a deep breath, and took out the utensils and held them into her hands. As a shadow emerged from the long corridor Zoe crept closer, telling the waitress to keep back while she talked on the phone with Steve. He tried to calm her down as best as he could.

A sudden movement from the shadows, a black boot appeared and Zoe threw the knife at him, landing in his ankle. He shouted out in alarm and twirled backwards. "Okay let's go," Zoe said. The two ladies started to move forward in the darkness, but stopped when a shadow emerged from the shadow above them. Zoe saw the foot and she threw the utensil, aiming for his ankle. He stopped and she threw another utensil at his chest. He doubled over onto the ground, face first.

Zoe's breaths could be heard in the quiet hallway. The waitress stood against the split corner that was like a fork road in the middle of a roadway. So far only darkness surrounded the girls and little light from the high window shown above them.

"I think it's over now," Emily said breathlessly, still shocked. She handed Zoe the phone back.

"Are you okay?" Zoe asked her, looking back at Emily's odd expression, mixture of pink blush, and scared looks on her face. When Zoe sensed no more threat, she started walking forward toward Emily. But a gun shot narrowly next to Zoe's shoulder. "Duck!" Zoe yelled. Emily dodged the bullet, and rolled onto the ground. Zoe threw one of her instruments at the Hydra agent and he twirled to the ground in a heavy heap.

"Everything alright? Zoe? Emily? Talk to me!" Steve demanded.

Zoe sighed and walked over to help Emily up off the ground. She grabbed her by the shoulders and picked up the cell phone into her hands.

"We're okay," Zoe said on the phone against her ear, smiling lightly.

"I can die a happy woman now," she said. "I was on the phone with Captain-" but she didn't get to finish because the sound of a gun rang in their ears, and Zoe dropped her last fighting weapon to catch Emily in her arms. The weapon fell to the ground. Zoe's smile faded.

"No!" Zoe cried.

"Zoe?! Zoe?!" Steve's voice echoed on the other end of the phone, dangling from Zoe's fingers as Emily fell in Zoe's arms.

Ward emerged slowly from behind her and into the small light the window provided above them. His face smooth as stone and hard as glass. His gun was trained on Zoe.

Zoe turned from Emily's limp body in her arms and glared up at Ward's face that she so wanted to punch right now.

"You caused that one yourself," Ward said, aiming at Zoe.

His eyes shown a slight sign of compassion for Emily, falling in Zoe's arms. Zoe gently laid her down on the ground. Zoe could only hear the concerned voice coming from the other side of the phone, and her own deep breaths of shock that he'd shot Emily down like that, in cold blood.

"Give me the phone, Zoe," Ward said.

Zoe looked at Emily's body on the phone and slowly handed Ward the phone in her hand with Steve's worried voice on the other end. His tone was faint in her ears as she stared at the dead waitress on the phone. Ward reached for it and put it to his ear. "To whom am I speaking to?" Ward asked.

"To whom am I speaking to?" Steve retorted.

Ward smirked. "My name is Grant Ward. I'm assuming this is...Captain America?"

~*A*~

Steve gulped and drew out a small sigh, trying to keep his anger and his reserving feelings at bay. He'd heard? He'd heard Emily...she'd been talking loudly and in a fearful tone after all. The poor girl. Had she survived? What about Zoe? She wasn't answering him...his heart clenched at her current predicament.

"Let me guess," Steve said through clenched teeth. Who was this guy Ward? Something flashed within Steve's mind, a reminder of what the Director said before he left to find Bucky and to find her.

"We've been data-mining HYDRA's files," Fury said. "Looks like a lot of rats didn't go down with the ship. I'm heading to Europe tonight, wanted to ask if you'd come."

"There's something I gotta do first," Steve said, glancing slightly at him.

"Steve…" Fury said. "Zoe's got her own path. She's-"

"I know," Steve cut him off. He sighed. "I just gotta find out."

And when it came to Zoe and her past...Steve pinched the bridge between his nose and switched phone ears. "Hydra."

~*A*~

"Smart man," Ward said, smiling at Zoe. "I have a proposition for you, Captain. If the real Ava Sawyer doesn't show up in twelve hours," Ward said. "Then your precious Shield Agent is dead."

~*A*~


	84. Chapter 84: Dealer's Blood

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the MCU. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 84: Dealer's Blood**

"Traitor," Zoe spat as she tried to yank her wrists out of her new position. Try as she might, she was not getting out of this one. They had chained her up against the top of the ceiling so that her feet barely touched the floor. The Hydra agent finished its last loop, yanking the chain tight. Zoe clenched her teeth tight as she tried to bear through the pain.

No IV this time. She'd been deprived of any kind of nutrients or fluids for what she'd caused. Emily had been swept away, and Ward had suddenly disappeared. It was just April now.

"Awe, don't look so crest-fallen, love," April cooed, running her index finger along Zoe's chin. Zoe glared at her, feeling hate that ran through her veins. "Yes," she let her finger drop from Zoe's chin and Zoe watched her curiously. April walked over to the table and picked up the carving knife off the table. "I used to work for your mother. She needed someone to go to those PTA meetings, and rehearsals. Then I met John. It seemed like you, Zoe darling, had been doing some deals with the devil. Care to explain that one?"

Zoe gulped, swallowing hard at the mere memory as it raced across her mind. She let out a small tiresome sigh, and let her shoulders kind of slump. "I was trying to help Mom. There would be times where we wouldn't hear from Dad for weeks, sometimes months. We needed money, and I met John who'd frequent her art gallery…I just assumed he had a crush on my mother, but he was actually interested in helping us. He admired her art. It was abstract. Not many people liked abstract back then."

"Well, your mother's art was amateurish at best," April agreed.

"Realism was her best art," Zoe said. "But besides the point, he said that he had a job for me, and I had some friends who could use the cash too, so we decided to pitch in and help each other out. I just wanted to help my mother. That's all," she sniffed, trying to keep her tears at bay as she felt the corners of her eyes water. "I just wanted to help her. She deserved better."

April nodded tentatively. "I know. It's going to be so much fun watching this all come to pass. After all, Sawyer's know their place, don't they?"

Zoe frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Here's a little reminder for you," April suddenly raised her knife and stabbed it into Zoe's side underneath her ribcage that caused Zoe to scream at the sudden jolt of pain.

The tears sprang loose, and her head tilted back as she cried out as the knife had something coated around it. Whatever substance it was it burned inside of her that caused her tears to flow freely from her eyes and down her cheeks.

April walked around Zoe and twirled her knife in her hand ready to stab her other side. Zoe let out a scream again that could be heard throughout the halls of the warehouse. She shook within her chains, and breathed out heavily as the warm blood trickled down her shirt and onto the cement floor. She gasped for air and curled her fingers around the chains for support. She felt every hot iron stab inside of her as April dug her knife through her skin a couple times more.

April was about to dig the tip of her knife deeper into Zoe's skin, tearing into her father's old wounds, until April stopped. Zoe almost sighed at the relief, as she heard it too. There was commotion outside the building and Hydra men were already on the scene. Hydra men were yelling outside, but then stopped yelling, and then bodies dropped to the floor.

April smiled. "Right on time," she yanked her knife out of Zoe's stomach, and she whimpered at the forcible effect on her that made her just want to curl up and die. "Gotta hand it to you, sweetheart, you sure know how to pick 'em."

April looked down at her yellow-gloved hand and saw the blood stains that had gotten onto her glove from her knife that was dripping crimson red with Zoe's blood. She brushed it off slightly and placed the knife back onto the table. She walked back over to Zoe and tapped her cheek with her own blood that made Zoe want to gag. Blood smeared onto her cheek as April crossed her arms over her chest, standing right beside her, waiting for Ava to walk right through that door.

Two armed Hydra agents stood on either side of Zoe's sister, as Ava walked inside with her head held high. She looked at Zoe's current state and her heart twitched with sadness. She looked at the woman beside her and glared.

April looked Ava up and down, noting that the girl was dressed in her S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform. Her hair was wrapped up in two buns curled with wisps and curls adorned at every angle as if she'd been through a fight already. Some cuts and bruises dotted her cheeks. Ava had one of the coolest powers in the world, according to April, and she could have defeated anyone and got Zoe out in one piece, but she held back. Maybe with the threat of her sister's death, she wouldn't.

"Alright, I'm here, let her go," Ava said.

Zoe cracked a small smile at the sound of her sister's voice that slowly registered in her mind. She would look up at her, but she felt so heavy and drained from the loss of blood that she just hung there limply. Pain burned through her stomach, blood dripped onto the floor, and seeped out of her shirt. New scars would emerge if she ever lived through this, a reminder of where she was placed in this game between Hydra and Shield, both companies of whom her father worked for. If she lived through this, she would have to finish it.

It made Zoe proud that Ava was here, but at the same time scared for her too. Did she come alone? Zoe hadn't wanted Ava to be apart of this. She didn't want Ava to be with the New Avengers, but Ava wanted to help. She wanted to pay her dues in the world. She admired Wanda and her ability to still live after loosing Pietro. That's when Zoe finally realized that Ava wasn't going to give up. She wanted to help and protect the world from these evil people that tried to destroy it and become authoritarian. Ava didn't want that. She'd seen what they did. Like Cap, she was against it.

Ava wished she could help in any shape or form, and now here she was standing here in front of Zoe and this woman who had Zoe captive.

Was Steve here too? Zoe wondered. Her face tightened with worry. She didn't want him to be here. She needed him to be far away from her family's troubles. She didn't want to ruin him anymore than she probably already had. He had a reputation to keep after all. It would be a noble but stupid thing for him to come here…

April took a look at Ava's form still. She was quite amused that Ava had gone to this side. These girls were nowhere near perfect, something that Hydra could easily make better if they so choose their side. April noticed the makeup smudge on Ava's face that tried to cover adolescent scaring of acne that once was there, probably popped. Hydra could fix that and make her a bombshell, but she would have to fully commit to their side to get their status and April worked hard. In many ways, Ava reminded her of April when she was her age, and she would gladly take her off of Zoe's hands and nurture her.

"Alright," April said with a lazy sigh that left her lips. "I'll release her, but you have to demonstrate your powers on her. Can't be too careful."

Ava licked her dry lips and shook her head. "No," she whispered.

"Ju-just d-do it," Zoe stammered.

Ava bit her lip nervously, as she listened to her sister's quivering words out of her lips. She remembered what happened back on that truck with Ultron. She was scared to use her powers like that. She didn't want to hurt anyone. She'd use them as a last resort. Zoe almost died because of her, and if Ava had killed her, she'd never forgive herself. Zoe was supposed to live a happy life and grow old and die naturally. Not many people in this world got that chance to, and Ava wanted to see it through that Zoe got the best life she could muster.

She drew in a deep breath and put a shaky hand out in front of her. She was going to demonstrate her powers for this woman, but she wasn't going to kill Zoe.

She was being tested. She knew that look in this woman's eyes. She was being tested again. Another reason to hate her powers. Another reason why she regretted them so much. Sometimes she wondered if she was just better off dead.

She took a couple steps closer to Zoe, smelling her sister's blood through her nostrils, almost made her gag. She looked away for a brief moment, and with another step forward, she peered into Zoe's mind, probing around for her future death.

April watched in earnest as she watched Ava work her magic. A smile formed on her face, as Zoe started to shake.

Ava's lips frowned, as something changed within her future death. Her heart wrenched at the troubling thought as Zoe looked puzzled herself. What was happening?

Zoe felt a pop, then another pop deep within her stomach. Blood spilled out of her wounds, and Zoe gasped at the sharp pains in her stomach that felt like bullets beating inside her. Yellow and gold flares twirled around tiny bullet holes from the inside of her stomach like tiny fireflies of light flashing before their eyes. "S-stop….please…Ava…" she gasped, and gripped tightly onto the chains above her with her fingers until they turned numb.

Ava stepped back and wretched her hand away and looked away from Zoe's mind.

Zoe let out gasps, loss of oxygen as she'd felt her throat tighten like she was going to die of bullets. What happened? Zoe's future death changed?

"I'm sorry," Ava gasped, as she curled her hand against her own heart that was beating rapidly against her chest. "I'm sorry. I guess…I guess not everyone's future is set in stone."

April ran her fingers over Zoe's open wounds. Zoe shivered at April's cold touch. She lifted Zoe's shirt and saw the bullet wounds inside her with thick blood pouring out. "My God," she breathed. "Fascinating. Well, then, a deal is a deal," she said. She snapped her fingers. The Hydra agent blinked out of his own shock and started to help April undo her chains. April turned into her earphone piece attached to the curved shell of her ear. "There's a helicopter waiting for us, Ava. We'll be out of here in no time. How are you guys on the roof-"

But all she got was static and a sudden explosion that shook the entire building. April stumbled backwards. Zoe slipped out of the chains as the Hydra agent unlocked them and fell to the floor on her side.

Zoe could see a swirl of red flare heading Ava's way through the open door. Wanda's powers hit squarely in the back of the Hydra agent that was watching Ava and he flew across the room, hitting hard against the wall. He dropped to the floor. April retrieved her footing and Ava went after her as soon as the other Hydra agent's body broke in half with Wanda's telekinetic abilities and flew across the room.

"I'm in," Wanda said, putting her finger against her ear, making sure her ear-comm was in tact. "Sam!" she said and broke into a run, running over to Zoe, badly wounded, on the ground.

"On my way," Sam said through Wanda's ear-comm. She heard his wings hit several Hydra agents down and retract in his jet-pack. "I still think we should have told Cap about this."

"No way," Wanda shook her head, as she gently cradled Zoe's head over her lap. "That's what Hydra wants. He needs to be as far away from them as possible. We'll tell him after. Ava?" she turned over to Ava who had April cowering on the ground, hugging onto the table's side as she looked up fearfully at the twin. Ava used her powers to slowly feel her own death. "Ava! Stop!" Wanda said.

Sam ran into the room just in time to see Ava's flares all over April's heart.

"I'm right here," Sam said.

Wanda flung her hand at Ava so that she flew off to the side, and then made sure April would stay down and stay where she was, the coward that she was.

"What the hell, Wanda?" Ava coughed, and looked up at her from the ground.

"Another reason why Cap should be here," Sam pointed at Ava and jogged over to help Ava up off the ground. She yanked her arm away from Sam.

"I got this," she said.

"Yeah, looked like you did," Sam remarked.

"Guys, we need to get Zoe to a hospital, she's loosing consciousness," Wanda said. "April can be dealt with later, I promise," she pleaded with Ava.

Ava sighed and ran over to help her. Sam looked over at April and the mess that she caused. He picked up Zoe into his arms. Zoe curled against his chest; let her eyes roll to the back of her head. "W-ward..." she moaned lightly. Sam furrowed his brows in confusion. What was that about? There was no one here by that name. They were cleaning out the warehouse and gathering everything for Intel. "Hey, stay with me girl, stay with me," he whispered. "Rhodey, how you doing man?"

"I am doing just fine thank you very much, Vision and I got it completely under contro-!" Rhodey said as he fired some more agents down with his War Machine guns. "They ain't getting out of this bitch, boom!"

Wanda and Sam shared a look and rolled their eyes. "Let's get out of here," Sam said, and the girls followed him out the door. Ava took one last look at April, at which April lowered her head down in fear, and jogged after them.

~*A*~


	85. Chapter 85: Safe Zone

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the MCU. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 85: Safe Zone**

Steve stood in front of Zoe's glass-encased room. He peered through the glass window. Intensive Care Unit. That's where the doctors and nurses had taken her after a rough twenty-four hour surgery. He was trying not to break the coffee cup that was in his hand as he stood there, just watching her sleep.

They said she would wake up soon, but she was lying there, soundlessly with her hair sprawled out over her pillow with covers that covered over her small frame.

Why wasn't she waking up? Steve wondered. Wasn't she strong? Couldn't she just wake up like that? No, she couldn't. They said she'd lost a lot of blood. Almost a cup of blood was lost. They'd worked on her intensively.

"Is she going to be alright?"

Steve looked at Natasha standing next to her. She tried to remain as stoic as possible, as emotionless as she could get but Steve knew her. Steve remembered how she dealt with Director Fury's death in the past that wasn't even real, though it felt and looked real to them when they stood there, watching the doctors try to save him.

His throat tightened at the very question that left her lips. He didn't know what to say. He'd always known what to say during battle, during a firefight. He could come up with battle tactics from the back of his head in seconds flat.

Loosing someone he cared about wasn't as easy. He almost lost her. He was worried when he got the phone call. He was upset when the proposition was placed at his hands. His hands. He wanted to be tactical about this. He never would have put Ava in danger. He would have gone in himself with the Avengers as backup. But they stopped them. They stopped them and got her out and brought her home to him.

"Yeah," Steve said.

"What did I tell you about lying?" Natasha said softly.

"That I'm terrible at it?" Steve said, glancing at the Widow by his side.

His nails bit into the Styrofoam cup, nearly tearing a hole inside the small cup. It's okay. It wasn't great coffee anyway.

"I'm going to get some better coffee," Steve said. "Would you mind…staying here with her?"

Natasha looked into his eyes and she shook her head, once she saw the plead inside those blue irises that looked like the ocean. "I'll be here," Natasha said dryly.

"Thank you," Steve said.

She tightened her lips together and watched him walk down the hallway in a reluctant way. He tripped on his shoes as he walked. The man needed sleep. He hadn't left her side or the hospital since Zoe came in on the stretcher. Natasha turned back to stare at the young agent, lying in her bed. Fury wasn't too thrilled with what happened since he found out she'd been taken. She had one simple job to do and she didn't do it. That was not going to bode well with her future later. There were going to be consequences. Zoe was slipping, and heading straight down a dark road. Natasha had a feeling she wasn't ready for something big as to go out on her own like Project Yellow-Jacket. She had taken good care of Loki's Scepter for awhile, but the girl had help, and she was a great actress, so that'd been the perfect role for her. It was in her family's blood after all. And the Lumerian Star could have gone a lot better if it hadn't been Sitwell's fault. In many ways, Zoe reminded her of her at some point when she was growing up in the world of espionage. Bright-eyed, first starting out, glamour, everything made sense back then. They all knew their place back then. And believe it or not, Natasha had grown slightly fond of Zoe. Slightly. Not that she'd ever admit it out loud to her, but she did, and Zoe needed to wake up and get back to her normal self, or as normal as one could get with this kind of stuff. It wasn't for the faint of heart.

~*A*~

Steve wanted to go after Zoe himself. He'd been so worried. He tried to mask it. He tried to not be worried in front of the Avengers, even though the tension in the facility lab had been there when he told them the news. He wanted to go after Zoe with a tactical plan. Putting Ava as bait was stupid. He would've gone in head first with a plan to get his Zoe out. Steve blinked as he stepped into the elevator as the doors slid open. Doctors and nurses walked out of the elevator and into the cold hallway. Hospitals were always cold, as cold as almost death.

Did he just think his Zoe? His heart swelled at the penetrating thought running loose in his mind.

"Uh, sir, what button?"

Steve blinked out of his tangled web of thoughts and looked at the man sheepishly. "Um, that one," he said. "Lower level. Lobby. This coffee is bad."

The man chuckled. "Son, I don't know the difference anymore." He said and reached for the button to press so that the doors could slide shut.

Steve looked up at the young Asian looking-male nurse who stood beside the man's wheelchair. "Alzheimer's," he replied. "It started as a brain tumor. We managed to get it out but then the results changed over the years and his daughter brought him back to us, freaking out about his brain malfunctioning. When he was driving back from the store, they almost went over a bridge, that's how bad it was. So he's been in intensive care ever since."

Steve chewed his bottom lip and nodded, letting it all sink in. A bitter reminder of Peggy Carter, who was also in the hospital. It happened with old age, Steve guessed.

"Sorry," Steve said.

"It happens," he said. "We try to do the best we can with this job. Sometimes…it's rough."

"Well, I applaud you for trying," Steve said, smiling at him. He raised his coffee cup to salute him.

"Thank you," He said, smiling at Steve. "So, do you have family in here?"

Steve thought for a minute. What would he call Zoe? Could he call her family? In many ways when he was with his old Avenger friends they were family, and she'd been apart of it. She hadn't meant to get involved in the first round of Avenging when the Chitauri came down to destroy New York, but she helped anyway. She didn't back out of fights. Steve smiled at that.

She was a fighter and she never gave up. She never gave up trying to help him or the others. She always wanted to help people. Sokovia had been a mess in itself, but she was there, trying to consol him, and the others around her. And then he kissed her, breaking her concentration in the fight that had nearly cost her, her life, thank goodness it wasn't anything major…and if Zoe had any thoughts about it well she never told him. She took off and left once she was better. She wanted to get better at fighting and Steve couldn't blame her for that. Clint was a great fighter and definitely more human. They did start dating but only went on a few dates, nothing really intimate since.

His cheeks turned bright red, and he felt butterflies flip flop in his stomach. She hadn't dated in a really long time either. So this was all new for him and for her. He'd only been on a couple dates ever since he got out of the ice, and when he went on a date with Zoe, he thought maybe this could turn into something more, but…each date seemed awkward to him. She wasn't kidding when she'd been a terrible person on a date. She seemed so at ease at Tony's farewell party though. Maybe it was just the mere thought of a gathering with friends that calmed her down because when they did get together for a bit, things were a little…intense.

And now? He was worried that he was going to loose her and he didn't want to loose her. When he first met her, she'd been that air of freshness in his life that he needed. Fresh out of the ice, and into the world of so many new things that he was grateful for her help. He wasn't too thrilled about having her as his briefing package at first, but he grew accustomed to her antics. And when Rumlow came into the picture, he was worried that she was with him. He was secretly grateful that he turned up bad. Kicking him to the curve had been a great feeling.

"A friend," Steve said finally, smiling.

The male nurse nodded. "Ah, let me guess…she's a girl?"

Steve arched an eyebrow.

He chuckled lightly. "I know that pensive look when I see one, man. I've been there. My girl was pregnant and it was…touch and go….we almost lost the baby. Had a C-section and Angel came out alive."

Why did people feel the need to tell them their life stories to him? Steve wondered as the elevator finally came to a halt. Though, apart of him was slightly grateful for the distraction of his thoughts.

"Well, I hope it all works out for you," the man said with a smile as he kicked up the wheelchair alive with his foot and rolled on out as soon as the elevator doors slid open. Steve walked out and followed him out the doors. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was more than a friend."

Steve arched an eyebrow at him as the male nurse turned the corner and headed down to the cafeteria. Well, Steve thought with a sigh leaving his lips, if it was any consolation with him; he wanted to make it work too. He was tired of waiting. He wanted Zoe and he wanted her to wake up.

Steve crushed the cup in his hand, feeling the lukewarm coffee slosh around his fingers. He found an empty trashcan and tossed it into the trash. He wiped the coffee stains on his fingers onto his jeans and walked outside to head to a café for some better coffee.

~*A*~

"You should have let me finish her off," Ava said, pacing the grounds of the New Avenger's facility lab. It was dimly lit but the Avengers sat in their seats, thinking over the consequences of what happened between April, and the twins. Ava hadn't slept since Zoe was admitted to the hospital. Sam told Steve right away when Zoe was brought in and he rushed to see her.

Director Fury was furious and when Zoe was awake, he wanted to be notified as soon as possible.

"She deserves a fair trial," Vision said, standing beside the table with his hand on it.

Ava whirled around to face him. "Are you serious? She tried to kill my sister. She tried to get to me, to get to us. She was going to turn me against you and tear us all apart!"

"Are you sure? Are you sure it just wasn't because they wanted Steve?" Wanda said, looking up from the ground. Her arms were crossed over her chest as she placed one foot in front of the other.

"Who knows what they would have wanted alright? It's HYDRA. Could have been anything. Now, Zoe mentioned something about this guy named Ward, what do we know about him?" Sam asked.

"Not much," Rhodey said. "He's not in our files."

"There wasn't anyone there," Ava said. "It was just April."

"Steve also said there was a girl that he talked to…Emily?" Sam asked, glancing at his fellow teammates around the room.

"I didn't see anyone," Wanda shook her head. "Maybe if Zoe gets out of this, she'll know?"

"I hope so," Ava said with a small frown.

"I don't know, but Director Fury's pretty pissed you guys," Rhodey said. "I don't think he liked the fact we went alone."

"It was just a simple rescue Op, Rhodey," Wanda argued. "Zoe would've been dead if we hadn't gone when we did."

Ava stopped pacing back and forth and looked at the argument brewing between Wanda and Rhodey.

She left the room in silence, though she saw Sam's eyes trained on her.

Sam snuck out of the lab and followed Ava down the hallway. "Ava," he said. "Hey, hey, Ava!" He called after her.

Hearing his voice behind her made her stop. She sighed and turned around to face him.

Sam looked so tired, and warn. They were all pretty beat up and she was afraid that it was her fault for this mess.

She placed her hands over her hips and looked at him like she was ready to cry. Her face was so crest-fallen and she didn't know what to do or to say, or even how to think about all of this.

"I was just going to go to the hospital," Ava whispered. "I need to be there. She's my sister."

Sam nodded. "I'll go with you."

Ava smiled at him and she let out a breath. Sam wrapped an arm around her and pulled her in for a deep hug. "Hey, everything's going to be okay, right?" he whispered into her ear, lips closed in by her hair. She nodded and let his arms wrap around hers as she buried deep within his warm and inviting chest. "We'll figure this out. We always do."

Ava nodded and together they walked down the hallway to go to the hospital.

~*A*~


	86. Chapter 86: Spangled Past

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the MCU. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 86: Spangled Past**

The soft yet calloused touch of his fingers had woken her up. She blinked at the grogginess she suddenly felt from her dead sleep. She stretched her arms up, and Clint could fully see the bruise on her stomach in which the girl now suddenly became aware of, and she quickly shoved her sweater down.

Embarrassment aside, she suddenly realized who she was facing. It was him, Hawkeye, the master archer, and the famous swordsman. Her mind was reeling, and she couldn't form any complete sentences right now because she was so flustered at his presence in front of her. She glanced around her surroundings and noticed that the show was over. Another flood of embarrassment waved through her as she realized that she'd fallen asleep, and now she was going to have to make a quick get away to go home.

"Um," she tried to find her voice. "I'm sorry I better get going." She was about to get up from her seat, but he pushed her back down. She closed her mouth tight, and looked into his fiery blue eyes.

"No one falls asleep during my show and get's away with it," he said, feigning seriousness before he smiled slightly at her.

The tension disappeared between them. "Heh, you're funny," Zoe said.

"Sometimes," Clint said, handing her, her glasses. "I believe these belong to you?"

Pain. A flash. Then a needle sparkled in her eyes in the dark. Zoe clenched her eyes shut.

"Your father bailed you out and…" Fury said, stopping to see her facial expression change into a painful memory glossing over her face. She sat down on the sofa. "Yeah. Not so good times after all, huh Miss Sawyer?"

Zoe tried to fight the tears threatening to overwhelm her. "I just want it to go away," she whispered. "I didn't mean to get caught up in…" she swallowed hard.

"I know," he said. "That's why if you join S.H.I.E.L.D. and work for us, in hopes you can track down certain characters when we need them, then…perhaps we can come to a certain understanding of one another."

"Don't you have people for that?" Zoe asked.

"We do," Fury said. "And you'll be training with one of them. I need someone I can trust in the field. Your father was a good man, Zoe. He was trying to get every information he could from Hydra, spill it all, and turn his badge in to S.H.I.E.L.D. He wanted to get away from Hydra's evil methods of brainwashing. He wanted his family back, but evidentally Hydra found him first," Fury said. With a wave of his hand, he pointed to her parent's bodies on the floor.

Zoe felt a feeling of dread and guilt wash over her.

"I am sorry you had to endure such severity of this, but I am offering a chance to redeem yourself," Fury said. "Now that his cover's been blown, we need someone else to replace him, someone we can trust," Fury said.

"You can trust me?" she asked.

"I trusted your father," Fury said. "He was a friend, and loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D. even if sometimes he did go a little crazy. He continued to feed us Intel on Hydra to the best of his abilities. Get us the information we need, and you'll be rewarded, with you know competitive wages, and training benefits and all that."

"When do I start?" she asked.

The corner of Fury's lips curled into a smile.

Another needle stabbed her. She jerked at the sudden memory flashing in her mind as she tried to go back to sleep. She didn't want to wake just yet, she was still so tired from all the…stab…

"Barton?" she whispered.

"Yeah," he said.

She army-crawled over to the railing and used the bar to push herself up and onto her feet. She staggered over to Barton, and helped him up, but then she suddenly felt pushed backwards, and her body slid across the floor.

"Damn it, Barton, stop shoving me-" Zoe began to speak as she brushed her hair out of her eyes, in search for Agent Barton. But she stopped talking when the hostile target spoke to her partner.

"You have heart," the hostile target said.

She felt the hot blade again and she winced, holding back her cries to the best of her abilities, or at least she thought she did.

Barton took out his gun and suddenly shot at Fury. Zoe shoved Fury down, taking his place, and felt the shrapnel hit her chest, knocking her out and on top of Fury. Barton then took the moment to take the brief case that carried the Tesseract, and walked out of the room, following Selvig and Loki.

"Hill," Fury said, taking out the shrapnel out of Zoe's chest. She cried out, and buried her face within his warm chest. Blood spilled out, causing her to breathe heavier and go into shock. She was shaking in his arms. "Do you copy?" he asked. "Barton has been turned."

"This is a level seven," Fury said with a deep sigh.

"As of right now," Fury continued into the radio. "We are at war."

"What do we do?"

Zoe sighed and twitched at the thought of Loki, the Demi-God who single-handedly tried to blow up New York with his Chitauri Army.

"Who are you?" Steve asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Agent Zoe Sawyer," Zoe replied. "Although most people at S.H.I.E.L.D. just call me Zoe," she smiled.

"Fury told me there was a debriefing package in my apartment," Steve said. "Did you steal that too?" he asked, glancing around his living room in search for the packet. He walked out of the area for a brief moment to check his bedroom, but didn't find anything on his bed or on his inn-table.

He frowned, and heard her voice echo inside his apartment as the song changed on the record player.

"Oh, I don't steal, Mr. Rogers, I borrow," Zoe said.

And then something terrible happened…

Loki ripped her earpiece out and tossed it away from her.

She whimpered as she tried to break free but he shoved her hard against the glass. She choked out a sob at the burning pain running through her body. "To not have a father," he said softly. She looked into his cold green eyes that sadden for a brief moment. "To not have that sentiment of a parent that should be sentimental and warm, and caring. We're the same you and me."

Zoe felt her eyes start to water again. No. She shook her head. "I'm not like you," she whispered.

"Keep living like this, trying to save everyone you care about, and only just trying?" he asked, sensing her fears. "And you will be," Loki said. Loki pressed the button on the other side of the door and the glass door opened. She fell backwards inside, and he kicked the side of her stomach hard with his boot. She rolled inside and onto her stomach, groaning in pain, and moping in sorrow at Loki's definitive words.

She had fallen on one or more occasions than she'd like to admit.

Suddenly Coulson cringed and yelled in sharp pain, as Loki's sharp scepter drew into Coulson's back and straight through his chest. Deep red blood dripped onto the tip of his scepter. Coulson dropped to the floor, and glanced up at Thor's agonizing scream, mixed in with Zoe's.

Zoe tried to get out of the glass to get to Coulson, but it was no use. Tears fell down her cheeks as she tried to get to him.

Zoe slammed her hand against the glass. She could feel the riveting anger pulsing through Thor's veins as they watched helpless to help Coulson as Loki glamoured back into his golden armor and held his glowing scepter beside him.

"Just," Thor tried to speak. "Hold, on!"

Zoe wasn't letting go of him, as he reached for his hammer still in his hand. He tried to regain balance on his feet as he landed on the glass with Zoe clinging to him. He held onto the edge to keep them from falling again.

She looked up at what he was going to do and widened her eyes.

"Ready?" Thor asked her. She shook her head. She was so not ready, but she didn't have a choice because he used his mighty strength to push themselves out of their cell box, and used his hammer to break through the glass so they could escape into the sky. Glass flew everywhere, catching in Zoe's hair and face.

Instead of flying, Thor's hammer dragged them into the grass and dirt that flew up all around them and in Zoe's mouth that seemed to have shut her up.

Thor and Zoe were left unconscious in the grass.

A Chitauri snarled in her face. Fear stroke her.

Zoe ran to the window with the bomb in her hand and was about to jump out until Steve wrapped his arms around her and jumped out of the bank's window and onto the cop car. Zoe fell face first, and landed on the ground, as Steve pushed her out of the way just in time for the bomb to go off underneath Steve's body as he protected the explosion from the remains of civilians' lives.

Coughing, Zoe rolled over onto her back and groaned as pain wrecked throughout her body. "Owe…" she said tentatively.

"You'll always be an Avenger to me, Killer," Tony's words reminded her in the back of her mind.

It made her proud to be apart of the Avengers Initiative. It made her awake. It made her somewhat sane, and remember who she was. She didn't want to remember the pain she felt. She remembered Washington D.C. and she remembered Sokovia. She had been apart of each incidence, watching it, trying to prevent it from happening, but she remembered her family: Shield and the Avengers. The symbol Hydra flashed in her mind. The symbol branded against her neck thanks to Strucker, the new leader. She remembered Ava. She remembered her father, and her mother. She never knew what side her mother had been on except for the frail body she'd found when she was younger. She tried to keep these events alive in her mind, a reminder that she was a good person and that she had friends like Clint, Thor, and Tony to keep her sane. Red hair never left her mind. And Natasha…Natasha had been her partner throughout this whole ordeal. Oh, how she missed Natasha and her sarcastic dry remarks. And Steve…Steve had been there for her the most. She chewed her bottom lip. The New Avengers had rescued her. That was the last thing she remembered, cradled in Sam's arms, falling asleep.

She slowly started to turn her head against her pillow, and forced her eyes to open. She was afraid of the bright white light that would flood around her eyes, making them sting from sleeping so long. She wondered if any of the Avengers had these feelings run through them as they tried to sleep at night.

But she didn't want to see the needle stab her neck a thousand times over like she was being brainwashed by whomever had her. She didn't remember who she was with. That was the one thing she couldn't figure out. She didn't know why she was in the hospital. Her mind was so fuzzy and she was running through her memories trying to find it.

Light music was playing in the background, a sound of light jazz, and pop regagge-ish mix to it, and she chewed her bottom lip. She turned her head to face Steve who'd been reading a book, one book in particular, "the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship.".

Zoe smiled lightly as she recognized the woman's voice on the MP3 hooked up to the table next to a coffee cup. "Hmm…where can I find some Rum and Cocoa-Cola, Aragorn?"

Steve looked up from his book, and looked over at her, staring at him wide awake. He nearly dropped the book out of his hands but he closed it shut.

"Well, it's definitely not by the mustard," Steve said with a small smile that emerged from the corners of his frown.

Zoe furrowed her brows at the remix part of the song. "This ain't the Andrew Sisters."

Steve may have grinned, but Zoe noticed the blush on his cheeks. "It's Pandora. Well, a remix, I guess; it's what I learned on the Internet."

Zoe frowned slightly. "You've been reading without me?"

"You've been a sleep for awhile now, Zo," Steve said with a slight frown on his face.

"I have?" Zoe asked, leaning back in her bed. She sighed. "How long was I out?"

"After they brought you in here for surgery, a couple days, almost three. It's pretty late," Steve answered, glancing at her with concern in his eyes.

"Have you been here this whole time?" she asked, glancing around her surroundings. She was in the ICU and she furrowed her brows.

Steve moved to turn the volume down on the device and he looked over at her as she shivered in her covers. "I never left," he said sincerely. Zoe chewed her bottom lip and swallowed hard. "Are you…okay?"

"A little cold," she said softly, almost like a scared child. She was trying to remember how she got into the ICU in the first place.

Steve quickly got up from his seat and walked over to the edge of her bed and placed the covers on over her feet so that she would stay warm, and tucked in the covers around her small frame a little bit more so that they were tucked close to her body.

Zoe watched in pure silence as Steve ran his hands down her arms, probably for body warmth. Maybe it was something he learned in the army, or something, after all the soldiers had to deal with some harsh winters when they were defending the war.

"Better?" Steve asked, once he made his way to her chin. He scooted the covers a little bit underneath her chin and he looked down into her hazel eyes.

She nodded slowly, suddenly scared at how close he was. A flash image of remembrance fluttered through her as he held her tight in her arms.

Steve planted a small kiss on her forehead that made her smile and warm inside her heart. "Much better," she breathed a content sigh out of her lips. They stared at each other, and held each other's gazes. She'd fallen out of skies, out of tumbling cylinder boxes, and into the arms of Iron and God and super soldier. Nothing like that could prepare her for how she felt right now. That was all part of her job, falling in love with Steven Rogers, wasn't. She was so grateful he was here right now.

She was threading her fingers through his hair when she realized that she'd pulled him in close. The smell of cinnamon and coffee wafted through her nose that made her tingle inside as a reminder of how good he smelt next to her, and how kind and loving he was…how honest he was when she wasn't. She'd wanted to be honest for so long, and she couldn't. She tried to be with him, that's why she told him about Loki's Scepter. She wanted his trust like she trusted him with her heart.

She tentatively reached up to wrap her hand around his head and pulled her in for a kiss like the one she felt inside the Sokovian Church…

Steve leaned down to kiss her gently, his soft lips brushing against hers. She pulled him close against hers like a needed drug to fill her hole inside of her heart. He lightly pressed his hand onto her pillow, lowering his body down on hers, careful not to harm her, from her. "I…" Zoe said in between their kiss. "Missed you." He kissed her lips and she couldn't help but shiver, relishing the feel of his beautiful lips on hers as tingles ran down her body and to her toes. "I'm so sorry I left. I'm so sorry…"

Steve chuckled lightly within his kiss and broke it. He looked at her with slight confusion. "It's okay. It was a mission. It's your job."

Zoe chewed her bottom lip and looked at him with confusion in her own eyes, furrows deeply tight, but then she shook her head. Shield. Of course. Right. She let out a shaky laugh. "Right," she said and leaned back into her pillow, relaxing a bit. "Mission…that went totally south right?"

Steve nodded. "It would appear so, but what matters is...is that you're safe. And we'll deal with the repercussions later when we feel better, right?"

Zoe nodded slowly. "Mhmm," she said, absentmindedly, though she was trying to listen to his words and tried to process them.

Steve planted a feathery light kiss on her forehead. "I should tell the nurses that you're awake so we can get you out of this place. I don't know about you but I hate hospital food."

She sighed, "Probably…but you're not hospital food."

Steve immensely blushed deep red. His pale cheeks turned cherry apple, not the kind of cotton candy.

She reached for his hand and leaned up to kiss him again, wanting more of his kisses that made everything so much better in this world than what she'd gone through.

~*A*~

Ava was ecstatic to see that her sister was awake. It appeared to her, as she looked through the glass window, leading into the ICU room where Steve and Zoe were having a moment of their own, that Zoe was her old self again. Maybe. But words really couldn't describe how Ava felt right now. It was like the weight of the world had been lifted off her shoulders and the pressures of loosing someone she cared about had been lifted. She hated these feelings running through her like a rollercoaster. She only felt that when she lost her father. One day he was gone and out of her life forever, like he was ripped away from her heart.

"Do you want to go in and say hi?" Sam asked, coming up beside her. He handed her a small cup of chocolate pudding with a plastic spoon and a napkin.

She shook her head. "No. She needs this. Alone time with the hero of her life is a rarity for her. She's earned it. Let's go to the cafeteria and call the others that she's awake. Oh, and Clint. He's been pretty much texting me non-stop."

"Alright. But that means you get the big guy," Sam said with a grin on his face as they headed down the hallway.

"What?" Ava asked. "You know Bruce is MIA…"

"No, I mean Stark," Sam said.

"Oh great," she said with a small tisk coming from her mouth. She pursed her lips together and placed a hand over her hip. "Thanks. Thanks for that. Fine then, you notify Natasha."

Sam smirked. "It's cool. She doesn't bite." And one of them was going to have to tell Fury, but for now, they were going to let Steve and Zoe be.

Ava rolled her eyes and shoved him lightly as he chuckled at her out of his thoughts on Fury and serious matters. She whipped out her cell phone before she handed him the chocolate pudding in which he gradually stole some and put some in his mouth.

~*A*~


	87. Chapter 87: Suspended Future

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the MCU. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 87: Suspended Future**

"Suspended?" Zoe repeated. The words out of her director's mouth over the phone conference had freaked her out. She got up from her kitchen stool about two weeks after she received discharge from the hospital.

Ava looked up from the cutting board and nearly sliced her finger off when she heard Zoe's outburst. She placed her orange down on the cutting board and leaned forward with her hands as they gripped the edges of her countertop. What on Earth was going on?

The girls just woke up near noon time, still in their comfy p.j.'s. They had plans to have a sister day after Zoe's conference call, but now Ava wondered if it would be a good idea. Suspended didn't sound good at all. Zoe looked at her sister and Ava averted her eyes down to the cutting board. She continued to cut the fruit in silence.

"Sir?" Zoe asked. She walked outside of her apartment and closed the door behind her so that she was alone.

She paced back and forth down the dark hallway. It wasn't a very pretty building in Brooklyn, but it was affordable to Zoe since she didn't have any family living with her, except for Ava. They just started talking about finding a two-bedroom apartment that seemed like it was going to be hell on wheels trying to find one in the city. Zoe wasn't looking forward to that apartment search…which now it looked like she didn't have to because suspension meant she wasn't going to get to work so that meant she wasn't going to get her paycheck that she's worked hard for over the years.

"For how long? Why? What about Hydra? What about my job? What if you need me to go undercover again? What about…" she chocked on a sob. She'd never been suspended before. She'd never been fired from a job before. Shield was her first job. What was she going to do now? She can't be suspended… "H-how long?" she asked, hearing her voice start to falter at the unemployment possibilities.

"Until I tell you, Sawyer," Fury began to reply over the phone. "If you don't start giving me some answers about what down with you and Hydra, and why you've let the Yellow-Particles slip away from your fingers….you're suspended."

Zoe let out a sigh, and leaned her head back with dread. "Sir, my doctor said he couldn't find anything in my system, but I swear to you, whoever had me put something in me to make me forget who they were. They didn't want me to know and report."

"Exactly," Fury said.

Zoe frowned. "What?"

"You're compromised."

Zoe swallowed hard. "But who would know?"

"That's what we're going to find out," Fury said.

"You can't take me out, not when I'm too close," Zoe said, and found herself rigorously shaking her head. "What am I going to do? I have bills to pay..." She said, as a million things suddenly start to come to mind of what she would have to do.

"Find a job. Find a cheaper apartment. I hear Stark Industries is looking for a new secretary. They may even provide you with a therapist."

Zoe gritted her teeth together. "A therapist?! The only person I'm willing to talk to is Dr. Banner."

"That doesn't seem likely, now does it, Miss Sawyer?" Fury clipped.

She winced at the icy tone of voice on her phone and she sat there shaken for a bit before she licked her lips. "Sir?" she asked in a mere whisper.

"I think you need a break from espionage," Fury said after a moment of silence. "But if I need you to come in, I'll know where to find you."

Zoe couldn't believe this was happening. She didn't understand why this was happening. She hadn't expected her life to turn in such an ugly manner. She hadn't expected to get thrown off the train and kicked to the curb, hung out to dry sort of deal. Was it a long time coming? She wondered. Was she really that bad of an agent to get this far? Had she become so…bad?

"W-what about just staying at my desk, and finding out information?" Zoe asked. She couldn't help but stammer as the shock continued to twirl inside her like a confusion time bomb.

"I actually gave Ava that job. She's much better at it than she is Avenging," Fury said.

"You just gave it away?" Zoe asked.

"Zoe…you're…not…" Fury tried to explain. "You're just…you're overwhelmed and it's interfering with your duties."

Zoe let out a deep breath. "I can't believe this…" she said. "Am I so horrible that you would ask me to leave a place I love?" Zoe asked.

"I'll put in a good word for the CEO at Stark Industries," Fury said but with a hint of sympathy in his voice.

Zoe's heart tugged at his words.

"Take this time to reconnect with yourself, and become better," he paused.

"I am..." she sniffled, trying not to cry. She wasn't going to cry, even though she was shaking. She could feel her body shake as if it was ready to explode.

"I promise you'll get the first call when we need you." Director Fury said and hung up the phone. Zoe heard the dead tone of a dial tone on the other end and felt like her whole world had just crashed into the ocean.

She slid down the door's wood behind her and sat down. She pulled her knees together and leaned her head back against the door, letting the tears fall, letting the overwhelming emotions override her like a tidal wave.

The door slowly opened and Ava popped her head down to look at Zoe who didn't even flinch. "Zoe?" she asked.

"I can't even talk to you right now," she said, shaking her head.

"What? Why? What happened?" Ava asked.

Zoe got up from the ground. She pushed herself inside and walked into her room to grab her jacket. "I'm leaving," she zipped up her hood-jacket and took out her emergency duffle bag from the closet as Ava jogged to the threshold of her room.

"Zoe, stop, what the hell is going on with you?" Ava asked. "Why won't you talk to me?"

Zoe glared at her after she lifted the black hood of her sweatshirt up and over her hair. She smoothed out the brown curls of her hair. "I can't…I'm just…" she drew in a shaky breath. "You stole my job, Ava!"

"What?" Ava asked, furrowing her brows. "When did I do that? Oh, you mean when Director Fury "promoted" me to information specialist? That wasn't my fault."

Zoe glared at her. "The hell it wasn't!" she shoved her sleeves up so they were elbow length. She strung her emergency bag over her shoulder and stormed out of her room, bumping into Ava.

"Zoe…" Ava said. "Come on. They promoted me. It wasn't my choice. I accepted it. What do you want me to do? Not excel at my job?"

"Yes," she said, as she placed her bag onto the countersink and grabbed her toothbrush and toothpaste out of the medicine mirror cabinet and a few prescription pills from the hospital and shoved them into her bag. "No," she said with a frustrated sigh as she zipped her bag shut. Tears watered in her eyes. "I don't know. I just…need to go."

"Where are you going to go?" she asked, blinking at her sister as Zoe looked more frazzled than she had in the past.

"I don't know," Zoe sighed. She strung her bag over her shoulder and crossed her arms over her chest. She looked from the floor's black and white tiles to Ava's concerned and sad eyes. "But I don't feel like telling you. I'll call you when I get settled in…but right now, I just need to…I don't know."

Ava smirked. "I'll find you."

Zoe smirked back at her. "No you won't. I won't be at Steve's."

Zoe knew exactly where she was going to go, some place that was completely off the grid.

Zoe walked out of the bathroom, passing by Ava. Ava sighed. She followed after her sister as Zoe put on her shoes over her socks and tightened them up. She pulled out her key and her sunglasses from the bowl beside their door.

"No goodbye hug?" Ava asked.

"Let me cool off a bit, then we'll see," Zoe said and walked out the door without another word. Ava still had a job. Ava could help support herself. "It's not like you need me anymore," Zoe said out loud as she jogged down the steps of her apartment building and out into the Brooklyn streets.

Ava leaned against the threshold and crossed her arms, as she watched Zoe jog away from her. She bit her bottom lip and looked down at the floor. "Yes, I do," Ava said softly.

~*A*~

The steel walls and windows of Stark tower gleamed like shiny crystals underneath the high noon sun behind the tall skyscrapers of Manhattan, New York. She looked up and took a deep breath. Sure she looked terrible. She didn't shower, she didn't brush her teeth, she certainly didn't change out of her pajamas…but all that mattered was getting back here.

She sighed, and turned around in a slow circle, watching the people of Manhattan walk through their daily lives. She'd gotten used to the city life, it's busying ways. What she didn't want to get used to was being the needy-girlfriend type. And, lately...she'd been staying at Steve's at night due to nightmares. Going to him would be a mistake. She didn't need to bother him with this. She had to figure this one out herself.

Why was Fury doing this to her? It didn't make any sense to her and she was so upset and distraught. She felt terrible on the inside. She felt everything tear her down like she was being handed bricks and bricks and bricks that would never end.

People always left her, she thought. No one wanted to be around her anymore. She was loosing it. Zoe frowned. "Maybe I do need therapy," Zoe sighed.

"Hey…Zoe?"

A familiar voice perked into her ears and she whirled around. She smiled instantly once she saw Tony and Pepper, arms hooked with one another as if they'd just come back from a lunch date.

"Hi," Zoe said and gulped. She wiped her face to make sure there were no tears or marks on her face and brushed her hair out of the way. She folded her arms over her chest like a scared little child with her duffle bag strung over her shoulder.

"Hi, Killer," Tony smiled. "You look…"

"Terrible?" Zoe supplied for him.

Tony nodded indefinitely. "Yeah huh, where'd you come from, Woodstock?"

Zoe widened her eyes and shook her head. "I swear I wasn't doing any marijuana. Though, I'm pretty tempted right now, or get a drink. A Bloody Mary sounds really good. Might as well try it while I can still afford it. By the way, are you hiring? I know I'm not in the best of state right now..." she admitted, blushing at her current clothes of choice.

Pepper frowned, trying not to stare at Zoe's awful state. It wasn't a very good outfit choice for a job interview. She tried not to make any expressions as she looked at her sympathetically. "Oh sweetie. What's wrong?"

"It's a long story," Zoe winced.

"Well, it's a long way up, eighty-three floors to be exact." Tony said, looking up at his building.

"He's very proud," Pepper said, smiling at her.

Zoe smiled at Pepper and lifted a piece of brown hair over her ear.

"Let's go inside and get you a shower…" Tony said as he walked closer to Zoe. He wrinkled his nose as he allowed Zoe to lazily walk beside Tony like a lost dog. He and Pepper shared a worried look with each other as they let Zoe inside. "Hmm, maybe two."

Pepper smacked his shoulder and he peeked at her through his maroon colored sunglasses. "What?" he asked. She rolled her eyes and took Zoe in with her. She looked so distraught and no one should feel or look the way that Zoe did. It took a long time for Pepper to be the way she was. She thought it took Zoe a long time to get to where she was, but now it seemed like all that was out the window. What went wrong? Pepper wondered, and hoped they could find a solution for Miss Zoe Sawyer, who only wanted to help make the world a better place.

~*A*~


	88. Chapter 88: Endless Thunderbolt

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the MCU. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 88: Endless Thunderbolt**

Zoe paced back and forth in Steve's apartment until she made her way toward the window. Black skies covered Manhattan, and everyone around the world were already into their nighttime rituals. It'd been about a week since she settled in with Tony and Pepper, and she still hadn't told Steve yet, and it was only just yesterday when Tony offered her an opportunity that she was really excited about. It took the sting off of what happened at Shield. She didn't know how to mention that Shield took her off the squad or how she was no longer an information specialist. She ran her fingers against the cool glass. Summer should be here soon, right? She wondered. It just seemed like New York was under a constant state of chill, much like she felt like right now. Everything in her life was falling apart, and she was barely hanging on by a thread. She didn't want to loose Steve too. But he'd been very kind and caring, letting her stay at his place whenever she had a nightmare. Tonight was movie night, so that wasn't exactly the case here, but would she have a nightmare at Tony's when she went back to him after this?

Looking back on it, and as much as she adored Tony, she wasn't sure it was such a good idea to go to them….

It was the noise that woke Tony and Pepper up that night…the sound of a snow-cone machine crushing ice, like breaking glass and shards, all together to make one hell of a vodka snow cone.

But as Tony flipped the covers over onto Pepper, as she moved slightly with a small sigh. She turned onto her back and threw her arm up over her forehead. "I know, I know, I'm going…" Tony mumbled. "Stay here." He lifted up out of bed wearing just his night-shorts and white tank top, and started walking down the staircase that lead a way into the living room. The noise grew louder. He stopped to get his Iron Man gauntlet from his workshop just in case. It was a pretty damn good snow-cone machine. Tony didn't like it when people took his stuff. But he stalled slightly, feet skidded to a halt as he saw the dim kitchen chandelier on, illuminating just a few of his countertops.

There she was, his little Zoe bobbing her head to the music with her ear buds on, still in pajama's, making noise without a care in the world. From Tony's standpoint she was in her own little world. He tossed his Iron Man gauntlet onto the sectional couch and leaned against the kitchen threshold, and crossed his arms, watching her work.

He sighed. This girl was not the focused Shield Agent she used to be. She would have caught him by now. Something really has changed in her. He wondered what it was because this girl needed guidance. She wasn't smart or spunky anymore, not the same one he fell in love with on the quinjet heading to Barton's, she was…Tony didn't know how to put it, but she was definitely something.

She'd been with him when it came to Ultron and now she needed his help. And if he didn't help her, she was going to hit rock bottom. But the trouble was Stark Industries was fully staffed. Pepper hired the last secretary a few weeks ago before Zoe fell onto their doorstop. He didn't know what to do to help her, but he did know she needed to go to bed right now.

He leaned off the threshold and cupped his mouth with his hands like a cone, and called out, "Rapunzel!"

Zoe whirled around, nearly stumbling on her bare feet as she balanced herself out onto the ground. She smiled and took out her ear buds as the music echoed out of them. "Is that sticking now?" she wrinkled her nose. "I was getting used to Killer..." she mumbled.

Tony furrowed his brows. "Fall Out Boy?" he asked, shaking his head. "Zoe, girl, have I taught you nothing?"

Zoe shrugged. "I like them?"

"AC/DC! Hendrix! Girl, I'm going to teach you a thing or two about real music," Tony said. "As soon as you stop making noise."

Zoe cringed. She hit stop on the snow machine. The ice spluttered in her face. She wiped it away with her fingers and patted the ice down with the ice cream scooper. "Yeah, I'm sorry. Since when did Rapunzel start sticking? You know I haven't fallen off any towers in a long time and I don't plan to so you don't get to call me that," she pointed at him with the ice cream scooper before she placed it down on the countertop.

"Awe. Well, I beg to differ, you may not fall from a tower, but you are falling from something, so that still counts," Tony remarked with a smug look on his face.

Zoe gasped in feigned shock. "You know metaphors?"

"Well, I am a genius," Tony said, casually as he leaned his hand on top of the threshold, eyeing her up and down.

She rolled her eyes at the billionaire. "Adorable," she muttered, and went back to making her rainbow tasty snow cone.

"Listen, I talked to Pep," he continued, watching her still listen to his words as she squirted out the food coloring on top of the shaved ice that looked like snow. She had pulled out every flavor of the food coloring box, all organic of course, lined out on his counter. "And unfortunately Stark Industries is not looking for anyone right now. So…I suggest the yellow pages."

Zoe stopped what she was doing and let her snow cone nearly slip out of her hand. She gripped onto it and the block of ice slipped out and fell onto the floor. She gasped. "Oh no. I'm so sorry…" she panicked. "I'm so sorry."

Tony made a cringe-worthy face and watch her frantically try to scoop up the snow cone. She went in search for paper towels, but instead she went to the kitchen drawer beside his stove and pulled out the tongs.

She took the tongs out of the drawer and knelt down to pick up the ice, but by the time she got to it, Tony had already picked it up with his Iron Man glove and handed it to her.

She sighed, and bit her bottom lip. "Thank you," she said after a moment of silence between them.

She took the paper cone from the counter held it out for him so he could slip the snow cone inside it. She placed it onto the oven mitt on the counter and grabbed a towel from the rack so she could dry excess water droplets off of his Iron Man glove.

"I'm sorry," she repeated. "I don't…I don't know what's gotten into me. I'm just…scared. Shield is the only place I've ever known," she stopped cleaning his glove and looked into his eyes. They stared at one another for a brief moment. "I mean, I didn't even get a chance to finish college. My grades in high school are very lackluster. I didn't have the best of times growing up. My father was never around," she could almost hear her voice break. "And when he was around…he…" she stopped talking altogether as the memory of him attacking her flashed in her mind, and she looked away.

Tony reached out a hand and placed it on top of hers. "Have you told Rogers?" he asked, hearing how very real her current situation really was. He could hear the pain tug at his heartstrings.

She shook her head. "I don't want to worry him."

"You don't know how to tell him," Tony said.

Zoe nodded. "I'm also afraid," she whispered.

Tony looked at her with a tilted head and slight confusion in his eyes.

"What if he finds me unattractive if I'm not at Shield anymore?" she asked.

Tony swallowed hard. "Then that boy is crazy."

Zoe smiled at Tony. "Thank you," she said sincerely.

"Alright," he said, slapping his hand against his leg. Zoe arched a curious brow as he stood up from his spot. He looked around the mess that Zoe made. "Clean this up, clean your self up, and maybe…just maybe, I might be able to talk myself into giving you a personal assistant job here."

Zoe widened her eyes. "Really?" she asked.

"Mhmm, but on one condition," he pointed an Iron-gloved index finger at her. She was alert. "You tell Rogers, and you do not come to the interview tomorrow with a hangover. Do we have a deal?"

"Do I have to tell Steve?" Zoe asked.

Tony eyed her with an expectant look.

She wrinkled her nose at his expression and nodded. "Deal. Thank you."

"Thank me after the interview," Tony said. "And x-nay on the strawberry shampoo. I'll get you hazelnut."

"Why?" she frowned slightly.

"Pepper's allergic." Tony said.

She made an 'o' expression with her lips and nodded. She watched him head back upstairs and quickly turned around so she could sneak in a slurp, but when the noise was present in her ears, he spun around on one step and looked over the railing, catching her in the act.

"I saw that, Sawyer," he called after her.

Zoe blushed. "Sorry. I promise. Bed. Now."

"Good," Tony said.

He'd wait until she was truly in bed, dreaming about a certain Captain of hers, which made him gag, and hopefully nothing like what he was dreaming about...

Tony wasn't kidding when he said he would get her hazelnut shampoo. The very next morning at the crack of dawn that week, a case of hazelnut shampoo and conditioner had woken her up with a note that read, "Go Nuts! Haha get it? Hazel-nut?"

It made her smile every time she thought about it.

"You okay?" Steve asked, handing her a non-alcoholic beer bottle by the neck.

She blinked out of her reverie and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Did you find the movie set?"

"Yep, all six of them," Steve said, motioning a nod over to the coffee table in the middle of his refurbished apartment. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked, noticing her forlorned look out the window again.

Zoe took a sip of her drink and sighed. "It's just that, Ava and I haven't spoken to another in a couple weeks. I'm afraid it's my fault, I kind of went off on her."

"Did she do something wrong?" Steve asked.

She shook her head. "Quite the opposite. It…it was a fight about our dad."

She cringed. God! Why was she lying to him? She fretted, but then forced a smile on her face when Steve turned to look at her.

"Oh," Steve said looking down and then back up into her eyes. "I take it she didn't take it well?"

She shook her head. "No, and it just sort of blew up in my face. I'm a bad sister."

"Awe, no you're not," Steve shook his head.

"Bad person," Zoe added, tightening her throat.

"You're not either of those things. In my honest opinion," he paused seriously. She looked up at him and into his eyes. "You don't give yourself enough credit. It's hard for people to see the real you when you don't let them," he said.

Zoe swallowed a thick lump that had formed and tightened in her throat as if she was trying to swallow away her feelings. She could feel her eyes start to water. She shook her head. No she wasn't.

His eyes flicked over to his phone. "You're welcome to use my phone if you want to call her and apologize. I mean, it's been my experience that family is important and we don't get second chances often in our lives, right?"

Zoe nodded. "Right," she forced a smile.

She sighed and turned around to stare at the old-fashioned phone sitting on the inn-table beside the couch. She set her drink down on the coffee-table coaster and wrung her hands nervously.

She walked over to the couch and plopped down onto the cushion. She took the receiver from the phone hook and placed it over her ear then she dialed Ava's number and waited for the dial tone. And waited.

"But I still don't get why we have to start with the fourth one?"

Zoe smiled, trying not to giggle at his blank confused expression on his face. "It's because that's the very first one that George Lucas started, silly. It's like how I explained it to you before. It goes, four, five, and six, then one, two, and three. I think I'm the only person in the universe that likes the first episode," she sighed. "Then again I do like the older ones too. Return of the Jedi is my favorite of all time though…."

Steve smiled at her and she placed a finger on her lips when she thought that Ava had picked up…but instead it was voicemail. She frowned and looked down at her lap while Steve set up the movie.

She blew out a deep breath when she was ready to record her voicemail to Ava. "Hey, Ava. It's um, me, Zoe," she smiled and tried to laugh, but it only came out a small trickle. "I just want to apologize. I was out of line. I'm sorry for how I acted. Please forgive me. I love you," she said and then she hung up the phone and sat there in Steve's cushion, wishing she was just a cushion…slowly feeling like cardboard lead sinking into the couch and she wasn't even super.

~*A*~

Later that evening, Ava working late at the Avengers facility, and she'd just gotten off work, deciding it was best to head home. She'd tried to get a hold of Agent Hill or Director Fury to try and work this situation out with Zoe's suspension, but so far she couldn't get a hold of either of them, and things seemed to be in hush tones around the facility, especially whenever she'd try to ask questions.

She pulled out her cell phone out the back of her pant's pocket when she got the buzz of a voicemail and was about to put to her ear until she ran into someone.

"Zoe Sawyer?" the man asked her.

Ava looked up and tensed. "No, um, Ava, actually. Can I help you? Because there's somewhere I need to be."

"I'm looking for the information specialist, I was told she worked here, usually late," the man replied.

Ava chewed her bottom lip as she took her time to look at him. He was wearing a light crisp suit and his hair was snowy white. He had a mustache over his lips and his skin was in wrinkles, but he looked damn good for his age.

"Well, I am the new information specialist, but my office hours are closed and usually from two to four for any consolations," Ava said with a smirk on her face, and she tried to walk passed him, but he stopped her by planting a firm hand on her chest. She swallowed hard and looked up from the ground to his eyes, looking at her with gleaming interest.

He let out a dry chuckle. "You're catching me on my good day, Miss Sawyer. I have a proposition for you."

"And I'm starving," Ava said, pursing her lips together.

"Good, so we're on the same page then," he said, though he could tell that she was very skeptical of him, so he decided a lighter approach was necessary. "My name is General Ross."

Ava smirked. "Kind of hard to tell without the suit," she said and cleared her throat. He wasn't amused by her joking tone of voice. "General," she saluted him.

"I have a proposition for you."

"For me?" she frowned. "I don't need one. I have a job."

He smiled. "Yes, I know. You like your job here?"

She nodded. "Very much," she said.

"What if I told you I could pay you better?" He asked.

Ava furrowed her brows tightly together in confusion and shifted her purse on her shoulder. "Not following," she shook her head.

"Not leading are you?" he countered.

Ava sighed. "What do you want?"

"I want footage," he said.

"Footage?" she repeated. "Usually people like you want money."

General Ross let out a hearty chuckle that rumbled through the night that didn't settle well with Ava, but she was curious. Who was this guy and why did he want footage? What type of footage did he want?

"You're quite something for someone who just crawled out of a box almost a year ago," he said.

Ava swallowed hard and stopped walking. So did he.

"Sokovia caught my eye," he said.

Ava felt her blood run cold.

"I know your sister left you," he continued when she just stood there in silence. "And you're by yourself. Think of this new opportunity as a leg up."

"Sir?"

"I've been monitoring Shield for quite sometime, and I need your help," he said.

"For what?" she asked.

"To help protect our country," he said.

"Sir?" she asked. "I still don't…I'm with Shield. You can't question my loyalty."

"Oh, I don't think you want to refuse an old general like myself, my dear," he said. "Especially when this is a great opportunity to rise above."

Ava swallowed hard. "Why me?" she asked.

"I can pick anyone I want, but from what I've observed in your files so far, you're not a pushover like your sister," he said. "You take charge, and learn within your realm and hone your craft. You are good at what you do and I admire that. You and me," he said, looking at her expectantly, though her throat was very dry and still full of shock as she listened to his proposal.

"We have work to do."

Ava swallowed hard. "What it's in it for me?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.

"A possible cure to your," he eyed her up and down slowly and she shifted uneasily as she looked over at his car beside the curb of the building. She licked her lips and looked into his eyes curiously.

"Illness."

~*A*~


	89. Chapter 89: Civil War

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the MCU. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 89: Civil War**

Zoe stared at the glass table as the smell of burnt toast wafted through her nose almost as much as it wafted through Tony's when he strutted inside his kitchen, stalling the moment he saw something completely abnormal with his Agent Sawyer. He bit his lower lip. Last he heard? Former. She'd gotten suspended for slipping up. She was sitting in his chair, dressed in a black t-shirt, and black slacks…that was pretty normal of Zoe, and the boots were on, but she had a sullen look on her face and she was looking down at one of his devices that looked like a cell phone, and acted like a cell phone but was too thin to be a cell phone in her hands till she tossed it on the table and buried her face within the palms of her hands.

Tony flicked his eyes to the window, noticing the rain drops cascading down the glass in slow motion. Rain hadn't stopped since this morning when everyone went up to go to work on a normal day just like any other day, except for some people like Zoe, like the Wakandan's who got hit by accident with Rumlow's explosion bombs in the Infectious Disease building.

It had been all over the news, brewing for about a month, after nearly six months of searching for the asshole turned HYDRA agent. The asshole who tried to kill her and her friends, and if it hadn't been for the building dropping on him, he might've succeeded.

"Okay," Tony said in a hummed tight lipped voice, glancing at what was wrong with this picture. "The bread is out, there's a glass of," he blanched. "Regular milk on the counter top, and butter. Well, at least you got the strawberry jam right," he said, closing it back up, and placing it back into the refrigerator shelf next to the ketchup and other condiment sauces. He let out a sigh, "What's wrong with Zoe Sawyer and what have you done with her?"

"Huh?" Zoe asked, totally spaced out. She turned around in her seat and looked up at Tony to see him in the same outfit he'd worn to his morning speech to the MIT students. "Oh," she frowned, looking at her food, still out in the stale air. "I'm sorry, I'll clean that up soon, I promise."

"No, what's _weird_ is you don't eat any of this stuff. You're better than that, come on, what's going on with you?" Tony asked, closing the fridge door. He walked over to the table and sat down across from her.

"Nothing," she cleared her throat, and picked up her glasses that were folded on the table and placed them on her. "I'm fine. How was MIT? Was it fun being back to your old school, looking at all those bright and young hopefuls?"

"It was like riding a bike," he smiled at her. He could see the dull hazel eyes through her glasses. She had glasses? Since when the hell did she have glasses?

"Uh, glasses?"

"I wear contacts, Tony," she said. "I just didn't feel like putting them in."

"You haven't felt like doing a lot of things, lately," Tony remarked. "What's up Killer? Is it about Cap? Your sister? Your job? Your outfit? Lack of…is that a gray hair?" He reached out from behind her ear to pull out a strand and she looked at him with dead and not so amused eyes. She smacked his hand away as if she was swatting away a fly.

"Neither," she said, giving him a dry look. She turned up the volume of the news that she'd played over and over again till it sunk in, but she didn't think it would ever sink in, knowing that in her heart she could have done something about it.

"Eleven Wakandans were killed among the Avengers and a group of mercenaries in Lagos, Nigeria last month. The traditionally reclusive Wakandans were on an outrage mission in Lagos when the attack occurred."

Tony tapped the device to mute, muting the monotone voice of the news reporter lady that kind of sounded like a robot. He nodded. "Yeah, I know. Any calls for me?"

Zoe swallowed hard and she nodded. "Secretary Ross. F.R.I.D.A.Y saved the message for you. He wants to see you immediately."

"Yeah, I bet he does," he grumbled.

"Why didn't you tell us he came to you that night?" Zoe asked.

"I…." he began and winced before he sighed. "It's complicated."

"Just like everything is with you, huh?" Zoe asked with a small glare at him.

"Yeah, well, everything is complicated with you, Miss Double Agent," Tony said, glaring at her in return.

"That was my job, Tony! Fury gave me that task! I was twenty-two! I knew what I was up against. It was something my father started a long time ago, and I had to finish it!" Zoe heard her voice rising higher against the rain. She swallowed hard and leaned her head back. "You know I had to get my sister back. You'd do the same thing, for family," she said. "For Pepper…"

Tony's eyes shot up at her, strained and worried when she mentioned Pepper out of her lips. Zoe cringed. "Sorry…I…" she let out a small sigh. "I'm just sad that I could've been there in Lagos, to help the situation. I knew Rumlow. I stupidly crushed on him, worked with him, and probably could have gotten him to stop."

Tony shook his head. "He was a suicide bomber. There was no way you could've done anything," he reached out to her and gave her hand a squeeze of reassurance from across the table.

"Still have a few tricks up my sleeve from working with HYDRA," Zoe said.

"And I bet Rogers would've just _loved_ that," Tony smirked at her.

She smiled at him and shook her head. "Yeah, you're right."

"I'm always right," Tony grinned.

Zoe rolled her eyes.

"Good morning, boss, er, I guess now it's good afternoon. Secretary Ross is on the phone. He's asking for you personally," F.R.I.D.A.Y announced in her smooth voice.

Zoe liked FRIDAY, but she still had a soft spot in her heart for JARVIS that she missed. Well, at least he was Vision now and that was something they were all going to have to get used to. And she was still trying to get used to Tony's technology and FRIDAY. Little by little, he taught her how to work things around the compound and his house that she stayed at most of the time since she was still suspended from her job. Maybe she should just retire. Secretary Ross kind of scared her. She remembered the footage when he tried to get the Hulk. And if he scared her, that was saying something considering what she dealt with in the past with HYDRA.

"Maybe I should follow Clint's example," Zoe sighed, placing her chin within the palm of her hand. "Find a boyfriend, get married, have kids….ya think I can do that?"

"I think you can do that, but you ain't clocking out this early, sister," Tony grinned at her as he got up from his seat. "You can put him through FRIDAY, thank you."

"You got it, boss," FRIDAY responded and sent the call to Tony's waiting office.

"You're stuck with me," he said.

"Ha. You wish I was stuck with you."

"At least until we can find some middle ground. I'm not dealing with Ross here, alone, Killer. C'mon," Tony walked over to her and picked her up by the elbow.

Zoe groaned. "But I don't like him…he hates our Hulk."

"Yeah I know," he sighed, "But he is the Secretary."

"Yeah," she made a face and felt dragged out of her seat by Tony. "Unfortunately."

"I heard that Miss Sawyer," Ross's voice boomed over speaker and she cringed.

"I…was just kidding, sir," she coughed. _Thanks for the warning… FRIDAY_ , Zoe thought with a grumbled look on her face. "So kidding…" she sighed, and walked right into Tony's office to see Secretary Ross on screen with his white and gray pepper colored hair, mustache on his face, and a clean crisp gray suit on.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary," Zoe greeted, placing her hands closed in a fist formally in front of her.

"Good afternoon, I like you with glasses, Miss Sawyer, makes you look smart, and sharp," he said, complimenting her.

Zoe swallowed it in kind, "Thank you, Mr. Secretary. That suit is a good color on you."

Secretary Ross nodded, smirking a bit as she returned a compliment for him in return, though he could probably tell she was trying really hard not to make a face at him.

"Good afternoon, sir," Tony said, standing beside her. "What can I do for you today?"

Zoe smiled, not missing Tony's light sarcasm out of his voice.

"Good afternoon," he said, with a voice that had a very authority-like that sent chills down Zoe's spine in the most unsettling way ever. His gray eyes peered back at them with a hint of blue in them through the screen. "You two can get me a meeting in touch with the Avengers inside their compound."

"That's all the way down the coast line of California, sir," Zoe said, swallowing hard.

"I trust you two heard what happened in Lagos?"

Zoe and Tony looked at each other and nodded.

"Then I trust you two can make it happen," Secretary Ross said, eyeing them both.

"Sir, I'm not qualified to work with the Avengers anymore," Zoe said.

"And this just in, Miss Sawyer, I am qualified to reinstate your position."

"Information Specialist is taken," Zoe smirked at him.

"You're in luck, a new position just opened up. Called, The Avenger's Initiative's Oversighter." Secretary Ross said with a gleam in his gray eyes that sparked when he looked at her.

Zoe dropped her mouth and blinked, glancing slightly at Tony, who shrugged.

"I'm on my way," he disappeared without another word, leaving Zoe and Tony quite speechless.

 **~*CACW*~**


	90. Chapter 90: Sokovian Accords

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the MCU. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 90: Sokovian Accords**

Zoe looked over at her sister. She was standing right beside Secretary Thaddeus Ross. A bodyguard stood beside the pillar, watching Ross's every move as they set up the conference room with drinks, and a flat screen. Ava never looked more professional in Zoe's eyes with her pencil-like skirt, tucked in white blouse, and a matching blazer jacket to her skirt. It was gray, very much like Ross's hair and mustache.

The Avengers had come in one by one and sat down on either side of the conference room till Steve sat down diagonally across from her. Sam took a seat beside her and she looked down at the sleek mahogany colored table in front of her. She could feel Steve's questionable eyes on her that burned her skin and she just shrugged, shaking her head. She didn't want to be apart of this. She wanted to be at home, in bed, working on things for Tony's company in the comfort of her pajamas, not wearing uptight work clothes just to appease the Secretary and everyone else.

The tension only rose as everyone came in and Ross sensed he was going to have to calm it down a bit especially if he was going to get them to see eye to eye.

"Five years ago, I had a heart attack," Ross put his hands together in a fist like he was about to start a backswing on a golf course. "I'm dropped right in the middle of my backswing."

He placed his fingers along the table. "Turned out it was the best round of golf of my life because after thirteen hours of surgery and a triple bypass, I found something forty years in the army never taught me. Perspective."

 _And there it was…_ Zoe thought grimly. She flicked her eyes up and accidentally met the ones of blue that belonged to none other than Steve. Her heart twisted and she quickly turned to focus at Ross, but it was really hard to focus on him and not to drown in his words.

"The world owes the Avengers an unpayable debt," he continued. "You have fought for us, protected us, risked your lives, but while a great many people see you as heroes, there are some who would prefer the word vigilantes."

Zoe blinked at the word vigilante that oozed out of his lips. It sounded like acid in her ears when he put it like that and she frowned.

"And what word would you use, Mr. Secretary?" Natasha asked.

"How about dangerous?" Ross glanced at her.

"Dangerous?" Zoe repeated, narrowing her eyes at him.

"I read your file, Miss Sawyer," Ross said with a nod toward her. "Yes, dangerous."

Zoe licked her lips and looked down.

"What would you call a group of U.S. based enhanced individuals who routinely ignore sovereign borders and inflict their will wherever they choose, and who frankly seem unconcern about who they leave behind," Ross finished, glancing back at Natasha.

"Ava, if you will, please," Ross stepped aside for her to take over with the footage she'd collected for him.

Zoe looked up and saw Ava slowly cross over to the screen and point her clicker at the screen.

"New York," Ross announced.

An image scaled map of New York City appeared right before their eyes, and Zoe felt an intense grip on her as she spotted the scaly creature they'd fought four years ago. That seemed like such a life time ago. She couldn't help but read the stats on the side screen as Ava seemed to have pointed out to their attention.

Screams were heard, and the Hulk had jumped from side to side, building to building, leaving debris of crumbling rocks on running feared citizens. Zoe looked around her, wondering what everyone else was feeling, wondering if they felt the same…as she did.

"Those numbers can't be right," Zoe whispered to herself. She clearly remembered Natasha saying Loki had killed eighty-two people.

"I did the actual calculations and they're most accurate as of right now," Ava replied softly, averting her eyes away from the team. "Loki and the alien's destruction may have been heavy, but the damage left behind from the Avengers…added up."

Rhodey looked back at Natasha and she stared at him gravely.

"Since when are you a mathlete?" Zoe asked.

"Since I went back to school in the spring," Ava replied.

Zoe glared at her sister, shaking her head. So she was working with the Secretary. She was all for Ava having a good education, but did Ava really know what she was getting herself into?

Ava clicked on the next footage when Ross gave her the nod of the okay. And there they were. Zoe had been involved in that as well.

"Washington D.C." Ross said tentatively.

Project Insight.

Zoe winced. That abomination. She was thankful they were able to stop it from launching.

The hellicarriers were high in the sky covered in smoke, but Zoe could clearly see the citizens running for their lives. And she duly noted the stats of how many people were lost, and how much destruction was done.

The hellicarriers fell into the lake below and fire blew up all around them, screams faint in Zoe's ears stung her heart.

Zoe looked over at Steve and then Sam when he lowered his head. Zoe gave him a gentle squeeze on his shoulder and he nodded silently.

"Sokovia," Ross continued.

Zoe swallowed hard. She wasn't sure how much more of this she could take, but she didn't miss the hardened and saddest look on her sister's face right then and there that matched Wanda. The city so high up in the air. They'd tried their best to save them.

"Lagos," the screen changed at his word, and Zoe saw the smoke piling out of the windows of the tall Infectious Disease Building. This was one that she hadn't been apart of. But she still felt sad for all those people in Lagos. And she still knew that Steve tried to do his best to save them because that's the kind of guy he was.

"Okay," Steve said, dropping his hand from his chin to the table as soon as Wanda looked away. "That's enough."

Ross looked over at Ava and nodded. She turned it off.

"For the past four years, you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement that the governments of the world can no longer tolerate," Ross explained.

Zoe eyed him curiously. Can no longer tolerate huh? The governments? She leaned her chin against the ball of her fist, elbow resting on the table.

Ross turned to Ava who'd taken the Accords book from her co-worker standing beside the pillar and she handed it to the Secretary. He passed it down to Wanda first so that she could flip through it and read what it was about, but she could already tell, so she slid it over to Rhodey.

"The Sokovia Accords, approved by a hundred and seventeen countries," Ross continued, walking around the conference table. "It states that the Avengers should no longer be a private organization. Instead, you'll operate under the supervision of the United Nations panel only when and if that deems it necessary."

"The Avengers were formed to make a safer place," Steve intervened and looked up at him when Ross made his way over to Steve. "I feel we've done that."

"Tell me, Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now?" Ross asked, turning toward him.

Steve's eyes glanced at Zoe, who cringed in her seat, before they flicked up towards Ross, towering over him.

"Tell me if I misplaced a couple of ton nukes you can bet there would be consequences," Ross concluded.

"Compromise, reassurance, that's how the world works," Ross walked back up to the head of the conference table where Ava stood. "Believe me this is the middle ground," he pointed to the Accords, resting at Rhodey's fingertips.

"So there are contingencies," Rhodey clarified.

"Three days from now," Ross said, holding his cell phone. "The U.N. meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords."

Steve glanced back at Tony, who was glancing down at the floor, avoiding all eyes till he felt Steve's on his shoulders, but by the time he looked back at him Steve was looking over at Zoe.

"Talk it over," Ross said.

Zoe gave Steve a light smile, but somehow it wasn't the same.

 **~*CACW*~**


	91. Chapter 91: Team Debate

**Disclaimer: I do not own Captain America or the Avengers. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Enjoy my lovely readers!**

 **Chapter 91: Team Debate**

Zoe leaned in over Steve's shoulder, reading the Sokovian Accords in his hands, listening to the conversation behind her that'd been brewing for awhile now. It was one between Sam and Rhodey talking about Secretary Ross and what the countries of the world supposedly wanted from him and the Avengers. Ava stood against the railing, arms crossed, trying to drown out the arguments that sounded nothing more than nails on a chalkboard, and it was giving her a headache, as she was sure was the same for Tony, relaxing in his chair with a hand over his face to cover the harsh florescent lighting in the lounge area beside their kitchen.

Steve looked over at Zoe as her hair had fallen out of her pony-tail behind her and she bit her bottom lip with a blush that crept upon her cheeks. She quickly folded it over her ear. "Sorry," she mumbled.

He smiled and shook his head. "It's okay. Done with this page?"

Zoe nodded, and he turned the page so that they could read onto the next.

"Secretary Ross has a congressional medal of honor, which is one more than you have," Rhodey said, pointing to him.

"Rhodey, just stop, okay? It's not about who has how many medals or degrees around here," Ava said, dropping her hand with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Says the girl who's been smitten with him since we found you in that hole," Rhodey glared at her. "And working for Secretary Ross might I add."

"Leave her out of this," Sam said, glancing at Rhodey with cautionary eyes. "And you don't have to defend me."

"I wasn't defending you; I was simply making a point." Ava retaliated and then looked back at Rhodey. "And you didn't find me, _Zoe_ found me, thank you very much," she crossed her arms over her chest and looked down when Zoe's eyes shot up underneath her eyelashes. She twisted her lips to the side with curiosity before they flicked back to the Accords in Steve's lap.

"So let's say we agree to this thing, how long is it going to be before they low-jack us like a bunch of common criminals?" Sam asked, breaking the tension between the two.

"A hundred and seventeen countries want to sign this! A hundred and seventeen countries, Sam, and you're just like naw, it's cool we can handle this…" Rhodey said, glancing back at him.

"How long are you going to play both sides?" Sam asked, crossing his arms.

"I have an equation," Vision piped up between the two of them and Zoe was for once grateful for his intervention.

"Oh, well, this will clear it up," Sam said.

Zoe leaned her chin against the chair and leaned back to hear what Vision had to say, and everyone turned to hear his two scents…the dark magnetic, almost purple like AI that sat in the seat beside Wanda dressed in a dark knit sweeter and khakis.

"In the eight years that Mr. Stark has declared himself as Iron Man a number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially, and during the same period, a number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a communicate rate."

Zoe swallowed in the information.

"Are you saying it's our fault?" Steve asked.

Zoe cast her eyes over at Ava and they shared a small glance with one another.

"I'm saying there may be a causality," Vision clarified for him. He glanced around the room. "Our very strength invites challenge, challenge insights conflict, and conflict breathes catastrophe. Oversight. Oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand."

Zoe looked down at the Sokovian Accords.

"Boom," Rhodey grinned smugly to Sam.

"Tony," Natasha looked over at the billionaire. "You're being uncharacteristically non-hyper-verbal."

"That's because he's already made up his mind," Steve said, looking over at him.

"Oh you know me so well. Actually, I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache," Tony got up from his chair and walked around to the empty kitchen. "That's what's going on Cap, just pain, and discomfort," he took a coffee mug from the stack and glanced at the coffee grounds into the sink with disgust.

"Who's putting coffee grounds into the disposal?" he turned to his team. "Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?" He drew the coffee pot from the machine and walked over to the counter where the fruit basket was sitting. He sat his coffee mug down and took out his phone, along with some painkillers. He did not miss the shared look between Zoe and Natasha. He pressed a button and a pixeled picture of a young adult showed up onto the hologram that made Zoe and Ava look up at, as well as everyone else.

"Oh, that's Charles' Spencer by the way. He's a great kid. Computer engineering degree. Three point six GPA," He poured himself some coffee. "Had a floor level gig, a tell plan for the fall. But first, he wanted to put a few miles on his soul," he sat the coffee mug down. "Before he parked it behind a desk, see the world, maybe be of service. Charlie didn't want to go to Las Vegas, or Ft. Lauderdale, which is what I would do. He didn't go to Paris, or Amsterdam, sounds fun. He decided to spend his summer building sustainable houses for the poor," he broke the top of the painkillers open, making Zoe cringe. "Sokovia."

Zoe looked over at Wanda's fallen face and her heart went out to her. It felt like everything was extremely heavy even when they were just trying to do the right thing. They tried to help as much as they could didn't they? And how was the Accords supposed to help make things better? There was still going to be casualties.

"He wanted to make a difference I suppose, I mean we won't know because we dropped a building on him while we were kicking ass," Tony said angrily.

Zoe suddenly felt depressed. They didn't mean to. They tried to help as much as they could. They thought they'd gotten everyone out of that village. Zoe tried her best to save a family from falling within the cracks that were breaking! And it was the only real solution they could come up with at the time! And Wanda and Peitro did their best in trying to warn everyone and get to safety.

"We need to be put in check," Tony exclaimed. "And whatever form that takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations, we're boundryless. Then we're no better than the bad guys."

Zoe narrowed her eyes at Tony, leaning against the countertop with his arms crossed over his face.

"Well, that's a one-eighty if I ever saw one," Zoe said coolly.

"Yeah, well, it's time to fess up. And you no longer have your precious Fury to help save your ass whenever you get into trouble," Tony explained to her.

"Tony if someone dies on your watch," Steve intervened. "You don't give up."

Zoe looked over at Steve thankfully and she looked down at the floor.

"Who said we're given up?" Tony asked.

"We are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions," Steve said. "These documents just shifts the blame."

"There would be more blood on all of our hands," Zoe said in agreement.

"Sorry Steve, Zoe, but that is dangerously arrogant," Rhodey said. "This is the United Nations we're talking about. It's not the World Security Council, it's not SHIELD, it's not HYDRA!"

"No, but its run by people with agendas, and agendas change," Steve replied, trying to make his point heard, but it didn't look like Rhodey was having it.

"That's good, that's why I'm here. When I realized what my weapons were capable of and in the wrong hands, I shut it from manufacturing."

Steve shifted in his seat and Zoe stood up from her stance, eyes darting curiously between Steve and Tony.

"Tony, you chose to do that," Steve said. "If we sign this, we surrender our right to choose. But if this panel doesn't send us somewhere we don't think we should go, what if they send us we _need_ to go and they don't let us?"

Zoe closed her lips at that.

"We may not be perfect but the safest hands are still our own," Steve said.

"If we don't do this now, it's going to be done to us later," Tony explained. "That's a fact. It won't be pretty."

Zoe eyed him curiously and shook her head.

"You're saying they'll come for me," Wanda said in a monotoned voice.

"We would protect you," Vision assured her.

"Maybe Tony's right," Natasha said, and glanced at him while Tony looked at her with shock. Ava perked up at the Black Widow's strange comment out of her voice and listened. "If…we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer. If we take it off…"

"Aren't you the same woman that told the government to kiss our ass a few years ago?" Sam leaned in questionably. Zoe also looked at her in shock, considering they'd been concerned about her whereabouts even then when she was working for HYDRA at the time.

"I'm riding the terrain. We have made some very public mistakes," Natasha said, and looked over at Ava. Ava nodded, still feeling bad for how she'd taken part in the whole Ultron thing and ultimately trying to kill her sister in Seoul. "We need to win their trust back."

"I'm sorry did I just mishear you or did you agree with me?" Tony asked, leaning on the lounge chair, grin on his face.

Zoe shook her head and saw that Ava was agreeing with Natasha and liking what she was saying, but Zoe herseslf couldn't take it. "I can't do this…I'm sorry," she whispered, and walked out of the room, leaving everyone stunned that she'd left them in the middle of a debate.

Steve watched her walk out and looked down at the Accords on his lap, and Tony flicked his eyes at her as she left, heading down the stairs into the quietness of the downstairs level, and sat down on the steps of the stairs, where she buried her face within her the palms of her hands.

"Oh, I want to take it back," Natasha said with a shake of her head.

"No, no you can't retract that," Tony shook his head, smiling at the red head. "Unprecedented. Okay, case closed. I win."

There was a sudden buzz that alerted Steve in the middle of the decision process. He took it out of his pocket and it was a message from Sharon. " _She's gone. She died in her sleep."_

"I have to go," Steve said, and quickly walked out in the same direction that Zoe did and stood down at the bottom of the stairs where he'd walked right passed Zoe's seat. He leaned his head down in his hand and Zoe looked up at him curiously. It was silent all of a sudden. Even upstairs had gone eerily quiet. What was going on?

"Hey," she said.

Steve looked up and over at Zoe, seated along the steps that he'd walked right by, and smiled grimly at her but his eyes betrayed him. She could see that he was very upset.

"Did they make up their mind?" Zoe asked tentatively.

Steve inhaled sharply and tightened his lips before he responded to her. "It's Peggy. She…died in her sleep."

Zoe's face suddenly fell. She pulled herself up from the railing and stood up on her two feet. She stepped down to meet his height and then lower so that he towered over her. "I'm so sorry," she whispered genuinely.

Steve looked up from the floor, showing her watery tears peeking through his almond shaped eyes, threatening to spill down his cheeks. Zoe frowned and tentatively stepped closer to hug him, for her heart broke in pieces. She wrapped her hands around him, as he let her hug her for the support he craved. "I'm so sorry," she repeated in his ear.

After a moment of silence between them he lifted his chin off of her shoulder. "I'm going to London tomorrow for her funeral."

"You should," Zoe nodded, and glanced behind her shoulder. "I can take care of things here."

"Actually…" Steve said, swallowing hard. "I was wondering if you could come with me?"

"Oh, Steve… I don't know if that's a good idea… I mean what about Sam, I'm sure he'd be more than thrilled to go with you," Zoe said, brushing her fingers through his soft golden hair.

"But I want _you_ to come with me," Steve said. "Please? It would really mean a lot to me."

Zoe winced, and looked up at his disheartened look on his face. First his team was being forced to these Accords, and now his long time friend Peggy had passed away. It wasn't fair, it wasn't fair at all. And right now, he needed her emotional support. Screw Secretary Ross. She sighed. She was going to catch hell for this. She just knew it.

"Okay," she said with a firm nod. "We're still taking Sam."

That earned a small smile from Steve, and Zoe smiled too, even though it didn't feel the same.

 **~*CACW*~**


	92. Chapter 92: Future Calling

**Disclaimer: I do not own Captain America or anything related to the MCU. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 92: Future Calling**

Ava Sawyer never used to like politics till she cracked open a book and saw the news every day at the Compound with nothing better to do. So she decided to study political science and history, two of her favorite subjects so far. School was an entirely new concept for her and she loved every bit of it. She liked history the most, things that she missed out on when she was nothing more than an experiment for most of her life.

She wasn't sure what she'd do with her degree, or what she'd do if General Ross gave her that cure for her enhanced ability to see someone else's future death. She hoped that maybe she could contribute to the world and give back and be a bit more of a help than a hindrance. So when she was offered to go with Natasha to Vienna, she jumped at the chance to go with her.

She wanted to help Natasha in anyway she could, and she wanted to really delve into what the United Nations was really about. Apart of her thought it was fascinating. She'd seen King T'Chaka speak in front of thousands of people with kindness and generosity. All he ever wanted it seems was peace and his son was not that bad to look at either. She shouldn't be thinking that, but at the same time, she couldn't help but look in Prince T'Challa's direction at how tall he was in person, standing against the panoramic view of the back alleyways behind the U.N buildings with windows that seemed to stretch beyond the clouds over Vienna.

When he turned around at the announcement of Natasha's name, Ava's heart skipped a beat and saw his kind and handsome face turn to face Natasha and Ava. Dark brown chocolate eyes locked onto hers and it made her smile till she suddenly wondered if what she had on was okay. Natasha looked fabulous as always. Ava couldn't compare to her beauty.

Natasha had picked a nice dark purple suit, very formal and chic and fitted her nicely with her red wavy thick hair slightly passed her shoulders, while Ava picked a dark navy blue color in the same style, formal and chic. Ava had pulled her hair up into a wrapped up bun with a braid curled around it in place, leaving two strands of wavy brown hair to dangle at the sides of her puffy cheeks.

"Ms. Sawyer, I'll need your signature as well, since you took part in last year's cause. I assume you're here because you're under her supervision," the woman motioned a quick chin nod over to Natasha, "And you're willing to help ratify the Accords," the woman said with the clipboard in her hands.

Ava nodded at the woman with dark hair, "That's correct," she said, grabbing the pen and scribbling her name on the dotted line.

"I don't suppose your sister is with us?"

Ava shook her head. "Unfortunately no," she said. "I haven't spoken to her since the Accords were presented to us."

"It's a shame. We could've used her on the task force," she said.

Ava smiled, handing her back the pen, and the woman smiled too. She pivoted when she had both women's signatures.

"I suppose neither of us is used to the spotlight," T'Challa said, making both women turn their heads around to face the Wakandan Prince.

"Well, it's not always so flattering," Natasha replied, glancing at him with a small smile on her face.

"Ain't that the truth," Ava muttered.

Natasha nudged her to be quiet and she fought an eye roll. T'Challa's eyes slanted in Ava's direction and he smiled at her and then faced Natasha.

"You seem to be doing all right so far," T'Challa nodded, glancing around the room full of people hard at work, working around the clock. "Considering your last trip to Capitol Hill, I wouldn't think you'd be particularly comfortable in this company."

"Well, I'm not," she replied. "But I brought someone who's a student in politics. We're in good company."

T'Challa chuckled as Ava made a blanched disgusted face. "You look thrilled to be studying it. Family choice?" he asked curiously.

"My own choice," she replied as a matter of fact, rolling on the balls of her heels. "History is more my thing, I like to learn from the mistakes of my past and try to learn from them. I think it's important that we don't make the same mistakes again. But, with that said, I admire you and your father, I truly do. I really believe we can accomplish something wonderful here."

"Well, thank you, Ms. Sawyer. That alone makes me glad that you are here today, Ms. Romanoff," T'Challa said. "The pair of you."

"Why, you don't approve of all of this?" Natasha asked curiously.

"The Accords? Yes. The politics? Not really," he said, shaking his head. "Two people can get more done in a room than a hundred."

"Unless you have to carry a piano," King T'Chaka said, sneaking up next to Ava and Natasha.

"Papa," he greeted his father. His father nodded in return.

"Ms. Romanoff, Ms. Sawyer," he turned to face them.

"King T'Chaka, allow me to apologize for what happened in Nigeria," Natasha said formally.

"Thank you, thank you for agreeing to all of this," he appreciated it. "I'm sad to hear that Captain Rogers would not be join us today."

Ava looked down.

"Yeah, so am I," Natasha said, glancing slightly at Ava next to her but then looked back at T'Chaka.

"Will everyone please be seated? The assembly is now in session," the announcer announced on the intercom.

"That is the future calling," T'Challa said. "Such a pleasure," he said, shaking her hand and Ava's hand. King T'Chaka shook Natasha's murmuring a thank you and a nod and shook Ava's, and when Ava felt his warm hand on hers, she got a strange tingling feeling up her arm and straight to her head. An image burned through her skull, catching her off-guard, as she spiraled into the darkness of her power. She saw T'Chaka dying in this very room with smoke and fire all around him, falling to his death due to a blast. A blast?

Ava frowned deeply at the vision she just saw. T'Chaka and T'Challa were looking at her curiously, wondering why she was still holding onto her hand.

"Please don't stand too close to the windows," she whispered. King T'Chaka tilted his head oddly at her. His son mirrored his action.

"Ava," Natasha whispered, pulling her along. "Come on, don't be rude. I'm sorry about her. She's probably just star struck. History majors." She forced a smile and gripped her shoulders tightly to bring her back from the vision to the present. She shook her head and glared at Natasha as they sat down in their respective seats along the rows of other seats with other respective U.N crew.

"Natasha," Ava whispered.

"Hush," she said, casting a low glance at her as if she was talking under her breath. She smiled at the interaction between T'Chaka.

Ava swallowed hard and watched King T'Chaka go up to the podium to speak his mind on the Accords and what they represented. She was trying to get T'Challa's attention, but he was poised and proper, standing at full attention, listening to his father's words to heart. It seemed like the whole room was under T'Chaka's spell, listening to him at how important the Accords were and why they're exactly being put into place.

"Natasha," she tried to get her attention again, worried that something was going to happen.

King T'Chaka was going to die.

"Shh, this is history, you like that kind of thing," Natasha said.

Ava sighed in defeat and placed her chin on the palm of her hand, slouching in her seat, while Natasha said poised, listening to King T'Chaka.

"When stolen Wakanadan Vibranium to use a terrible weapon, we in Wakanda were forced to question our legacy. Those men and women killed in Nigeria were part of a good will mission from a country too long in the shadows. We will not however, not let misfortune drive us back. We will fight to improve the world we wish to join."

"T'Challa…come on, look this way," Ava whispered, trying to get his attention. She could feel it, her vision that had spooked her. She'd seen this very moment when she held his hand and if she went up there now and nothing happened…? She bit her bottom lip and looked all around her surroundings in the assembly room. She didn't see anywhere that a bomb could be placed. She even kicked her desk a bit and felt underneath to see if there was something hidden but it only made her look like a paranoid crazy person, so she stopped.

"Oh, I see you think he's cute," Natasha whispered to her.

Ava blushed deeply red, "No," she scowled. "I mean yes, but you know it's complicated with me in that department right now. And no…Nat, I fear something horrible is going to happen. I had a vision," she said in a low whisper.

Natasha scrunched her brows together and looked at her, she was about to ask of what, but King T'Chaka continued. "I am grateful for the Avengers' support in this imitative."

Ava stood up from her seat and Natasha looked up at her worriedly, and then looked outside the windows. "Wakanda is proud to extend its hand in peace…"

"Nat, get down now!" Ava urged her. Natasha widened her eyes at her and then at T'Challa's sudden movement at the corner of her eyes.

Natasha got up and turned to help two people next to her get down with her.

"Everybody get down!" T'Challa yelled, and Ava sprinted into a run from her desk trying to get to King T'Chaka. She ran as fast as she could to push King T'Chaka out of the way, but felt the harsh collide of T'Chaka and the windows breaking into pieces, and everything going off in chaos at the sound of a bombing blast, interrupting the historical peace movement.

~*CACW*~

Zoe headed back to her room, exhausted, and ready to head back home, or wherever home was right now. She had no idea. She was giving up on everything she ever believed in, and becoming just a regular civilian. She had spent years serving the public, hiding behind the shadows with SHIELD that she'd forgotten what it was like to have something real to her heart again.

She closed the door behind her as soon as she got back to her hotel room, and sat down on the edge of her bed, facing her flat screen t.v. Blank and boring, much like her current life right now. She was faced with a lot of questions, questions she didn't want to deal with at the current moment. So, she just took off her heels off of her aching feet, and laid back on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

"What am I doing with my life?" she asked to herself, pressing two fingers against her temples, trying to think.

Her phone then decided to buzz on her and she groaned. "I had to ask," she muttered with a shake of her head and she reached for her purse, digging out for her cell phone. She took it in her hands and looked at it, still lying on the bed. It was a text from none other than General Ross. Her stomach twisted in knots. She'd forgotten about him. She was just about to be a free woman until he texted her. She sighed and flipped open her phone to read what the text said…

" _Turn on the news,"_

Zoe frowned, and immediately shot up from her bed. She walked over to the dresser where the TV rested, and turned it on with the remote. It flipped to the breaking news cycle of the U.N. building drenched in water and burnt crisp charcoal everywhere.

Her heart sunk. What the hell just happened?

She turned up the TV's volume and listened to the British newscaster.

"A bomb hidden in a news van blew up the U.N building in Vienna. "More than seventy people have been injured. At least twelve are dead, including Wakanda's King T'Chaka. Officials have released a video of a suspect they've identified as James Buchanan Barnes, the Winter Soldier."

Zoe felt a sudden wave of dread wash over her as she saw the picture of what it appeared to be the Winter Soldier, dressed in black, walking behind one of the white news vans parked out back.

"The infamous HYDRA agent linked to numerous acts of terrorism, and political assassinations, anyone with information regarding this suspect, please alert officials with this number on screen."

There was a knock at Zoe's door. She was frozen stiff at the screen. The last she'd seen the Winter Soldier was when he pulled her out of that river and helped her locate the latest HYDRA base.

The door opened, Steve taking it upon himself to enter. She turned her head to face him, face solemn and crest fallen.

"We gotta go to work," Steve said.

She nodded. "I'm right behind you."

 **~*CACW*~**


	93. Chapter 93: Considering Options

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or Captain America or anything related to the MCU. I am just merely writing for fun.**

 **Chapter 93: Considering Options**

German police and joint task forces with the clean up crew were working around the clock and fast as they could to clean up the ugly situation inside Vienna, Austria. The U.N. building had just been bombed by a widely known terrorist linked to HYDRA. Natasha was outside and on her cell phone, talking to Zoe.

"She's…unconscious, they just put her under," Natasha said slowly, licking her lips, and tucking them under for a brief minute. She looked down at the street sidewalk and up at the firefighter's hosing off the flames. Dark smoke billowed in the air, making it hard to breathe. "But, she tried to save King T'Chaka, Zoe, what was I supposed to do leap after her like a panther? You know she would have pushed me away anyway."

Zoe sighed on the other line, " _Yeah, I know. You were better off saving two people. Where is she right now?"_

"Once she's fully stable, Tony wants to fly her back to the states, so I think he'll send Rhodey over when she wakes so he could take her back in the jet," Natasha said. "She'll be back on our soil, in the hospital, recovering for the next several days. Those burns…they were pretty bad, Zee."

" _Thank you, Natasha. I really appreciate you calling me and letting me know. I truly do. I…I'm sorry. I wish things were different. Can you please call me when she does wake up?"_

"Sure thing, Killer," Natasha said with a small smile on her face. Natasha clicked off on her cell phone and looked up to see T'Challa seated at one of the benches that faced the U.N. building, broken in half. She sat down on the bench across from him and tightened her phone in her hand. She looked at him sympathetically. "I'm very sorry," she said.

He turned to face her and she pursed her lips together when she noticed the dried crimson blood streak across his face. There was even some smudged crimson pressed into his white collared shirt underneath his suit.

She noticed that he was looking down at a ring between his fingers.

"In my culture, death is not the end; it's more of a stepping off point. You reach out with both hands, and Bast and Sekmet, they lead you into the green field where you can run forever," T'Challa explained in a calm and soothing voice.

"That sounds very peaceful," Natasha responded.

"My father thought so," he continued. "I am not my father," he shook his head, clearly determined that he wasn't.

"T'Challa," Natasha shifted a bit closer toward him. She gave him a warning look. "The task force will decide who brings in Barnes."

T'Challa got up from his seat and slipped on the ring. "Don't bother Miss Romanoff. I will kill him myself," he said, already walking away from her before she could say anything else.

"Shit," Natasha let out a sigh, and started to call Zoe.

" _The number you have reached is no longer in service_."

Natasha smirked and clicked end, shaking her head. No sooner than she clicked end, her phone rang and she lifted it to her ear. "Yeah?"

" _You all right_?" Steve asked, somewhere close, and somewhere in disguise.

"Uh, yeah, thanks, I got lucky _,"_ Natasha replied to Steve.

The sirens in the city blared through behind her and she looked over her shoulder curiously. T'Challa was nowhere in sight, and Ava was currently unstable. She was alone in this and she needed Steve to stay out of what was about to happen. She hoped that maybe Zoe could get him to stay away from this ordeal, but of course she wasn't available.

"I know how much Barnes means to you, I _really_ do," Natasha continued. "Stay home. You'll only make this worse. You'll only make this worse for all of us, please."

" _Are you saying you'll arrest me?_ "

"No," she shook her head, and looked down. "Someone will. If you interfere, that's how it works now."

"If he's this far gone, Nat, I should be the one to bring him in," Steve said, glancing back at her through his hiding spot.

"Why?"

"Because I'm the one least likely to die trying," Steve said.

Natasha looked at her phone when Steve ended the phone call. "Shit," she muttered, realizing what was soon about to happen even though she tried to prevent it.

~*CACW*~

Steve placed his phone back inside his brown leather jacket's inside pocket and headed back to the small café where Sam and Zoe were seated, eating their lunch. They were both dressed in disguises. Sam wore a black leather jacket on, with aviator sunglasses, and a crimson ball cap hat, while Zoe had on skinny jeans, and a dark crimson leather jacket she wore over her gray top along with her real glasses on, and not contacts.

After listening to Nat's call earlier about Ava made Zoe feel less hungry, but seeing as how she was currently incognito and currently on the run, she had no idea when she'd be able to have some decent food again. She tried to gobble down what she could.

"She tell you to stay out of it?" Sam asked.

Steve didn't say a word.

"Might have a point," Sam continued.

"The joint task force is more than likely to get us _all_ killed," Zoe spoke in a harsh whisper. "No matter what we do. It might be safer if we try to intervene, given that the Winter Soldier is just as super as he is. I mean if I were in SHIELD, that's exactly what we would've done."

Sam twisted his mouth to the side at Zoe's input. "But you're not in SHIELD anymore, Zo. Completely demolished, and besides we're supposed to be different from any of them. Remember?"

Zoe gave him a harsh look.

"He'd do it for me," Steve declared, shutting the two up.

Zoe slanted her eyes toward Steve and then went back to eating her clam chowder soup.

"1945 maybe," Sam said. "I just want to make sure we're considering all of our options. The people that shoot at you wind up usually shooting at me and Zoe."

Zoe lifted her head up and felt a little bit heartfelt at those words. She and Sam were only human after all. And Sam was right. She didn't have a team of Agent Coulson's backing her up anymore, or…Clint's and Natasha's. Her heart fell once more and she felt a little on the sad and heavy side.

She was really alone in this.

Steve looked back at Sam and Zoe, both looking at him, and both willing to stand by him for the same beliefs they shared.

A sudden cough interrupted their moment, and Sharon snuck in beside Steve. "Tips have been pouring in since the footage went public. Everybody thinks the Winter Soldier goes back to their gym. Most of it's noise…" she slid a folder over to Steve across the countertop. "Except for this. My boss expects a briefing…pretty much now, so that's all you're going to get."

"Thank you," Steve said, taking the folder in his hands.

"You're going to have to hurry. We have orders to shoot on sight," Sharon said as she glanced back at them, and then left them be with the newfound information at Steve's fingertips.

"What are we going to do, Cap?" Zoe asked.

Steve smiled slightly as he glanced down briefly at the info at hand. He slid it across the table over to her, and said, "Suit up, information specialist 2.0."

 **~*CACW*~**


	94. Chapter 94: Bucky Barnes

**Disclaimer: I do not own Captain America, or anything related to the MCU. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 94: Bucky Barnes**

 **Bucharest, Romania**

"Well this is just insulting," Zoe commented lightly as she paced on the rooftop nearby Barnes's apartment, thanks to Steve's handy phone and Sam's help combined with her hacking skills from her first year at S.H.I.E.L.D. she was able to locate his home. Romania.

Bucharest, Romania to be exact.

Who would've thunk it?

"Zo…" Sam shook his head, letting his Bird Wing scan the apartment buildings for Sergeant Barnes.

Zoe wouldn't have thought it. She probably should have. Bucharest was a very nice small town to stay low in. She thought the Winter Solider would high tail back to his old roots back to good old Russia, but clearly he had other plans.

"No," she shook her head, and pivoted on the heel of her boot, crossing her arms over her chest. She gave Sam a distinct cross look within her ivory features. "I should be down there, not up here. I can't fly like you. What's he thinking?"

"I can still hear you, Zoe," Steve said.

She whirled around, and pressed her hand on her ear where she had her ear piece stuck inside. "And I can hear you smirking!"

"Look, I just don't want you to get caught in the crossfire when we do…" From Zoe and Sam's ears it sounded like he jumped up on top of a building, and rolled over into someone's apartment. Hopefully no one was home. Most of this apartment complex's looked fairly abandoned or poor. Zoe calculated that this was probably the poorest district of Bucharest.

"Getting closer," Sam announced.

"Thank you, Sam…When we _do_ find him. You're right, he is super like me, and if Sharon is correct like I think she is, German Forces will be hot on our tails. Sam's the quickest way for you to get out alive."

Zoe's crossed look fell off her face as the realization hit her like a ton of bricks and she placed her hand over her head, feeling the cool wind brush against her skin. True. She wasn't superwoman or anything like that. But, still, hearing him talk about her and Sharon in the same sentence really rubbed her the wrong way and it just…didn't make sense to her, and she was confused.

"Now you suddenly care?" she asked.

"I'll always care about you," he said. "As long as you're still with me."

Zoe's heart swelled. Of course she was still with him, but she had a feeling they weren't talking about romance anymore. They were talking about their own shared beliefs and that he was hoping she wasn't attached to HYDRA anymore like she truly said she wasn't.

"I'll die before I go back to them," she promised.

"Well, hopefully it doesn't come to that," Steve said. "So then no matter what. Sam, am I in the right building because in the last three apartments, I've nearly bought it by getting mauled by cats, dogs, rabbits…crying babies…old ladies with walking sticks…"

"Oops, next building, next building! He's on the fifth floor," Sam said. "Thank you Bird Wing."

Zoe bit her bottom lip before she started to speak again, "You just don't know if you want to be with me…because I want a family, and you don't?"

"Well," he said, hopping over to the next building with a loud thud in Zoe's ears. She cringed. Meanwhile Sam was standing next to her, coaching Bird Wing and scanning the apartment to make sure it seemed like it was the right one.

"We had the coordinates right, just wrong apartment," Sam said cheekily, making Zoe shake her head at him. "What?"

"That's not…do we have to discuss this now?"

"Yes, now, I think is the perfect time to discuss it," Zoe replied to Steve. "Because I know you got tired of my lying, and I mean I don't blame you for that, anyone could get tired of lying real quick, but I told you from the beginning what kind of person I was. Actually, scratch that, no I didn't…"

"I don't think you have enough coffee in your system," Sam joked.

Zoe scowled, "Shut up, Sam. I didn't say anything because I didn't know who I was back then. Back then, I was just doing my job, an agent getting her first taste in the field of monsters and magic. And, now that I know who my family is, I'm trying to change. I don't want to be like them. I want to be more like you…but I guess at the rate we're going right now…we're reversing in the wrong direction, not that I mind, anything for a friend," Zoe said, especially since he helped her pulled her out of the river. She was willing to help pay him back in return. "I guess all I'm saying, is that I'm there for you too, and if you still want me even after all of this, I'll be here…waiting, even if you don't, if that even remotely makes any sense at all."

She looked at the gray cement beneath her shoes, feeling the small wisps of brown hair wrap around her face.

There was dead silence between the three comrades.

A ruffling sound heard soon after, and it heard like he'd picked up a book and flipped through it.

Zoe was looking at Sam like a lost puppy, wondering why Steve didn't reply back.

"I'm just glad that you're here to help," Steve said finally.

"He helped me in more ways than I could ever imagine, so of course," Zoe replied, swallowing in her chocked up tears. She inhaled, taking a deep breath, and let it out. All of her emotions wanted to spill out onto the floor but that wouldn't be very professional, even if this wasn't a very professional setting. They were breaking several laws, and Zoe was sure she'd end up in jail.

She didn't know why her emotions were coming out now like word vomit, but she just wanted Steve to know it before things went completely South on how she felt about him. She still cared about him a lot, even if they broke up; she just wanted to let him know that she was still here for him. It was quite clear she hadn't gotten over the break up at all. She thought she did, but Tony was right. She was a mess, and she hadn't been acting herself since the Avengers split, since Ultron…

And seeing his eyes set on Sharon didn't make things any easier either. She was betting that Sharon and Steve together was her triggered emotional rollercoaster ride.

It made sense if he wanted to hang out more with her. She had an entire life experience with him. What did she have? A shadow government that no longer existed and a family background of HYDRA of whom he hates? Yeah, there was only _one_ guess as to whom he could choose.

That conversation in the car ride to Camp Leigh did _not_ go unnoticed with Zoe. It always settled within the back of her mind. Still, she always wanted to try to make it work with him, but at the same time… she had a job to do. Maybe love was never in her future. Maybe Ava was right all along, and that death was her future calling. It didn't work out for Clint and it's not looking good for her and Steve at the current moment even if they do still care about each other…there were always other factors to keep them apart.

Suddenly a warning beeping noise found its way to Sam's wrist device that was connected to Bird Wing, out on the search for any type of interference. It flew back to Zoe and Sam on the roof top informing them that the German Special Forces had arrived.

Back to reality, Zoe thought worriedly.

"Head's up Cap, German Forces approaching from the South," Sam read on the scanners, holding his ear piece with his glove hand.

"Understood," Steve responded, unbeknownst to him that his old pal Bucky was standing right behind him.

"Go on," Sam motioned his Bird Wing to continue to search the perimeter of the building across from them. It zoomed around in a zig-zag motion, circling Zoe and Sam before it went to track the German police down.

"Do you know me?" Steve's voice pierced Zoe's ears through her earpiece. She winced and tried to peek inside the covered up window, but she could find nothing. She walked around the gray rooftop with nothing but exhausts systems around them and glanced over the side of the building where Bucky had a balcony. She could see little men dressed in all black police uniforms with black helmets covering their faces approaching them.

"You're Steve, I read about you in a museum," Bucky replied with a nod of his head. Steve eyed his best friend down, wearing a ball cap on top of his greasy shoulder length hair. He was dressed in regular street clothes with a jacket that covered his metal arm. His metal arm was covered with a glove.

"They've set the perimeter," Sam informed Steve, noticing what was going on. The entire building was being swarmed with a dozen forces, carrying weapons in their arsenal utility belts.

"I know you're nervous, and you have plenty of reason to be, but you're lying," Steve continued.

" _I wasn't in Vienna, I don't do that anymore_ ," Bucky responded.

Zoe strained to hear the Winter Soldier speak, but she was too concentrated on the police swarming the small apartment complex buildings around them. Her eyes widened with worry when she watched the policemen take out a couple of cans that just screamed bomb to her. She looked over at Sam, shaking her head.

There were too many of them. This was too much.

A loud yank of a door sounded in Zoe's ears and she gasped. The men worked like an army of ants, calculated and swift. The entire building that Steve and Bucky were in was compromised. "Hurry up, Steve!" she exclaimed.

"They're entering the building," Sam mentioned.

Steve heard Zoe and Sam, but continued to try to reach Bucky to see if he was in there somewhere. He took a step forward. "But the people who think you did are coming to you now, and they don't plan on taking you alive."

Bucky nodded and took a step back as he spoke, "That's smart, good strategy." He could hear the thumping sound of boots clattering up the stairs outside his apartment door.

Once the police force finally made their way to the top of the roof, one police man, big and burly dressed patted with armor over his uniform turned to Sam and Zoe.

They froze and looked at one another. Zoe licked her dry lips, trying to keep her anxiety down. "Come on Steve…" she pleaded under her breath, though wanting to make sure the superhero heard her.

"They're on the roof, we're compromised!" Sam called into Steve's earpiece to let him know that it was time to jet off. Zoe ducked as one of the policeman started to fire at her.

"Sam!" Zoe cried out in warning when he noticed Sam, extracting his wings. He flew up high in the sky, twirling around so that the policeman missed. He went to collect Zoe so that she didn't have to be sitting duck on the roof with flying bullets over her head. He picked her up by her shoulders and carried her to cover.

"It doesn't have to end up in a fight Buck," Steve tried to reassure his best friend, but Bucky slipped his glove off of his metal fingers that glinted in the tiny bit of sunlight that poked inside the apartment.

"It always ends up in a fight," Bucky replied solemnly.

"See if you can get around there; see how long Steve's got!" Zoe pointed to the building.

"Doesn't look long!" Sam replied back to her as he zoomed around the building, ducking down below toward the street a little more so they had more cover from the hail of bullets showering at them.

"Sam!" Zoe pointed to one of the two policemen that had climbed over the balcony and hid. Two on the rooftop. They stopped firing at them when they could no longer see where Zoe and Sam had hid, slowed behind another building, out of sight. Zoe clung onto Sam's neck and arms, wrapping her legs around his torso to make it easier for him.

"Can you see anything?" Sam asked.

Zoe turned her head and moved it over his shoulder. "They're getting ready…they're almost there."

"How long?"

"Ten seconds?" she blinked, wincing, give or take. "I can't see. Gotta get closer."

"Are they still looking for us?" Sam asked.

Zoe peeked out again at the rooftop and shook her head. "No."

Sam twirled around and flew up a little bit to get closer to see what they were doing and his stomach dropped. They were in trouble. They had to get out of there. This one was going to be one nasty fleet, and it wasn't going to do Zoe any good with him holding onto her. She needed to get out of here.

"Five seconds!" Sam announced to Steve once he realized how close they were to throwing the bomb cans in the police's hands.

"You pulled me and Zoe from the river! Why?"

Bucky looked up from his hand.

"Three seconds!" Sam cried.

"Steve, get out of there, get out of there now!" Zoe urged, looking at one of the policeman ready to toss the bomb can inside.

"Yes you do," Steve said, not finished with him yet. Bucky had to be in there somewhere. He just knew it.

"Breach, breach, breach!"

"Steve!" Zoe yelled into Steve's ear, heart pounding against her chest. Fear swelled in her chest when the bomb blew off but underneath Steve's shield. "Steve?" she asked.

"I'm okay," he replied back to her, glancing up at Bucky who seemed in shock that they both could've bought it if it hadn't been for Steve's shield.

Zoe let out a breath.

"She's a drop!" The policeman shouted out from behind the door and used one of their big pipes to break the door open.

"Zoe, time to go!" Sam said, looking up as the policeman spotted them once more, catching sight of Sam's red colored winged tip in the sky. "Hold on tight." Zoe nodded, and held onto him tight. He sped up and around the building in high speed that made Zoe nearly slip from him.

This was so much different than flying with Tony, she thought worriedly.

"Don't worry, Zo, I won't let you fall this time," Sam said, noticing her nervous hold onto him. Zoe turned to face him curiously. She pressed her lips together and she nodded, clinging onto him tightly as they tried to find a hiding spot, somewhere away from the bullets.

 **~*CACW*~**


	95. Chapter 95: Chasing Criminals

**Disclaimer: I do not own Captain America or anything related to Marvel. I am just writing for fun and not for profit!**

 **Chapter 7: Chasing Criminals**

Zoe tilted her head up just as soon as she dropped from Sam's arms on the ground. The soles of her boots hit the pavement with a swoosh of dust that lifted from her shoes. He flew back upward to help them who was in trouble, especially the Winter Soldier when he zoomed around the building.

Zoe looked around her surroundings and stepped backward to try to get in on the action. She saw the shadow silhouette of Sam's wings perched behind him, carrying his flight.

"Sam, Southwest rooftop," Steve informed the Falcon.

"On it!" Sam responded in haste. "Who the hell's the other guy?"

"I'm about to find out!"

Zoe watched Steve fly across the building to help Bucky against their phantom foe on the second rooftop, landing with a thud. A metal blade caught her eye as the helicopter zoomed in and stared shooting a hail of bullets at them in no particular order.

"Sam!" Steve and Zoe said in unison.

"Got it," he said, quick with his feet, knocking it out of flight to buy Steve some time to try to stop this guy on the rooftop. Sam swooped down toward the cement ground and winked at Zoe as he passed by her. She rolled her eyes. Show off. She was slightly jealous of the fact he could fly and she couldn't. But that didn't matter now because what mattered was trying to help deviate the situation at hand.

 _Think, think, think!_ Zoe exclaimed worriedly as she listened to the sounds of slicing and punching in her earpiece that made her sick with worry. This was not good. What would be helpful to the situation up front that was completely chaotic? How was she going to get up there to help?

But she didn't need to because Sam's voice cut into her earpiece, "Steve's on the run, Zo."

"Shit," she hissed. "Where? Inside the tunnel! I'm heading their way! Gonna see if I can sneak in there myself!"

"Maybe I can cut them off," Zoe suggested.

"It's worth a try," Sam said as if he was shrugging.

She was struggling with the idea of Steve running after Bucky through the cars that weaved in and out of traffic. The police cars zoomed passed her and followed them inside the tunnel. Damn it, she thought. She needed to try and cut them off some way shape or another. She could hear the blaring of a policemen's car's in her ear that didn't help the situation.

She looked down the sidewalk street and looked at the cars along side the sidewalk and noticed a parked motorcycle. It was black and shiny with a single light in front of it, parked waiting just for her.

She ran toward the motorcycle and looked around for a set of keys. No keys in sight, so she took off her glasses and broke them in half till one of the hinge pieces broke in pieces and onto the floor. Once the hole opened up from the plastic frames, she pulled out the thin wire of the glasses and twisted it so that she could use it to hotwire the bike. She ran her hand along the wire back to where she found a black wire. She unhooked the connector and started to hotwire the motorbike till it clicked. She reached for the other hinge into her pocket and placed it inside the slot, and took two wires together, trying to get a spark to ignite between them, "Come on, come on…" she whispered frantically as she spotted a man coming toward the bike with keys in hand. She widened her eyes. Oh dear. That must've been the owner of this beautiful bike. She gulped and tried to focus on the wires together in her hands that nearly slipped, but she gripped tight into her fingers until the engine finally roared to life underneath her and a big smile grew across her face.

"Sam! I can't shake this guy!" Steve informed, trying to shake the Black Panther like creature that was clinging onto the sides of his car that he'd stolen from the police.

"Right behind you!" Sam called after him, zooming in and flying down low so that he could catch up to Steve and the mysterious creature that was also hunting the Winter Soldier down.

"I'm on my way!" Zoe exclaimed in a rush and revved the handles forward, kicking the stand up with her leg. She powered the motorbike and twirled it around in a one-eighty and headed for the tunnel. Once she found herself inside the chaotic mess of traffic, she zoomed passed a set of flaring cars that seemed to blur within her destination in mind. It was a long tunnel, but she was going to cut them off with the every bit of knowledge that Maria Hill taught her in the past.

"Aargh!" Sam exclaimed within her ear as the Black Panther gripped onto his wings and tried to slow him down till he threw him off of him and landed back down again on Steve's car.

"I'm gunna try to cut him off!" Zoe said to Steve in a rush as she pushed her pedal forward, gaining speed. She zoomed passed many cars and zigzagged out of the streets until nearly hit a running man with a backpack on his back.

"I see him," she swerved to the right, blocking him in his direction. "Hello Barnes. Long time no see. You're done. There's no way out now."

He eyed her up and down curiously and glanced back behind him. Then without a word, he pushed her forward onto the bike, squished against the controls, and hopped on, "You're going to get me out of here. Move."

"What?" she asked with a small shake of her head.

"It's only fair. I help you, you help me, remember?" he asked, blue eyes twinkling with determination to get the hell away from all of them.

"Zoe! Almost there!" Steve called after her. Bucky was watching her listening to Steve in her ear, but her eyes were wide staring at him in disbelief. "Stay right-" He reached out and took out her earpiece and pinched it away from her.

But she didn't have a time to think because he'd already hopped on the bike right behind her, taking control of the handles, covering her hands. She felt his presence to be intimidating so she let him power the bike back up.

"So much for cutting you off," Zoe muttered under her breath as she gripped onto the handles tightly when he made a sharp turn into the other side of the tunnel, trying to get away from the gaining police cars behind him.

She looked behind her shoulder and over Bucky's to see that Steve was not far behind, and saw the head that belonged to the Black Panther like creature sticking out from behind the vehicle. He crawled on top of Steve's car and leaped up and soared in the air, heading their way. "Behind you!" she yelled and cringed, ducking for cover. He turned his head and reached out to grab him by his metal hand, wrapping his fingers around the panther's throat only to try and toss him out of the way, but he'd grabbed a hold of Bucky's back and slid, causing the bike to skid on its side. Zoe nearly fell off when it didn't if she hadn't gripped onto the bike handles, and if it weren't for Bucky's free hand keeping her on tight, while his metal fingers dragged across the ground, sparks flying.

"Hold on!" he shouted at her as he gritted his teeth tight, keeping his arm wrapped around her so that she didn't fall off. She let out a whimper, unable to help it, and tried not to scream that was threatening to reach her lips due to the tight turn. Fear and sweat trickled down her face as she watched in utter horror. Yep, this was a mistake. Should not have tried to help. Even though it was in her nature. Even though she'd been trained to help others in need from strange beings like Bucky Barnes. "Keep your foot on the pedal!" he instructed her. She looked down with worry but did as she was told. "Just like that!" Once her foot connected with his, he lifted his leg up and kicked the panther off of them, while bringing the bike up right, so that their stomachs didn't lurch out of their bodies out of the adrenaline that was surging through them.

The panther looked up and saw Sam flying after Steve. He leaped up and grabbed a hold of him in hopes that he could get to them that way. Steve saw, and heard the grunted sounds coming from the Falcon's lips within the rear view mirror till Bucky threw up an explosive that locked on to the tunnel's side wall. Zoe widened her eyes and she cringed within his arms. "Are you crazy?" she asked.

"Trust me," he said.

"That's kinda hard when you've stolen my bike!"

"You're bike?" he smirked at her in amusement. Zoe wrinkled her nose. Good point.

The explosive hit all around them, causing debris and fallen rock to fly everywhere.

Sam stopped abruptly in the air, and the panther flew off of his legs, underneath the hail of rocks that fell on top of the cars trying to swerve from the explosive damages. The panther dropped low and reached onto Bucky's tail end, gripping onto him. Zoe gasped and frantically tried to gain control of the bike when it slid out from underneath her, causing her head to hit the pavement, and roll over on the ground. She landed harshly onto her stomach, face connecting to the ground, hitting her jaw. She grunted as pain soon took a hold of her and before she knew it Steve was standing beside her with the panther and Bucky.

She pushed the palms of her hands up from the ground, feeling everything ache within her body. Steve looked over at her with a small frown, noticing a bright red cut start to form on her forehead that she gained from the fall of her bike. She looked down at the ground and brushed her straining eyes with her swollen fingers from the entire ordeal. The alarming sounds of police cars followed them and trapped them.

Zoe looked up at the sound of metal thundering to the ground. Familiar iron metal. But it wasn't Tony's. It was War Machine. An old friend. Rhodey.

She looked at him through his pewter colored helmet and he stared back at her with shame in his eyes that she knew was hiding behind that helmet of his. Guns from atop of his armor pointed at Steve, Bucky, and the curious Black Panther. "Stand down, now."

Zoe heard the sounds of the German police force behind her as they all gathered their guns and hid behind their cars, aiming at them if they ever made a move.

Once Steve realized they were surrounded, flanked by everyone even Rhodey, his old comrade of whom he'd liked when they fought together for a brief time to save Sokovia, he placed his shield back into its straps, keeping it in place.

"Congratulations, Cap, you're a criminal," Rhodey announced.

Zoe frowned at him, "Rhodes…" she tried to find her voice, thick and heavy with trepidation. She wanted to go to him, and explain the situation that had occurred, but the policeman saw her and aimed his gun at her. She widened her eyes in sadness and shock. The police pushed forward, muttering in German. Zoe didn't know a lick of. But she knew it wasn't good, as Steve was slowly putting his hands up. Bucky followed not a moment later. And she spotted Sam in custody. She saw a gun pointed at her, ushering her to put her hands up with her friends, urging her to move with them. Zoe took a couple steps back and sank beside Steve, sharing a small look of sorrow with him, feeling anything else but dread.

The panther raised his hands in the air slowly, and his claws slipped back inside his black gloves. Then he reached around his helmet so he could take off his helmet. Once it was off, it revealed the handsome face that belonged to none other than Prince T'Challa of Wakanda. Zoe blinked at him and felt her heart swell with interest. He must've thought Bucky was the culprit who killed his father during the U.N explosion.

Zoe felt the policeman grab her wrist and tighten it behind her back with her other wrist. She watched in pure and utter shock as it hurtled through her like a tidal wave. She looked at Steve, wondering what his thoughts were, while he too was getting handcuffed. The man was surrounded with police guns.

"You're highness," Rhodey acknowledged.

Zoe couldn't stop staring at least until she noticed that Bucky was pushed down roughly on the other side of Steve and onto the ground. She frowned. Well, this was interesting…

 **~*CACW*~**

 **Berlin, Germany**

She had to hand it to the policemen, they were well trained at what they did, keeping them somewhat separate and not so close to each other. They had Bucky locked away in some type of chamber, following behind them, probably on the way to jail. They had stripped off all of their gear right then and there, making Zoe feel naked without any of her gear to the point of only wearing skinny jeans, her gray V neck shirt, and a crimson leather jacket. She was promised contacts or at least a set of glasses once she got to her destination because she was far sided. Sam and Steve had on regular civilian clothes too, brown and black leather jackets.

She tilted her head back in her seat. Sam was behind her and Steve was right next to her. In front of them was the mysterious Black Panther, otherwise known as T'Challa, Prince of Wakanda.

He was somebody knew that she hadn't met. He'd probably come up on her scanners back in the day on her database, and maybe find little information about him. Wakanda was a fairly new country after all. The stolen vibranium from Ultron was probably the last straw for T'Challa and his family.

But none of that mattered now to Zoe. She was going to go to jail. She shook her head and sighed, leaning her head against the seat.

"I tried so hard to run away…guess in the end it doesn't matter," she whispered.

Steve heard that beside him and he turned to face her. "Hey," he said, trying to get her monotonous attention away from the window, looking outside over the river as they rode along the bridge. She turned to face him and looked into his deep blue eyes. "I'll get you out of this. I promise."

"I tried to help…" she swallowed in her fear. Her fear of confinement. It was starting to catch up to her again.

He nodded. "I know you did."

She leaned her head back, glancing out the window again to see headquarters in view and she gulped.

"So, you like cats?" Sam asked, breaking the heated tension he felt between them, especially between Zoe and Steve.

"Sam," Steve scolded quietly.

"What, dude shows up dressed like a cat you don't want to know more?" Sam asked, genuinely curious.

"If I were at my desk, you'd be able to ask me anything about guys like him," Zoe said. "I could find out your history so fast you wouldn't even have time to slip out those nifty claws of yours."

Steve smirked at Zoe's dangerous tone of voice and then he looked at T'Challa in front of them, still silent. "You're suit, vibranium?"

T'Challa turned his head slightly. "The Black Panther has been a protector of Wakanda for generations. A mantle passed from warrior to warrior. And now because your friend murdered my father."

"But he didn't do it," Zoe said, unable to help but defend him. "He's innocent. The Winter Solider was in the past. All those assassins he did that was the past. This is now the present, today, where Bucky Barnes is Bucky Barnes, a man fresh out of cryo-freeze in search for his own way. He's a changed man. You'll see."

T'Challa sent her a half smile. "Tell me, Zoe Sawyer, is that what they've told you? Do you believe a man like that could be so stable for so long and not go back to his old ways when he sees the opportunity? What if he was provoked? I've heard of your family, Zoe Sawyer,"

Zoe gulped, and swallowed. She looked over at Steve and he looked at her, flicking his eyes up and down in a curious manner, causing her to sink a bit in her seat.

"I also wear the mantle of king," he continued. "So I ask you. As both warrior and king, how long do you think you can keep your friend safe from me?" He glanced back to look at Steve with gleaming eyes in warning.

The ride seemed to take forever but they finally touched down inside the garage that belonged to headquarters. Zoe climbed out first. The garage was bustling with workers getting ready for their new arrivals as Bucky's chamber was rolled onto the cement. Zoe looked over her shoulder and frowned when she saw the super soldier locked inside the lit up confined space. Steve jumped out of the van next to her and saw that she was looking thoughtfully at Bucky's current predicament. T'Challa and Sam climbed out of the vehicle afterwards. Steve gently gave Zoe a squeeze of her shoulders and motioned her to walk over to meet with two people, one of them Zoe recognized as Sharon. The blonde-straight haired CIA agent stood with her hands crossed over her wrists. Zoe's eyes raked over her outfit, missing her own, as she noticed the vest and the rolled up sleeves.

"What's going to happen to him?" Steve asked.

"Same thing that ought to happen to you," he replied with a smirk on his face. "A psychological evaluation and extradition."

Zoe's stomach twisted in knots. No. She couldn't help but glare at Sharon who gave her a look of regret.

"This is Deputy Everett Ross," she said, voicing their silent questions, eying Zoe carefully. "Deputy Task Force Commander."

Zoe's eyes widened like saucers. Ross's brother. Figures. She was never going to get away from them was she? She bit her bottom lip nervously, glancing at the man dressed in a light silver suit that matched his hair. His face looked like General Ross's but younger and brighter as if he'd just scored everything he'd ever hoped for. She didn't miss the two men dressed in black armor and gear with weapons in their hands standing behind them. This was serious, Zoe thought. Dead serious. Nerves couldn't even begin to count of what she was beginning to feel right now.

"What about a lawyer?" Steve demanded.

"A lawyer?" the deputy let out a small chuckle. "That's funny. Make sure their weapons get placed in lockup."

Like Steve and Sam, Zoe watched her knives that had been hidden inside of her clothes, get taken away from her. She shook her head. Useless. No more shield. No more Bird Wing. No more Falcon. No more expandable Zoe. "Uh, we'll write you a receipt."

"I better not look out in the window and see anyone flying around in that," Sam said with a glare as he watched his precious suit get taken away from him. Zoe smiled grimly and patted his upper arm. She gently pushed him forward. They'd all gotten attached to their weapons, and Zoe missed hers more than anything. It was a gift.

"So," she drew in a deep breath, walking beside Steve. "No lawyer. And your girlfriend is working with the enemy. How exactly were you going to get us out of this?"

"I'm thinking…" Steve whispered. "And she's not my girlfriend. I just…"

"Yeah I know, you just think she's pretty."

"She is and she can help us," Steve said in a low voice, eyeing carefully around his surroundings.

"You can trust her?" Zoe asked, twisting her lips into a small frown, feeling doubtful.

"With my life," he nodded. "She is a Carter after all."

Zoe blinked in realization. Well, she was that. And Peggy Carter had meant a lot to Steve Rogers. Zoe understood that completely. It just…sucked. "Does Ross know?" Zoe asked.

"Let's hope not," Steve said, glancing back at her. Zoe nodded in agreement, hoping that Ross didn't know about Sharon's past.

 **~*CACW*~**


	96. Chapter 96: Evaluating Consequences

**Disclaimer: I do not own Captain America or the Avengers or anything related to Marvel whatsoever. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 96: Evaluating Consequences**

"You'll be provided with an office instead of a cell," Deputy Ross said to T'Challa. "And do me a favor, stay in it."

"I have no intentions of going anywhere," T'Challa assured the Deputy.

The long hallway loomed in front of Zoe's eyes as she tried to keep up with Deputy Ross, who was explaining to them what the deal and situation was at hand with officers walking closely behind them. She glanced outside the windows and looked over the river below them. She shook her head and kept her attention forward until she was handed a pair of glasses thanks to Natasha.

Zoe glanced at her curiously, eyeing her in her usual black and leather attire and took the glasses from the former SHIELD agent, former Avenger, former trainer to Zoe Sawyer. She tried not to sigh at that point when the red head sank back to Steve, coming up briskly right behind Zoe. "For the record, this is what making things worse looks like."

"He's alive," Steve said just as Zoe put her new glasses on and was utterly thankful for the gift of seeing. She brushed her own hair back that had fallen out of its usual bun when she'd fallen from the motorcycle. The cut was still fresh on her forehead, blood drying on top of her skin. She doubted she was going to get any hospitality from Deputy Ross's end, so she was currently stuck.

"It was not a court sanction…" Tony was saying on the phone as Zoe followed Natasha inside the main office of HQ. "And Colonel Rhodes is supervising cleanup. Consequences? You _bet_ there will be consequences. Obviously you can quote me on that because I just said it, anything else?"

"Try not to break things while we fix this," she regarded Steve.

"Okay, yeah, I'll talk to her," Tony said, eyeing Zoe as she stepped next to Steve, watching the buzzing office come to life with all the monitors that were overseeing Bucky's powered chamber cell.

"Secretary Ross wants you both prosecuted," Tony motioned a gesture between Sam and Steve. "I had to give him something."

"And me?" Zoe asked, swallowing hard.

"He wants to see you, actually. Says he's got another job for you if you're interested."

Zoe twisted her lips to the side and crossed her arms over her chest. "What kind of job?"

"Classified."

She sighed.

"I'm not getting that shield back am I?" Steve asked.

"Technically it's the government's property," Natasha responded curtly, batting her eyelashes at them. "Wings and knives too."

"That's cold," Sam shook his head at her. Zoe frowned.

"Warmer than jail!" Tony shot back.

Natasha put Steve in one of the main conference offices, while Sam and Zoe were seated in another. Silence engulfed the glass conference office, while Zoe leaned back in her chair, and watched Tony and Steve exchange conversation that had suddenly interrupted in a shouting match that had echoed into Sam's and Zoe's office.

"Give me a break!" Tony said, anger pulsing through his veins. He glanced behind him, catching Zoe's curious stares behind him and lowered his voice, especially when Steve caught her and Sam looking at them.

Steve shook his head and stormed out of the conference room and walked right into Sam and Zoe's. They looked at him expectantly. "You're next," he said, trying to calm his anger down.

Zoe twisted her lips into a small frown and stood up from her seat. "Steve? What happened?"

He shook his head and walked off further toward the monitors and placed his hands over his hips. Anger riveted off of him and she wanted to find out what had happened between him and Tony but she could only guess that she was about to get her fair share of Tony's wrath. Sam gave her a shrug and motioned a chin nod for her to go to Tony. He gave her a look as if to read that he could talk to Steve and try to figure out what was wrong.

Zoe walked around Sam's chair and stepped through the threshold, passing by Natasha, and shook her head as she left the Widow and marched right into Tony's office.

"You wanted to see me?" she asked, noticing his rose-orange colored glasses, almost maroon.

"Yeah, hey Killer, have a seat," he motioned.

Zoe noticed the pen set onto the table that Tony was trying to put back inside, but failing miserably. The pen fell out of his hands and she bent down to pick it up for him. The ancient object felt heavy in her hands when she gave it to him. He swallowed hard, shock in his eyes when she helped him. She took her seat a moment later when he snapped the pen case shut and set it down on the glass table.

"So…what was that about?" she asked, wanting to know what happened between Tony and Steve. Another argument between them. It shouldn't faze her but this time it seemed different. This time it seemed worse than all the other arguments between those two.

"Nothing," Tony said simply. "Look, Secretary Ross contacted me personally to give you another assignment. He's not too happy about the fact you went rogue."

Zoe made an 'oh really' roll of her eyes and her lips twitched at Tony's words in her ear. "I made the conscious decision that I wasn't going to be a spy anymore. That's what he wanted me to do, spy for you, is that it? That's how you found us."

Tony grimaced. "I don't want you to spy for anyone," he said. "But I don't want you to go to jail. I know how you hate bars and small confined spaces."

Zoe nodded. "I do, I really, really do. The last time I was in one, I fell about thirty thousand feet from the sky, and landed right next to a Demi-God."

"And speaking of Demi-Gods…" Tony drawled, and turned around to face her. "Ross thinks you might be able to find our couple of ton nukes. You've found them before, you can find them again."

"No," she said sharply, shaking her head. "I'm not going to help Ross find them, Tony. They're my friends."

"Or it's jail, Killer," Tony exclaimed. "It's jail for you and confinement for your sister."

"My sister?" Zoe blinked at him, completely outraged. "What the hell does she have to do with any of this? She's innocent!"

"She killed innocent people in Seoul, and Sokovia, Zoe! She almost tried to kill you! And people claimed she tried to kill King T'Chaka when she met him before the bomb exploded the U.N.!"

"Proof?" she demanded, glaring into his sunglasses.

"The fact that they had unnerved looks on their faces?"

Zoe rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Tony, she's been working on trying to defect her powers. According to Sam, she's been working on trying to calm them down and not kill that person right away. What motive would she have to kill King T'Chaka?"

"I'm not saying she's a criminal, Zee, but even if she didn't mean to, they're still dangerous. I'd like to keep her in the compound with Wanda. She'll still be able to be an assistant to Ross and take online classes if she still wants to do some good in the world like she claims. You know, baby steps."

Zoe glared at him and shook her head, anger bubbling in her system. "Is that why she's working with Ross? She thinks she's doing good by protecting us from the world? What did he promise her? Huh? He must've promised her something pretty spectacular for her to work with a jerk like him, and you know it."

"I'm sorry, these are the terms," Tony said.

Silence slipped in between the old friends. Zoe considered the terms to be rather cruel and unfair. Her sister had been injured in the blast

"What about prosecution? Why not just put me on trial with Sam and Steve?" Zoe asked finally.

"Because you and I both know that since HYDRA's files have been leaked online by your little escapade a couple years ago…they'll link anything to get you thrown in jail, especially now that there's concrete proof of your entire family being involved with HYDRA. Even if it was self-defense, your family was selling lies to the government, and that won't look good to the jury," Tony explained to her gently.

"I'm sorry, Killer. I really am, but you made that choice along time ago."

"Did Pepper happen to remind you what it took for me to get Ava out of that stuffed up cell in Strucker's lab?" Zoe flicked her eyes to the billionaire, who ran an index finger across his jaw line. He turned around from the monitors once Bucky was put into place. "Or is that lost on you too since you two broke up?"

"Zo," Tony said, shaking his head. "You don't know what it took for me to get you this far. Ross was just going to throw you in jail. I had to think of something fast. I'm trying to…" he sighed. "I'm trying to form that olive branch thingy…you know? Save something far worse than this."

"Far worse than terminating all your friends?" Zoe asked.

"It's…" Tony fought for the right words to say but a cleared throat interrupted them before Tony could respond to her, Deputy Ross cleared his throat.

"We're ready for the evaluations to begin, Stark," Deputy Ross poked his head in the door and he smirked at Zoe. Zoe stiffened in her seat. Tony eyed the deputy and nodded. He gave a look of regret to Zoe, and she looked away, contemplating her options that were looking very slim right now. Jail, or try to find the Hulk and Thor for Ross.

She wasn't sure she could betray their trust with her again. It made her sick to her stomach just thinking about it. She already made that mistake once; she didn't want to make it again. She regretted it. She didn't mean to become this person. She didn't mean to fall so low to the ground that she couldn't get herself back up.

Tony excused himself from the room and followed Ross into the monitor control room where the computers were attached to the walls above them. He stood by Natasha and not too far away from Deputy Ross who had control of the stations. All cameras were pointed to the psychologist and the Winter Soldier.

Steve walked inside the conference room, and Zoe gazed up at him. He walked over to the glass that divided them from the main control room where Ross's staff was stationed. She got up from her seat and walked over to stand by Steve, keeping her eyes on the entire situation. She inhaled sharply and let it out, "We need to talk," she said.

"Classified?" Steve asked.

Zoe nodded. "Ross wants me to help him find Thor and The Hulk. I don't think Nat's willing to budge that, so I guess I'm the lucky one for the task. He's got Ava with Wanda. Compound," she explained under her breath. She eyed the Deputy carefully in front of her and Tony and Natasha, standing with her arms crossed, looking at the screens in front of her.

"You going to do it?" Steve asked.

"I don't think I can," Zoe shook her head.

"But you don't have a choice either," Steve reminded her, flicking his eyes from the computer screen to her side profile face. "You stick with me, it'll be exile."

The doors opened up behind them, revealing Sam, and the echoes of the evaluation taking place came through the doors and into the room, perking Zoe and Steve's interest. "Hello, Mr. Barnes. I have been sent by the United Nations to evaluate you," the psychiatrist introduced himself to the Winter Soldier. "Do you mind if I sit?"

Sam strode in casually and sat down in the empty chairs of the conference table and scooted inside, doors closing behind him, and now there was no way for them to hear.

" _You're first name is James?_ " the psychiatrist asked.

"The receipt for your gear," Sharon handed him the paper and Sam read it briefly before he scoffed, shaking his head.

"Bird Costume?" he gave Sharon a dry look.

"I didn't write it," she shook her head, annoyed at Sam's dry remark. Sam gave her a wry smile and dropped the paper on the table, tapping his fingers lightly against the glass.

Zoe pursed her lips together at Sam, smirking at him. "What? It's not right," he scowled and she just crossed her arms over her chest, glancing back up at the screen.

Zoe watched the psychiatrist sit down at a table that was provided for him and placed his brief case right on top of it. He started to open up a notebook that caught Zoe's eyes. She stared at it. It was an interesting notebook, or maybe it was just a notebook to take notes in. "Too bad we can't hear anything," she muttered under her breath.

Then suddenly Sharon pressed the restricted button, and a picture of Bucky's chamber came on screen along with the psychiatrist's voice that seemed to boom in the room, sending chills up and down Zoe's spine. She would really hate to be in Bucky's position, locked, and not in control. "I'm not here to judge you," the psychiatrist continued. "I'm here to ask you a few questions. Do you know where you are James?"

Zoe and Steve turned to face her and she looked the other way, trying to be as innocent as she could, catching the look of Natasha's eyes on them when the voice of the psychiatrist bounced off the glass.

"I can't help you if you don't help me, James."

 _Probably because he doesn't need your help,_ Zoe thought, fighting so hard to keep her mouth shut.

"My name is Bucky," Bucky replied, defiance slipped from his voice.

Steve felt an ounce of hope rise within him. That was good news. They were on the right track. Zoe kept her eyes fixated on the psychiatrist, though, eyes still staring curiously at the notebook in his hand and pen in the other.

Why did that book look familiar to her? She blinked with confusion as she tried to find out through her past why that book was haunting her in the face like a ghost. She missed the brief photo exchange between Sharon and Steve as he tried to figure out the situation at hand. Something wasn't right, especially if Zoe seemed spooked by something in particular during the evaluations. He could tell, and that was unnerving in itself. That got him thinking. If Zoe was thinking, that was never good. That meant she was working something out in her head like she used to whenever it came to handling information or misinformation as it had been as of late.

"Why would the task force release this photo to begin with?" Steve pulled the black and white photo of a picture that looked like Bucky walking behind the news van dressed in black from head to toe.

"Get the word out; involve as many eyes as we can?" Sharon suggested with a wave of her hand of uncertainty.

"Right. It's a good way to flush a guy out of hiding. Set off a bomb, get your picture taken. You got seven billion people looking for the Winter Soldier," Steve nodded, glancing slightly at Zoe, still not taking her eyes off screen.

"You're saying somebody framed him to find him," Sharon said.

"Steve, we looked for the guy for two years and found nothing," Sam said with a shake of his head.

"We didn't bomb the U.N. that turns a lot of heads," Steve counteracted.

Sam nodded in agreement.

"Yeah but that doesn't guarantee that whoever framed him would get him a guarantee that _we_ would," Sharon added with a shake of her head.

"Sharon, what's this guy's name?" Zoe asked, turning toward the CIA agent.

"Dr. Broussard. He came within the hour of Bucky's capture," she replied and then twitched her eyes when she realized what Zoe was onto.

Steve glanced back at the computer screen to listen in on the conversation.

"Tell me Bucky, you've seen a great deal, haven't you?" Dr. Broussard asked.

"I don't want to talk about it," Bucky replied in a thick and throaty voice.

"You feel that if you open your mouth that the horrors might never stop," Broussard stated. "Don't worry. We only have to talk about one."

Zoe widened her eyes when he said that, "That's not him. That's not him!" she rushed passed Sharon and Sam, running out the door to go straight to Deputy Ross. "Look up Dr. Broussard! You have to-"

"Take her back to the conference room, Stark!" Deputy Ross exclaimed. "Take control of your pest."

Tony looked over and saw Natasha rushing over to stop Zoe from trying to get to the computers to look up the psychiatrist, but stopped gripping onto her wrist when all of a sudden the lights went out throughout the entire building.

 **~*CACW*~**


	97. Chapter 97: Running Chaos

**Disclaimer: I do not own Captain America or the Avengers or anything related of the sort. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 97: Running Chaos**

Zoe finally managed to catch up to Steve's side and quickly followed him into the facility area where the guards were supposed to be stationed, come to find out that they were all dead. She stood by his knelt body at one of the fallen agents sprawled on the ground, clutching his chest. Zoe's heart went out to him. He didn't have a chance against the Winter Solider. "Dead?" she asked, though she probably already knew the answer deep inside that made her feel really depressed.

Steve grimaced, and took his hand away from the agent's pulse on his neck.

The Winter Soldier has officially been awakened.

But where was he?

He had to be close.

Zoe stuck by Steve, not wanting to stray, Sam was close behind, but studying the fallen agents on the ground, and checking each one of their pulses. None of them had a chance.

She stumbled over a book, and she looked down at it beneath the sole of her boot. It was the red book with the black star that had her spooked from the very moment he took it out of his brief case. She lifted a strand of hair over her ear and she picked it up off the ground. She opened it up to the first page and she froze in her place. Fear glazed in her eyes as though she'd seen a ghost.

"Steve…" she called, voice cracking as she spoke his name.

Steve whirled around to face her, in fear of something happening to her, and relaxed when she saw she wasn't harmed at all. But he frowned when he saw the fear evident in her eyes and the color of her face drained even paler. She was facing the book in front of him, hands shaking along the edge. He recognized the name written in cursive alongside Colonel Karpov. Richard Sawyer.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, feeling sick to her stomach.

"Well, you're father was a psychology major. They could've used his expertise for trigger words," Steve said.

"Or worse," she said, barely a whisper.

"Help me," a voice said coarsely. "H…elp…"

Zoe and Steve looked up at each other at the voice and then Steve spun around on his heel, marching forward, further inside the facility close to where the chamber cell was. Zoe closed her book and quickly followed suit, hugging the book to her chest. She was going to burn it. Normally she was apposed to burning notebooks of any kind, but this one was an exception. No good came from this book. She wanted the old Bucky Barnes back, not this Winter Soldier.

"He…" the man dressed as the psychiatrist tried to say.

"Get up!" Steve demanded as he gripped him by the collar and dragged him over to the wall.

The psychiatrist dropped the act when Steve wasn't budging. Zoe came up to the side of him and stared right at him with anger burning in her eyes.

He chuckled at her. "Traitor."

"Depends on how you define traitor," Zoe replied bitingly. She gave him the coldest look she could muster.

"What do you want?" Steve shoved him hard against the wall, getting his attention off of Zoe.

Brown eyes flicked to Steve. "To see an empire fall…" he said dangerously with such malice in his tone.

Shivers crawled down her spine and she was about to ask who he was, until Sam was suddenly thrown against the side of the chamber cell. Zoe whirled around and she widened her eyes in alarm. "Sam!" she cried out and ran to his side, temporarily placing the book down beside her as she tried to help him. Steve had let go of the fake psychologist to face the Winter Soldier who was about to attack Zoe, but Steve caught his arm just in time and the two engaged in a heavy fight, kicking and hitting and blocking blows as they moved from the holding cell to the outside room where the dead agents were.

In the meantime, Zoe tried to shake Sam awake, "Come on, Sam…Sam…" she said desperately shaking his shoulders. "Sam!" she yelled in his ear till he jerked awake and blinked at her with wide eyes. "You okay?" She asked.

Sam groaned at the aches and pains that he'd received from the throw no thanks to the Winter Soldier. Other than that, he was fine. "Yeah…where's Steve?" he asked, as he started to slowly pull himself up with the help of Zoe.

"Uh, working on trying to knock the Winter Soldier out of Bucky Barnes's head…?" she replied.

Sam gave her a confused look before it finally registered within him of what she was talking about. "Couldn't have just said fighting?"

"I feel like that's a general term…" Zoe said, twisting her mouth slightly to the side, but then noticed he was looking curiously over her shoulder, quite fixated.

"Hey!" Sam called out.

Zoe turned around and widened her eyes. "I'm on it!" she said and picked up her feet to follow after him, but then she turned toward Sam, but he ushered her to follow the fake psychiatrist before he could escape with his hands. Zoe nodded and then she spun and ran out the door.

Sam finally caught up with Zoe, running through the chaotic halls of HQ. There seemed to be noises going on in the main area where the cafeteria and the tables and chairs were, but they were focused on getting the real culprit. Zoe caught a glimpse of something like sound waves that shocked the room and then a chair sliding to the side. She'd stopped and feared the worst. Damn it, Tony, she thought with a shake of her head. Sam placed the red notebook in front of her and she glanced at it briefly before she gripped it tight in her hand breaking her out of her trance of the Winter Soldier fighting the others in the upstairs lounge till they ran through the halls, leading them to the front doors.

They followed him outside and into the sunlight that blinded them. They searched around through the running workers in fear of the Winter Soldier. Zoe didn't blame them, even though he wasn't himself right now. She'd run too if there was an assassin on the loose. That was just common sense. She shielded the sun with her arm over her forehead until Sam gripped her arm. He spotted something in the middle of the road once it had been cleared by the cluttered fearful.

He picked it up off the ground and sighed. "Damn it," he muttered.

Zoe blinked and loosened the tight grip she had on her notebook and shook her head. "What do we do now?"

Sam tightened his jaw and blinked ahead of him. "Rendezvous Point."

 **~*CACW*~**

Zoe stood against the wall behind, flipping through the book that had everything written inside about how to control the Winter Soldier and what her father did with this horrible man called Vasily Karpov or something like that. Steve told them what happened with the helicopter on the roof and how he pulled him out of the river to find them here at their safe point. Now they were definitely outlaws. Ross was going to be pissed. She sighed and rubbed her eyes, sleepy. She could hear another helicopter this time flying high in the skies, searching for them. Steve was on the lookout and she was exhausted. Mentally and psychically. She was waning down. She didn't want to do this anymore. But it's not like she could go back to them and plea and beg for their forgiveness of the wrongdoings she'd committed in the past. They'd make her do something that she no longer wanted to do.

"You okay?" Steve's concern slipped out of his lips when he heard her sigh.

Zoe nodded. "Just tired. It's nice to lay low and take a breather for a minute," she licked her lips and turned to look at Steve. Steve was looking through the small crack that let air inside their warehouse. The helicopter was a few meters out. They had to be cautious. "Steve…about my father…"

"Don't," he said, stopping her sharply. "You don't have to explain."

"But I do," she said, picking her head up off the wall. "It's what's keeping us apart," she tried to keep her voice calm from cracking, from tearing up, but it was tearing up inside of her. "Or…do you really like her?"

Steve's face fell, and his heart went out to her. He swallowed hard, listening to the voce that tore at his heart strings in all sorts of places where he shouldn't be going. No he didn't like HYDRA, and no Zoe was trying so hard to not be one of them and he admired that of her, but with Sharon…he finally felt…why was she making this difficult on him? Didn't she already say that she was going to get over him? But had he gotten over her? He was so sure of himself six months ago that he finally knew what to do. He finally knew where he belonged. He and Sharon started texting, starting meeting up for coffee, keeping in touch due to Peggy's illness. She was keeping him up to date and he really liked her company. She wasn't…moody, or mopey. Something has changed in Zoe's heart. Something that Steve couldn't quite place his finger on. Had it been Tony? Had it been Ross? Had it been Ultron? Had it been her family values? Maybe it was a mixture.

"Look," he said. "I'll _always_ love you, no matter what. When you…broke into my apartment that day, I wasn't exactly expecting to find a smiling sandwich making agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. dressed in leather and in my honor," he'd noticed and she blushed a tinge of rosy pink within her cheeks, wishing that her feelings for him would just disappear already. It was so easy to shun away Clint's feelings…maybe it was easier for her to let go of him because she'd seen how happy he was with Laura and the kids and that made her slightly jealous…okay a lot jealous, it made her realize what she really wanted in life. It made her wonder if she'd ever get it one day or if she was truly doomed to be alone. If Steve felt the same about Sharon, it made sense. It just….sucked. "You and Sharon were the only two who believed in me when no one else really did, all the way. And I thank you for that wholeheartedly. I just…"

"No," Zoe said, trying to fight off the threatening tears. "I get it, I really do. Sharon's clean. She's a Carter. She's your whole life, past, present, and maybe future. If you truly love her, and she makes you happy, that's all that matters to me in the end. You _deserve_ happiness, Steve," Zoe meant it. She truly did, regardless of how she felt. "Steve…it's just going to…"

"Hey Cap!" Sam called.

Steve grimaced and Zoe motioned a chin nod for him to go. Steve reluctantly walked away from the conversation and jogged back further inside the warehouse where Bucky was currently seated right up against some kind of machine to rest his metal arm in.

She reluctantly followed him to see the infamous Bucky Barnes, Steve's best friend who'd been with him from the beginning. Poor Bucky looked like he was going out of his mind, trying to get to reality.

"What do we do?" Sam asked worriedly.

"He just needs a woman's touch, that's all," Zoe said quietly with a small smile on her face.

Steve raised his eyebrows and tilted his head to the side, sharing a _what-look_ with Sam.

Zoe walked over to him, and knelt beside him. She started to run her fingers through his hair in a gentle manner to calm his raging thoughts. "It's over, Bucky….you're Bucky now."

He tightened his eyes tight. "We don't know that for sure. I don't think you should be so close to me… I-….I could choke you do to death."

Zoe bit back a grin. "Haven't met many green monsters have you?"

Bucky gave her a slight look through his greasy curtain of hair that she pushed away to show his side jaw, stubble yet handsome features on his face.

Zoe leaned down on her knees and tried to calm Bucky down. "Shh, it's going to be okay, Bucky, it's going to be okay," she ran her fingers through his greasy hair.

"I know," Bucky whispered in a short gasp. "You don't have to console me. Not after what I did."

Zoe tilted her head to the side, giving him a scowled look. "We're a team, aren't we? You help me, I help you. You pulled me out of the river, remember?"

Bucky nodded slowly. "I remember. Remember what I told you?"

Zoe cringed and so did her heart. "We're not going to discuss that now," she looked up at Sam, then at Steve.

"Just stay calm, okay?" she asked. Bucky nodded. "Think of the good times. Think of Steve."

Zoe rubbed the back of his shoulder gently. Bucky blinked. His eyes burned and stung but he nodded at her kind words, trying to let them sink in and register, but he couldn't. He couldn't just…not after when images of killing flashed through his eyes like a bad horror film.

"Steve…" Bucky said for the first time, loosing his balance slightly. He gripped onto Zoe's shoulder nearly pulling her to the ground, but she attempted to steady herself, using her hands and feet and his own shoulder as balance support.

"Which Bucky am I talking to?"

"Your Mom's name was Sarah…" It seemed like old thoughts were occurring to his mind, as he reached far back to what he could remember. His lips curled up into a toothy grin. "You used to wear newspapers in your shoes."

Zoe looked up at Steve's humble expression in his eyes and she smiled lightly.

"You can't read _that_ in a museum," Steve justified.

"Just like that we're supposed to be cool?" Sam asked with a roll of his eyes.

"I definitely don't remember seeing it on the billboards," Zoe added in agreement as she got up from her spot and walked over to stand beside Steve.

"What did I do?" Bucky asked, glancing from Steve to Zoe and Zoe opened her mouth but then shut it, might be better that way.

"Enough," Steve replied.

Bucky sighed and let out a small groan of regret. "Oh God, I knew this would happen," he lowered his head a bit. "Everything HYDRA still put inside me is still there. All he had to do was say the Goddamn words."

Zoe lowered her head and swallowed hard.

"Who was he?" Steve asked.

"I don't know…" Bucky whispered in reply.

"People are dead," Steve stated. "The bombing, the setup, the doctor did all this just to get ten minutes with you. I need you to do better than I don't know."

Bucky paused for a brief moment, blinking slightly as though he was trying to remember him, trying to remember it, and what he went through before his eyes fixated on Zoe that kept her still as an ice sculpture. She stared at him back, feeling her heart beat hammer against her chest.

"He wanted to know about Siberia, and where I was kept. He wanted to know exactly where," Bucky answered.

"Why would he need to know that?"

"Because I'm not the only Winter Soldier," Bucky said, glaring at Zoe. "Right Zoe?"

Sam and Steve turned to face her and she felt her face freeze. She blinked and she twisted her jaw.

"I was…" Zoe began slowly, trying to find her voice and old memories of her and her father back in the days when he would disappear for no reason given, leaving her Mom to take care of her and to sometimes let April take care of her when her mother was away for work. "I was only five at the time, but I remembered the black star in my father's hands. I remember his smoky study, dimly lit. Kind of like in the old movies, you know? Soft leather chairs and a big working desk that was made out of beautiful wood. I remember because there would always be a distinct smell…"

"Tobacco," Bucky said.

Zoe nodded and felt guilty. "Tobacco. Cigars. My dad was a comfortable man, at least to me, he _looked_ comfortable. I'd come into his office one night to kiss him good night, and I'd notice the edges of the notebook and the black star, always admiring stars because I liked stars. Stars made me happy. Little known fact about me, astronomy is a guilty pleasure favorite subject of mine. But anyway, that is beside the point…he'd leave always around Christmas. There was one time that he came back, but then one he left without a word, the notebook I'd seen vividly was gone, and it'd haunt me because I was always curious as to what it entailed… but that night, my curiosity got the best out of me… and I read through it, obviously not understanding a lick of it. The words written on the page were so strange to me, and the designs…anyway he kind of caught me looking at them, and just told me it was for work. But I remember seeing five different strange bodies for whatever research he was doing at the time. I had no idea he was apart of HYDRA…"

"You were only five," Steve said with a small shake of his head. "You couldn't have known then."

"I know, it just…spooked me that's all," Zoe said with a small shiver. "I'm sorry Bucky. That was before he became wildly obsessed with trying to find a cure for my sister, Ava. Now I wonder if that was all part of it…like…he was overshadowing Karpov to get a cure for Ava…maybe he thought this serum was the cure for her…" she felt sick to her stomach, and she wanted to curl up in a ball and hide for the rest of her life. Everything about her was a lie.

Bucky shrugged. "Part of it or not, they had me triggered. In 1991, I was ordered to follow a certain couple. Got on my bike, drove on a dark road, tailing behind a New York license plate, got up right beside them, broke the window…car swerved to the side of the road," he swallowed hard. Zoe crossed her arm over her stomach and leaned her elbow against the top of her hand, closing her fist so that her chin could lean against it, trying to control her own emotions. "They crashed. I swerved around and drove back to complete my mission during that night. I lifted the trunk, opened up the brief case to make sure the content was there...three guesses as to whom the lucky couple was that I got to assassinate?"

"The Starks?" Zoe took a wild guess in a whisper.

Steve gave her a harsh look and she sank even lower. "Well," she responded curtly. "Howard _was_ a founding father of S.H.I.E.L.D. remember?"

Steve tightened his jaw. "I remember, it's just…"

"Continue," Zoe motioned a quick nod to Bucky.

Bucky glanced between the two before he reluctantly continued to tell them about what the content bags of IV were for and how it was for a project for innocent soldiers. Zoe couldn't fight the horrible images that came to mind when Bucky explained in pure detail how the soldiers went through the pain and how they fought to see who would be the top and who would be the best till he was used to get out.

"Who are they?" Steve asked. At this point, Steve had leaned up against the wall, and relaxed a bit, but with his arms crossed and still tensed from the bloody and harsh details of the story in his ears.

"The most elite Death Squad," Bucky replied. "More kills than anyone in HYDRA history. And that was before the serum," he looked up at Zoe. "Your father split once he saw what kind of toll it took on the soldiers. He was going to expose HYDRA till they took a hold of him…and probably did worse things than me."

Zoe licked her lips nervously and tried to ignore the truth in his eyes, but she couldn't deny it anymore…could she?

"Did they all turn out like you?" Sam asked. Zoe looked at him curiously and then waited for an answer.

"Worse," he replied.

"The doctor? Can he control them?" Steve asked.

Bucky looked at him before he replied, "Enough."

Zoe looked over at Steve and then at Sam, frowning in her rising guilt.

"Said he wanted to see an empire fall," Steve continued.

"With these guys, he could do it," Bucky said. "They speak thirty languages, can hide in plain sight, infiltrate, assassinate, destabilize. They could take a whole country in one night you'd never see them coming."

Zoe widened her eyes in horror at the words spoken. She couldn't believe it was true that they'd do something so horrible, but maybe they would. It scared her beyond belief. And Zoe didn't get scared easily…at least not until now.

Zoe walked over to Steve and drew in a deep breath, "Okay," she sighed. "I'll be the first to admit. I'm petrified. What do we do? We have no one on our side. Even if we _tried_ to say something to someone…we'd only get taken away in straight jackets like the Queen of England…em…Helen Mirren…style."

Steve nodded at her in slight agreement. They had a point…

"We need to talk to Tony," Zoe suggested.

Steve arched an eyebrow at her. "What?"

"Who else better to listen to us than an authoritive figure? We're on the wanted list," she said.

"Tony works with authorities…" Steve frowned.

"It's our best shot, and you know it, Steve. You can talk to him. He'll listen to you," Zoe said.

Steve scoffed. "Listen to me? We can barely even stand each other in the same room. You know how many times I've lost count in our little fights that have presented even bigger issues? We don't have enough back up for that in case something goes south."

Zoe frowned, "But he's your friend."

Steve glared at her. "Friends don't put people in jail."

"Maybe he really is trying to salvage something bigger," Zoe suggested.

"Like what?" Steve was genuinely curious.

"I don't know!" Zoe said, throwing her hands in the air. "I'm not the all knowing. I mean sometimes I wish I was. I'm not exactly the best information specialist out there. I don't have all the right tools and commodities that came with my job description. I loved my job. I miss my job," she pouted. "I miss…how things were. I just miss working as a team. Maybe Tony will believe us…?"

Steve listened to her and felt his heart go out to her pouring emotions. He understood what she was saying and he did too, but things change and they all had reasons of differences to fight for. He could try to contact Tony…maybe he'd have a change of heart once the truth was out…

"This would've been a lot easier a week ago," Sam said, walking over to join them, once Bucky was okay.

"If we call Tony…" Steve began but Sam shook his head.

"No, he won't believe us," Sam said.

"Even if he did?"

"Who knows if the Accords will let him help?" Sam said.

"He's right," Zoe said, glancing at Steve's fallen face.

Steve looked at Zoe's serious face. He noted the huge gash in her forehead. She didn't even seem that fazed by it. He frowned at her, his heart beating for her in wonderment if she really should be here at all, even if he was grateful. The bleeding had begun to drip again.

"I don't think I can talk Tony out of this one," she said with a shake of her head and felt the blood against her skin. She flicked it away like it was nothing and saw the blood on her fingertips. She rubbed her fingers together and ran them along her pants.

Steve sighed. The one woman who had all the right words to say, just to give that little edge of input to ease his mind was at a loss of words. He knew she was going through a lot right now, they all were, but they had to stick together…but Steve had a strange feeling that wasn't going to happen. He walked up to her and took out a handkerchief from his pocket.

"Come here," he said softly. Zoe flinched at his gentle touch and stepped back.

"Steve…" she warned quietly.

"I just want to help, you should get that looked at before an infection arises."

"I'm _fine_ ," Zoe snapped unable to help it.

"We're on our own," Steve realized, but he offered her the white cloth in his hands and she slowly took it from him. She didn't want anything from him right now, but what choice was there? If she went to a hospital, she was probably going to get found and put in jail.

It was either here, Hydra, or jail. And she currently didn't want any of those.

"Maybe not," Sam shrugged. "I know a guy."

"What are you, William Shatner?" Zoe asked with a small smile on her face.

Sam shot her a warning look. "Keep quiet you."

Zoe just smiled, and looked at Steve. "Want me to call in a favor?"

Steve let out a small sigh, knowing exactly who she was talking about, but he knew he was helpful and on their side.

Steve nodded, and handed her his phone. "Call him in, then suit up."

"Pop culture much?" Sam asked, whispering to Zoe before she could go off and call up a friend.

Zoe grimaced. "It was a very lonely six months…"

 **~*CACW*~**


	98. Chapter 98: Seriously Understaffed

**Disclaimer: I do not own Captain America or anything related to the MCU. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 98: Seriously Understaffed**

The tension inside the room skyrocketed when Secretary Ross came in to discuss the missing targets of Rogers, Wilson, and Sawyer with Tony and Natasha. Tony was watched, glancing at the silver-pepper haired man as he slowly walked around the conference room, easing them up inside. Ross studied the billionaire for a brief moment. His right face beside his eye was bruised, and his silk outfit was askew from the previous fight.

"And I don't suppose you have any idea where they are?" he seemed quite livid.

"We will. GSG9's got the boarders covered, reconning twenty-four seven. They get a hit, we'll handle it," Tony gestured.

"You don't get it, Stark," Ross said with his back toward him. "It's not yours to handle."

"And you think Zoe is capable of it?" Tony asked as a worrisome tone of voice slipped out of his lips accidentally. It was a big task for one person to handle, especially when she was so close to them.

Ross's eyes stared outside the glass, hands in his pockets. "It's _clear_ neither of you can be objective," Natasha had her head tilted; listening to what Ross had to say about the matter. "I'm putting special ops on this."

"And what happens when the shooting starts? What do you kill Steve Rogers?" Natasha asked a little bit outrageously.

"If we're provoked," Ross replied to her. "Barnes would've been eliminated if it hadn't been for Rogers," Tony took a seat slowly beside Natasha, letting all of what Ross was saying sink into his heart. "There are dead people who would be alive right now. Feel free to check my math," he said, now towering over the billionaire.

"With all due respect, you're not going to solve this with boys and bullets, Ross," Tony explained. You gotta let us bring him in."

"And how would that end up differently than last time?" Ross inquired.

"Because this time, I won't be wearing loafers and a silk shirt," Tony promised. "Seventy-two hours, guaranteed."

"Thirty-six hours," Ross declared. "Barnes," he turned toward Natasha before he walked out of the conference room. "Rogers. Wilson. And…," he turned to personally face Tony. "Sawyer."

"Thank you, sir," Tony said in return as he left them be.

Tony leaned forward slightly, placing a hand over his heart, rubbing it gently as he let everything Ross just said sink in. He looked over at Natasha. "My left arm is numb, is that normal?"

She tightened her smile, walked over to him, and placed a comforting hand over his shoulder. "You all right?"

"Always," Tony replied. "Thirty-six hours…geeze…"

"We're seriously understaffed," Natasha said, arms crossed.

Tony leaned against his seat and looked up at her. "It'd be great if we had a Hulk right about now…any shot?"

Natasha looked up and bit back a small smile, shaking her head. "You really think he'd be on our side?"

"No," Tony realized.

"I have an idea…" Natasha said, however.

"Me too," Tony tilted his head slightly, twitching his lips. "Where's yours?"

"Downstairs. Where's yours?"

Tony smirked at her.

 **~*CACW*~**

Ava walked inside the kitchen with her crutches, noticing Vision hovering by the dark side of the lounge area by the window. That man was very spooky. She tried to be as quiet as possible, in case he was sleeping or whatever it was he was doing. She'd rather not bother him and she'd rather not know. But being stuck inside the Avenger's compound really sucked. Knowing something bad that was going to happen to one of her friends sucked, and there was nothing she could do about it…just like she couldn't stop him from dying.

She made her way to the fridge and opened the door, leaning against one of her clutches. She just wanted some water, but she was still thinking about the past few days. What good was having her power if she couldn't save someone from it? She'd learned to control her powers over the past six months. She would've been ready to bring down Rumlow, but Steve didn't think she was ready, especially when he'd noticed that she wasn't quite all there. She wasn't focused. It was true. She hadn't been focused. She was working with Secretary Ross and gathering past footage of the Avenger's archive that Zoe had saved on file. She thought that with his offer of a cure, it would help. Maybe things would be better. Her father had spent years and years trying to find some type of cure. When Steve offered a chance for her to control her powers without killing anyone on sight, turning her powers into something like a psychometry of sorts, a small slither of hope sprang inside her heart and she took the chance.

"I thought Rhodey said to keep it easy for a few days," Wanda said, coming up to the side of the kitchen. She crossed her arms and stood in her usual laid back stance, glancing at Ava, who had her head stuck in the fridge.

"I'm a little bit restless," Ava admitted softly.

Wanda nodded. "I know it's hard, but you have to let yourself heal."

Ava let out a sigh and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge. She stepped out of the fridge, wobbling on her crutches and clutching onto the water bottle only to let the fridge door close shut. "Couldn't have been graced with healing powers, now could I?"

Wanda tightened her smile. "You know if you need anything, Vision and I can help you."

"Something bad is going to happen, Wanda, and I can't stop it," Ava said suddenly after she'd placed her water bottle on the countertop. She turned slightly to look over at the witch who walked around the counter where there were fresh lemons cut on the cutting board next to the set of kitchen knives. She didn't know why Wanda was so out of place when she looked so in place with her casual girly outfit: knee high socks, pleaded black skirt, black long sleeve shirt, and sweatshirt. Her hair and makeup was up to par. Meanwhile, Ava looked quite out of place with her hair wrapped in a messy bun, two curly strands framing her face, and all she had on were a pair of skinny jeans and a navy blue V-neck top with a loose long creamy white sweater that went passed her knees. She had on a leg brace on her left leg where she got hit with building debris, and one soft cozy sock on the other foot. She was definitely in for the night.

But she couldn't sleep.

She couldn't get the horrid thoughts out of her head that somebody was going to die.

Wanda nearly dropped her mouth open at Ava's sudden declaration. She was so adamant about it, especially in her tired features, but maybe that's what it was? Maybe she was having nightmares.

"You don't know for sure," Wanda said calmly. "The future isn't written in stone."

"It is for Rhodey…" Ava whispered. "You _must_ do something."

"I…" Wanda struggled for the right thing to say. She tilted her head to the side and leaned against the counter top with her arms crossed.

"Dig into my mind," Ava pleaded with her. She too leaned against the counter so that Wanda could have better access. " _Please_ …"

Wanda pursed her lips together at the girl's scared tone. She was definitely spooked. What did she see? She wasn't sure if she should. "Ava…" she said softly. "I don't know…"

Ava lowered her head and continued to try to open up her water bottle but was having difficulty due to her crutches that she was also trying to juggle.

"Here," she offered, taking the water bottle from her so that Ava could be free of wobbling from side to side.

Ava bit back a frustrated sigh, but nodded her silent thanks. "Thank you."

"There's fresh cut lemon, if you want too," Wanda motioned a quick nod over to the cutting board.

Ava nodded quietly and let Wanda take care of her. It should be the other way around. It should be different. Zoe should be here, taking care of her when Ava wasn't feeling well. It should be her older sister by a minute and a half, taking care of her. The team should be here together. Not split apart over some accords. Why did Ava think it was a good idea that the accords could help in anyway shape or form?

" _I have a cure…"_

It seemed to good to be true when Secretary Ross said those exact haunting words that kept her up at night working for the man when she did. It made her feel lonely and during those times, she never felt more lonely in her entire life, like she'd been alienated…like she'd betrayed her friends and everyone she cared about.

"I miss him, you know?" Ava said suddenly, catching Wanda a little bit off-guard as she dropped a slice of lemon into the glass of water. She slid the drink over to her.

"Me too," she nodded.

"But…that still doesn't mean that you have to stop being happy," Wanda said.

Ava nearly spit out her water when she took a sip of the cool liquid. "You mean me and Sam?" she felt her cheeks flush, and she was sure she was turning bright pink.

Wanda smiled. "Yes."

"I…" she scrunched her nose, and shook her head. "I don't know what you're talking about. Nothing's going on as far as I'm concerned. Totally innocent. Besides…he hasn't talked to me at all since the Vienna bombing…and I just…I don't know to be honest…" 

"You're afraid," Wanda realized.

Ava looked at her sharply, but let the word sink into her heart. Maybe. She felt her face soften after the realization of what Wanda had just said to her. "I've just…I'm done disappointing other people. I don't want to disappoint anyone else anymore, and I'm sorry…I just thought…working with Ross would be…maybe we could actually make the world a better place…I can see into people's future deaths, and actually make them happen as soon as I touch them, I can't predict the whole future. I don't want to…see Sam's death like I had done with…Pietro. I'm sorry, Wanda. I'm so sorry."

Wanda just smiled at her though, sadly, and reached out to cover her hand with hers to let the girl stop from cracking. She was about to say something to her until a sudden sound of explosion and fire erupted from the windows that caught her eye.

They glanced at each other curiously. "Hold on…" Wanda said, motioning for Ava to stay put where she was. Ava didn't need to be told twice, especially when she could only hobble on crutches so far.

Wanda walked over to the window, and Vision suddenly appeared beside her.

"What is it?" Wanda asked.

"Stay here, please," Vision said and went to go see what the commotion was outside in the forest.

Wanda suddenly sensed someone was here, and by the sound of Ava's short gasp, she spun around and grabbed the kitchen knife with her powers and shot the knife spinning through the air so that it could aim at the intruder…which was… "Clint!" Ava exclaimed in shock.

"Guess I should've knocked," Clint said, brushing the sharp point of the knife away. Wanda loosened her powers off of it and it fell to the ground. Ava took her set of crutches and walked over toward the archer, watching him in pure awe.

"Oh my God, what are you doing here?" Wanda asked, walking up to him.

"Disappointing my kids," Clint explained, as he whipped out an arrow from his quiver and shot it over in the corner, blocking some sort of trap. "Ava…might wanna…" he said, motioning a quick nod for her to hobble away from his trap. She nodded and tried to quickly hobble away from the kitchen and a little bit closer toward the couches beside Wanda. "We were supposed to go waterskiing." The arrow stuck in place once she was free from getting caught herself. "Cap needs our help. I'd ask you to come with us, Ava, but…given the circumstances, you're in no condition to be anywhere near any sort of super powered people, got it?"

Ava nodded sadly.

"Come on," he said, grabbing Wanda's hand and was about to walk out the door until Ava grasped Wanda's other hand, halting them to a complete stop.

"Wait…" she said. "Please relay the message to my sister."

Clint slanted his eyes to the side, glancing between both girls as they stared at each other. Wanda was about to protest to Ava, but Vision appeared.

"Clint, you should not be here," Vision said firmly.

They turned around and Ava tightened her grip on her crutches, slowly letting Wanda's hand go.

"Really? I retire for what? Like five minutes? And it all goes to shit," Clint said.

"Please consider the consequences of your actions," Vision warned.

Clint turned to face Ava and Wanda then he smirked at him, "Okay they're considered."

Before Vision could take another step forward, one of his trick arrows, electrocuted him into place, stopping him from going any further.

"Okay, we gotta go," Clint said, turning around and jogging toward the front door.

Wanda seemed hesitant so Ava took a careful step beside her.

"I can hold him off. It's okay. Go," Ava said, motioning a chin nod for her to go with Clint.

Wanda looked at the Sawyer twin with wide eyes, not expecting to hear that from her.

"It's that way," Clint pointed, once he realized she wasn't with him.

"I've caused enough problems…" Wanda said, shaking her head.

Clint gritted his teeth and turned to jog back toward her. "Gotta help me Wanda. Look, you wanna mope; you can go to high school. You wanna make amends; you get off your ass."

Vision aimed his mind stone gem beam toward the arrow so that he could break free, and disappear.

Clint watched with wide eyes and grimaced, "Shit," he said, already pulling another arrow at Vision as he strode over toward the archer. Wanda pulled Ava to the side so they were out of harm's way. Clint released the arrow but Vision became transparent so that it wouldn't harm him, and knocked Clint to the ground, causing him to grunt at the brute force Vision had given him. Clint rolled onto his hand and feet, crouched down like a tiger, and reached for his baton, hidden behind his quiver. He grimaced slightly. "I knew I should have stretched," he whispered to himself, biting back regret for not having practiced as much. He yanked out the baton and ran at Vision, smacking him through his chest. Vision raised his arm and went to hit him, but Clint deflected his blow with his own arm and swung his baton through Vision's head, narrowly missing him. They're arms connected again, blocking one another, which had pissed Clint off to point of hitting Vision's head in the side temple multiple times till he tried his baton that broke in half and clung to the floor.

Wanda and Ava shared a worried look with one another. Clint raised his leg and stepped through Vision's body, causing both girls to step back a little bit when Vision twirled around and managed to capture Clint in a choke-hold. Ava let out a frightful gasp, and placed a hand over Wanda's shoulder, feeling the girl's fear of her own beside her.

"Clint," Vision breathed down the archer's neck. "You can't over power me."

"I know I can't," Clint said, casting a small glance to Wanda. Ava let her go and stepped back on her crutches, so that Wanda can manipulate her red flare powers between her two hands, forming a sphere of flare between the palms of her hands.

"But she can."

"Vision, that's enough, let him go. I'm leaving," she said, stepping closer cautiously toward them.

"I'm sorry," she said as soon as Clint dropped to the floor out of Vision's grip.

Once Wanda had Vision under her power, Ava hobbled over to Clint, wanting to help him up. "Psst…" she said. "Clint…"

Clint turned his head and looked up at the Sawyer twin.

"You can use my crutch to help yourself up…" she said. He smiled at her and was just about to take up that offer till he heard the floor crack beneath them. Ava nearly lost her support when she felt the floor rumble beneath her feet. She grabbed a hold of her crutches tight and Clint held her foot from loosing her balance.

"If you do this," Vision glanced at her. "They will never stop being afraid of you."

She pulled her hand in the air as though she was ready to take out the floor beneath their feet. "I can't control their fear…" she said, using as much power of hers as she could muster. "Only my own."

Vision suddenly found himself falling through floors and floors to the very core of the ground. Meanwhile, Ava helped Clint get up and they both walked over beside Wanda, looking down at the huge hole ripped apart inside the Avenger's compound.

"Whoa…" Clint expressed, glancing down inside the hole in the ground.

"I seriously hope Tony's got insurance for that…" Ava said.

"Maybe we just don't tell him?" Clint smirked at her.

"What hole? I saw nothing…you hit me in the head before I could do anything, remember?" Ava smirked back.

Clint smiled approvingly at Ava and nodded. He looked over at the witch. "Come on, we got one last stop," Clint said to Wanda.

"Go on," Ava urged. "I'll be okay. Just promise me…you'll tell her."

Wanda glanced sideways to Clint and then at Ava. She reluctantly nodded and the two recruited Avenger's for Cap's team left Ava be. She leaned against her crutches and pursed her lips to the side at the mess that Rhodey would probably yell at her for.

 **~*CACW*~**


	99. Chapter 99: Another Recruit

**Disclaimer: I do not own Captain America or anything related to the MCU. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 99: Another Recruit**

The blue bug car pulled up to a slow stop underneath a bridge. They were meeting Sharon who had taken the liberty of bringing some much needed gifts to help fight their cause. Steve climbed out of the car, and Zoe made the move to follow, leaving Sam and Bucky in the car alone.

"Don't think you understand the concept of a getaway car," Sharon teased as she got out of her own.

Steve looked back behind him, causing Zoe to stop awkwardly in her trek. Zoe stopped, and decided to stay put, pivoting on her heel so she could lean up against the car door with her arms. She looked the other way.

"It's a low profile," Steve replied, coming up beside Sharon.

"Good, because this stuff tends to draw out a crowd," she said, pulling up the trunk to reveal the shield and Sam's wings.

"Can you move your seat up?" Bucky asked Sam.

"No," Sam replied bitterly.

Zoe looked over at Sam and shook her head. He grinned up at her and she just rolled her eyes.

"Hey the man tried to kill you two years ago, remember?" Sam asked, poking his head through the door and Zoe just shut the door shut and she leaned up against it, blocking Sam's grunting noises of discontent. She crossed her arms and placed her foot in front of the other, looking down at the ground.

"It's not like I meant to…" Bucky mumbled through the glass, making Zoe smile.

"I owe you again," Steve said.

"Keeping a list," she replied casually, tapping her delicate fingers along the back trunk of her car. She glanced over at the car and looked at Bucky, who had decided to move from his spot closer to the right side, next to Zoe. "You know he kinda tried to kill me."

"Sorry. I'll put it on the list too," Steve said, motioning a tilt nod of his head.

She blushed a little and smiled, glancing down inside her trunk.

"They're gonna come looking for you," Steve warned.

"I know," she said with a small nod of her head.

"Thank you, Sharon," Steve said sincerely.

There was a bit of an awkward tension between the two of them, especially when Steve leaned in to kiss Sharon, noticing her silent desires to want to kiss him too, but then when their lips started to touch, and her hand started to reach behind him, his lips connected to her cheek instead, having second thoughts at the last minute.

"I…can't," he said, stepping back from her.

Sharon's hand had dropped to his chest, and she looked over at Zoe's shocked stare at them, but then she quickly turned the other way.

"You mean _won't_ ," Sharon said.

"It's…too late, I'm sorry," he said, slightly cringing as he tried to find the right words to say to her without hurting her feelings. "I…"

"Have feelings for someone else," she finished for him with a small smile. "Damn right you should."

Steve glanced at her curiously and tried to contain his smile when she seemed to be agreeing with him. "I'm sorry Sharon…the signs I know I've-we've-"

"Hey," she placed a finger upon his lips to keep him from talking. She smiled at him and shook her head. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. I promise." Sharon looked over at Zoe. "Hey," Zoe looked up at Sharon's beckoning call and swallowed hard. "He's all yours. Do me a favor, and take care of him?"

Zoe blinked and nodded, still in pure shock at just what happened. Sharon smiled and walked back to her car, and got in.

Zoe pushed herself up off against the car door and walked over to Steve in a breathless move. "Steve, what are you doing?" she asked.

"Um, taking the shield and Sam's wings out of here? Can you give me a hand? His stuff is always so damn clunky," Steve said nonchalantly as he dug through the trunk to get his shield and suit.

"No," Zoe stopped him, pressing her fingers against his bicep. He stopped moving and froze. "I mean with Sharon? Why didn't you kiss her?"

"Because I'm in love with someone else," Steve said, and pulled Zoe in for a kiss, sealing her lips shut for one brief moment.

She got lost within the kiss and closed her eyes, wanting the moment to last forever for she'd almost forgotten what it was like to kiss him, and she almost forgot that they were right beside Sharon's car. She pulled back, trying to focus from the dizzy stars that were threatening to cloud her focus. "Steve…this _is_ crazy. You can have a good life with her."

"I can have a good life with you too," Steve said.

Zoe frowned, and leaned against the trunk. She looked over at Bucky and Sam when Steve turned to face them. They were smirking and nodding their heads in approval.

She rolled her eyes. "Steve…I can't be saved. You _know_ my history better than anyone. I'm a lost cause. You said it yourself."

"First you're waiting for me, now you're trying to push me away?" Steve demanded after he shoved Sam's wings at her. She shook her head and took them from the trunk. He closed it and tapped Sharon's car for her to drive off. She honked the horn in return and drove away.

"Because you're letting something good run off! She doesn't have any of the horrible baggage that I have!" Zoe's voice echoed off the walls of the bridge as she pointed to Sharon's getaway car, dust bellowing behind it. "My father was an astrophysics and a psychology expert, Steve. I was brought up by my mother, who was gone half the time, and a psychopath who was connected to HYDRA. My entire life has been a lie. The one good thing that came out of it was _you_ ," she blinked. "And Ava. But it was mostly you, and when you find out that the crush of your life hates HYDRA that's _my_ family? And I've gotten sucked into that vortex of hell? There comes a time when she realizes that she doesn't blame her crush for going after someone like Sharon, Steve."

Steve gritted his teeth together and tightened his shield within his fingers, glancing down at the ground, listening to her. "Are you saying you'd go back to them?"

"No," Zoe said with a shake of her head. "Not ever. I'm saying…I'm too far gone. You can't save me. I just…didn't think you'd be so bold as to give her up for me, a lost soul, Steve…what did you do?"

Steve tightened his grip on his shield, and Zoe lowered Sam's wings as he walked closer toward her. With his free hand he brought her closer to him and she looked up into his dark blue eyes, feeling determination radiate off of him.

"I made a choice," Steve said. "Just like you made a choice to stay here with me. I'm not giving up on you, on us, not when you had my heart in the first place," he leaned down, grasping her elbow in his free hand and planted a kiss on top of her lips. Zoe was reluctant to kiss him back, but she did and she melted within the kiss till she nearly dropped Sam's wings and set in her fingers from clinging to the floor beneath their feet. That seemed to broke her haze and so she broke apart and wasn't sure what to make of what just happened. She picked up Sam's things and walked back to the front of the bug and lifted it open, placing it into the front before she headed back to sit beside Bucky. Sam got out of the car and grinned, sitting in the back seat beside Bucky so that Zoe can sit beside her. She pursed her lips together and frowned, shaking her head. She got into the front seat of the car and Steve closed the hood of the car to see that the seats have been switched. He smirked lightly and walked around to the driver's seat and got in.

He started the engine and turned to look at Zoe, who was looking outside the window, lost in pure thought, and took off, heading to the airport.

 **~*CACW*~**

The ride to the airport was undoubtedly awkward. No one really spoke to each other. Zoe didn't say a word after the shocking declaration from Steve, and she never felt more guilty in her entire life. He was ruining his life for _her_ for a Sawyer. It wasn't fair. She was trying so damn hard not to shed a tear. She contemplated on the ride over that she should call Sharon and spill everything about how she really felt about the situation. They parked into a small parking spot next to a B6 sign and she climbed out of the car to let Sam out. Steve pulled his own seat back so that Bucky could climb out and rest against the hood of the blue bug, while Steve's team got together beside the white van that contained none other than Wanda and Clint.

"Wanda," Zoe exclaimed with a wide smile across her face. She hugged the Scarlet Witch deeply when Clint and Steve shook hands. "Cap," Clint said at the same time Zoe hugged Wanda.

"Zo," she said, smiling, and pulling her in for a hug. She pulled apart and looked into her eyes. "There's something I have to tell you."

"Is it…Ava?" Zoe asked worriedly.

"No, she's fine," Wanda reassured her. "A little bit stuck with Vision, but she's fine. It's just…"

Zoe brushed a curl of brown hair to the side off of Wanda's face and shook her head. "Tell me soon, okay?"

Wanda nodded, and crossed her arms over her chest.

"You know I wouldn't have called if I didn't have any other choice," Steve said.

"Hey man, you're doing me a favor," Clint said, "Sides, I owe a debt." He motioned a chin nod over to Wanda and Zoe who were in the middle of chatting.

"Thanks for having my back," Steve nodded toward her.

Wanda shrugged and looked at Clint, "It was time to get off my ass."

"Hey, where's my hug?" Clint demanded from Zoe that made her smile.

"Clint!" she exclaimed happily. She grinned even wider and wobbled over in a hurry, throwing her arms over his neck, hugging him deeply. "We missed having you around."

Zoe chuckled, "I bet now with the new baby in the house."

"Yeah, little tyke's a handful," Clint said, hugging her back.

"He's gorgeous. You should be proud," Zoe said.

Clint nodded, "I am…it's just…"

Zoe frowned, "What?" she asked.

"Nothing," he shook his head. "I'll tell you about it sometime later."

"Oookay," she said, stepping back beside Steve.

"How 'bout another recruit?" Steve asked, breaking up the little reunion.

"He's ready to go," Clint said, turning around to open up the white van. He pulled the door open only to reveal a sleeping Scott Lang.

Zoe's lips curled into a grin, grinning wider if that were even more possible. If anyone could lift her spirits up it was Scott.

"Put a little coffee in him," Clint yanked the door all the way with a clink that made Scott jerk awake. "But he should be good."

Zoe crossed her arms, watching him with pure amusement in her eyes. He blinked and looked around his surroundings. Day time. Airport. Signs were in a different language other than his own. Another country? He turned to Clint as he stumbled out of the van. "What time zone is this?"

"Come on. Go on," he pushed Scott forward to meet with Steve. Clint sat down inside the van, back against the edge of the door. Wanda shared a curious look with the archer as she turned to face the situation when Scott started to shake Steve's hand.

"Captain America!"

"Mr. Lang," Steve said.

"Heh, it's an honor! I'm shaking your hand too long," Scott grinned. "Wow, this is awesome! Zoe! It's Captain America!" he exclaimed excitedly as he'd just noticed that she was present and standing right beside him. He continued to shake the man's hand and Steve shook it back in return. "Captain America!" he turned toward Wanda and pointed toward her. "I know you too! You're great!"

Wanda's lips curled into a big smile at that, feeling quite elated with him around as he gushed about her that were genuine feelings from him.

Scott turned back and looked from Zoe to Steve and then reached forward, checking out his muscled chest. "Geeze…uh, no wonder Zoe has a thing for you."

Zoe smacked her forehead against the palm of her hand and winced. " _Scott_ ," she scolded. Steve glanced back from Bucky to her and smirked slightly when he noticed her cheeks were turning rosy pink.

"Look, I gotta say," Scott continued, stopping Zoe from giving him a lecture. "I know you know a lot of super people so thanks for thanking of me."

He tilted his head to the side. "Rumor has it you were the last one to see Zoe from when she was kidnapped. Tipped the Avengers off to go get her. Think if it wasn't for you, she'd be dead by now," he motioned a nod over to Sam and Wanda.

Zoe licked her lips, and chewed them when Scott looked over at her and she looked down, avoiding his eyes.

"Hey man," Scott pointed out to Sam.

"What's up tic-tac?" Sam asked.

"Uh, good to see you. What happened last time was…"

Sam cut in, "It was a great audition but it'll never happen again. Right Zo?"

"R-right," Zoe cleared her throat and grinned at Scott when he pleaded to be on his side. She held her hands up in defense. "Sorry…" she mumbled.

"Did they tell you what we're up against?" Steve asked, getting Scott to focus on the mission at hand.

Scott blinked. "Something about some psycho-assassins?"

"We're outside the law on this one," Steve explained. "So to come with us, you're a wanted man."

"Yeah, well," Scott tilted his head to the side and shared a small look with Zoe. He smiled at her and then at Steve. "What else is new?"

"We should get moving," Bucky said, catching the other's heads, turning toward him.

"Got a chopper lined up," Clint said, stepping forward.

Zoe looked over at him and then up at the sudden sounds of alarm and someone speaking in German on the intercom.

"They're evacuating the airport," Bucky supplied for them.

Sam turned to Steve. "Stark," he realized.

" _Stark_?" Scott asked.

Zoe nodded. "Unfortunately," she sighed.

Steve glanced from Bucky to his teammates, determining what to do next. It was time. "Suit up."

"Hey Zo," Scott came up toward her before she could go to the blue bug and gather her things.

"What?" she asked, spinning around on her heel.

"Think this belongs to you…" he pulled out something from his pocket and handed her gold locket.

Zoe turned toward him and held it into her hands. It was the locket she'd dropped to let someone know that she was gone.

"Thank you," she whispered and wrapped a hug around him. "I missed you, Scott."

"I missed you too, Zee," he smiled within her hug.

"Now, go suit up, you," she smiled. "And let's kick Stark's ass."

"I like the sound of that," Scott beamed.

Zoe smiled and let go so that he could get ready into his Ant-Man suit and she could get ready into hers.

 **~*CACW*~**


	100. Chapter 100: Airport Musings

**Disclaimer: I do not own Captain America or anything else that is related to the MCU. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 100: Airport Musings**

Once Steve was ready, dressed clad in his cobalt blue uniform, Zoe came up to him and handed him his shield before he could walk out into the empty airport. "You look good, soldier," she said softly.

Steve smiled at the light humorous tone of voice she carried and took the shield from her, but pulled her into a melt-warming kiss. The heat surged in between them and Zoe drank in every ounce of what he gave her she could muster, not wanting to let go. She kissed him back as though it was her last until they broke apart. They were standing in front of the main hangar, where the chopper that Clint had set up wasn't too far from behind them. She stepped back on her boots, ignoring somebody's grunts in her earpiece and she smiled up at him.

"Not so bad yourself, Miss Sawyer," he grinned up and down at her. She was dressed clad in black and had her usual gear set up against her hips, like she was back to normal, in her SHIELD uniform. It felt good to be in it, but it was definitely not for the right reasons. She wasn't going to be taking in any monsters or magic or sending any of her main bosses any information.

She traced the outline of his star on his chest and licked her lips before she looked into his deep blue eyes of concern for her. "I'll be right behind you," she promised.

He nodded and gripped his shield tight from her before he grinned cockily at her and jogged out there to face the music. He peered around his surroundings, just to be cautious and was almost to the chopper when something hit smack dab in the middle of the chopper's wing carrier, preventing the chopper wings from working. An EMP device electrocuted the chopper. Steve stopped in his trek and then looked up to see none other than a crimson and gold Iron Man and a pewter color silver War Machine fly down in his direction that made him back up.

"Wow! It's so weird how you run into people at the airport; don't you think that's weird?" Tony's helmet revealed his true colors as he turned to talk to his best friend Rhodey, who kept his helmet on.

"Definitely weird," Rhodey replied, turning his head to face Tony.

"Here me out Tony," Steve began. "That doctor, the psychiatrist? He's behind all of this."

Then before anyone of them could respond, the Black Panther came up from behind Steve and jumped over a terminal gate and landed on his hands and knees, causing Steve to look at him in alarm.

He leaned up and stood at attention, "Captain."

"Your highness," Steve nodded curtly.

"Anyway, Ross gave me thirty-six hours to bring you in. That was twenty-four hours ago. Can you help a brother out?" Tony asked, walking behind Rhodey.

"You're after the wrong guy," Steve said.

"You're judgment is acute," Tony glared. "Your old war buddy killed innocent people the other day."

"And there are five more super soldiers just like him," Steve continued to try and talk reason with Tony, hoping he'd listen. "I can't let the doctor get to them first, Tony, I can't."

"Steve," Natasha's voice pulled his attention away to her from behind as the Widow came out to join Tony. "You know what's about to happen. Do you really want to punch your way out of this one?"

Suddenly, Natasha felt a strange pull of her wrist gauntlets being pulled back with electricity. She frowned and turned her head over her shoulder, trying to struggle against the bonds of her wrists. Zoe came out from the underneath the overhang to join Steve and stepped around her to block Steve.

"If he has to," she glared at the Widow. Natasha stared down at her, both women glaring at one another. "Step any further and you get more than a bee sting. You know how they work."

The red head glared at Zoe as she spotted the mini silver disc between her fingers.

"Guess he trained you well," Zoe thought for a brief moment there was an air of sadness and jealousy in Natasha's tone of voice, but maybe she was just misinterpreting. Natasha was more stoic than anything else and manipulated things in her own way. Clint had warned her about those hidden abilities she had, since Zoe had always had a hard time pin-pointing them out. "You aren't the only one," Natasha remarked and took something out hidden from behind her glove and pressed the electric blue that surrounded Zoe's utility belt, keeping her in place. She smirked as Zoe glanced at her current stance, frozen.

Tony sighed. "Okay, I've run out of patience. Underoos!"

Then suddenly out of nowhere that had caused everyone's attention to deter away from their target to look up and see a red and blue superhero's web spring around Steve's wrists after grabbing his shield in his hand and landing on top of a truck.

Zoe and Natasha momentarily lost one another's hold as they stared at the newcomer. Even Steve was in slight shock by the mystery man in the spider looking suit.

"Nice job, kid!" Tony praised.

"Thanks! Well, I could've struck the landing a little better, it's just…new suit, which it's nothing Mr. Stark, it's perfect, t-thank you!" he stammered.

"Yeah, we don't need to start a conversation," Tony shook his head.

"K," he turned to Steve. "Cap-Captain!" he saluted him. "Big fan, Spiderman," he introduced himself.

"Yeah, we'll talk about it later," Tony tried to get him to calm down.

"Hey everyone," he looked at the others surrounding him, and waved a hand at them.

"Good job," Tony nodded.

Zoe bit back a small grin as he gave her and Natasha a small hello nod.

"You've been busy," Steve said nonchalantly.

"And you've been a complete idiot! Dragging in Clint, rescuing Wanda from a place she doesn't even want to leave? A safe place?"

"You call that place, safe, Tony? It's a jail sentence," Zoe hissed at him. "My own sister couldn't stand being in there."

Tony looked at her, "I'm trying to keep…." He stopped, fighting the right words to say and how to explain things to them in the best way he could, struggling. "I'm trying to keep the Avengers from tearing apart," he glared at Zoe. "And I thought _you_ of all people would understand that."

Zoe frowned, listening to him. She swallowed hard, suddenly feeling guilty. She'd been so caught up in her own little world, between Steve and her sister; it's just been…she really wasn't in her right mind right now. What Tony said made sense especially with what Ava had told Wanda.

Zoe wasn't sure who was right or who was wrong right now. All that mattered was that she had to save Rhodey and she wasn't sure when that was going to happen. She bit her bottom lip as she and Steve shared a small look at one another and then she looked at Tony sadly, completely torn.

"You did that when you signed," Steve said.

Zoe didn't sign. And now she was worried if she made the right call.

She could hear both sides of the tale, two sides of the same coin. A shiver ran down her spine. Where did she hear that before? She swallowed hard. She didn't want to be on either side right now. She wanted to be neutral.

"All right, we're done. You're gonna turn Barnes in or you're going to come with us _now_! Or it's J-squad guys with no compunction about being polite!" Tony warned bitingly.

Zoe stepped in between Tony and Steve carefully, "Steve...maybe we should listen to him."

Steve's eyes were trained on her as she stepped in between them.

"And when I mean we, I mean you," she said. "If anything happened to you or Bucky, I don't know if I could ever forgive myself. Tony does make some sort of sense. If anything ever happened to any of the Avengers, _my_ responsibility…"

"Come on…" Tony said.

"He'll put us all somewhere worse than the compound, Zo, you know that. And the super soldiers? What about them? They'll attack the US and take it down," Steve said in the same stressful tone he used with Tony.

Torn again. Zoe turned her body to the side so that her shoulders were adjacent to Tony and Steve.

" _We found it,"_ Sam's voice came over their earpieces. Zoe and Steve glanced at one another. " _Their quinjet is in Hangar five, north run way."_

Steve tilted his head at Zoe and raised his hands above his head just in time for one of Clint's arrows to release the webbing off of him. Tony turned, and his helmet covered his face in slick metallic motion.

"All right, Lang," Steve ordered.

"Hey guys, something just…" Spiderman warned, but it was too late.

"Oh, what? What the hell was that?" Rhodey asked, slightly confused.

A tiny Scott Lang dressed as Ant-Man and tiny as ever got up and on top of the shield that was held underneath Spiderman's fingers suddenly knocked him out and stole the shield from underneath him. He returned to normal size, and handed Steve his shield.

"I believe this is yours Captain America."

"Oh great," Tony sighed, peering into the parking garage across from them. He spotted two tiny people running across the screen of his helmet scanners, already rushing to try and get out of there. "All right, there's two in the parking deck. One of them's Maximoff, I'm gonna go grab her. Rhodey wanna take Cap and Zo?"

"Got two in the terminal," Rhodey was already flying in the air. "Wilson and Barnes."

"Barnes is mine!" Black Panther seethed and started running after them. Rhodey was about to go after them as well, but Steve tossed his shield up at Rhodey to stop him and charged after the Black Panther.

"Hey Mr. Stark, what should I do?" Spiderman asked, pressing his finger to his earpiece.

"What we discussed! Web them up and keep your distance!" Spiderman said, shooting out two webs from his wrist, heading his way toward Zoe. Zoe dodged out of the way and rolled onto her back, finding herself face to face with Natasha.

Steve jumped up onto the Black Panther's back and grabbed his head in a choke hold, pulling him backwards. He flipped them both over, causing them to roll on the ground and onto their feet.

"Move Captain. I won't ask you a second time."

Steve didn't move, blocking his direction. Sensing his demeanor, and readiness, he held up his shield to block sudden moves, kicking him in the air.

Meanwhile, Scott helped Zoe up off the ground, as she'd just gotten her butt kicked by Natasha. "Thanks," she panted.

"Rhodey looks like he wants to pummel, Cap, go," he shoved her stumbling toward the machine man in the air and stood behind her, protecting her so that she could go after Rhodey.

"Look," he said as Natasha got ready to fight him. "I really don't want to hurt you, but that was my friend back there."

"She was my friend too," Natasha smirked, tilting her head to the side and kicked him in the groin. "Sides, I wouldn't stress about it. Once a Sawyer, always a Sawyer." He grunted, doubling forward, nearly back, and reached for his arm and was about to pull him over her shoulders, but he suddenly became smaller in ant form and disappeared into her wrist gauntlet, knocking her over and on the ground, twisting the mechanisms as he ran through them.

She finally found her electric button and pressed it, zooming him out of the gauntlet. He landed harshly onto the truck, causing a dent in the vehicle. "Ugh…" he groaned, dropping to the floor like a squatted fly.

 **~*CACW*~**


	101. Chapter 101: Old Friends

**Disclaimer: I do not own Captain America or the Avengers or anything related to the MCU. I am just writing for fun and not for profit!**

 **Chapter 101: Old Friends**

"Sam! Spidey's heading your way!" Zoe warned to Sam and Bucky, as she looked up in the skies above her. She saw the blue and red suited kid crawl on the glass that belonged to the terminal. He'd crashed right in and got to them.

" _Too late_ ," Bucky grunted after being crashed into a harsh landing. Sam and Spiderman were in the air, fighting each other.

"Oops," she winced, and looked around only to find just about every avenger involved with someone from another teammate. Scott was engaged in a fight with Natasha, and Tony was charging after Clint and Wanda across the way of the parking garage. Explosions rocked the airport around them, fire and debris fell everywhere around them.

"Zoe," Rhodey greeted duly to her when she blocked Steve from him. He had taken out one of his electric wands and was ready to use it on her captain, but there was no way she was going to let him.

"Hey, old friend," she smiled at him, gripping her electric spear tightly in her hands, keeping it close to her in case Rhodey decided to attack.

"You know, I'm still hurt you didn't make me an official member of the Avenger's Initiative," Rhodey said. "You know I'd make a good team member."

Zoe blushed regrettably. "It was kind of S.H.I.E.L.D.'S first experiment, Rhodey. I was never supposed to tell anyone else. Only a select few could join. I wasn't even apart of it."

"Yeah, but you helped build it," he counteracted.

Zoe cringed. "True…but we made you an honorary member of the team after you helped defeat Ultron! You're an awesome avenger, Rhodey."

"Yeah, _after_ I spoke to Tony about it," he remarked bitterly.

"I'm _really_ sorry," she said sincerely. "I can make it up to you?"

"Nah, I'm done with pleasantries. My job's to bring in Cap, and you're kind of in the way so…" he said with a small shrug. "I'm sorry."

"I'm not," she said, shaking her head. "I'm not moving out of the way. You're going to have to make me."

Rhodey chuckled, "Oh, this should be interesting."

 _Maybe if I can keep him engaged long enough… maybe you'll live to tell the tale._ Zoe thought as she braced herself for the impact of Rhodey's wand clinging down onto her electric spear.

Electric blue electricity surged from both hers and his.

"Move, Zo, I really don't want to hurt you," Rhodey said.

"Neither do I, but what you're attempting is suicide. Listen to me," she stepped further, blocking Steve's and T'Challa's fight behind her as T'Challa tossed him on the ground. Steve landed on his back. "Something bad is going to happen to you if this continues."

"Oh, more of Ava's mumbo jumbo…crap," he shook his head. "You know, my future isn't written in stone. No one's is, except maybe Cap's right now." With that said, he zoomed down toward her and she raised her spear in the air, blocking his blow. She gasped in shock when the electricity surged between the two of them.

They struggled, Zoe pressing her luck with trying to keep Rhodey away, and focused off of Steve, but instead he'd picked her up, dragged her off the ground and tossed her across the airport into the middle of the courtyard.

She flipped over and landed harshly onto the ground, loosing her grip on her spear. It clanked to the floor, next to her and she groaned, lowering her head on the cement, feeling all the energy drain for her.

" _You have the right to remain silent!"_ She heard Spidey's voice in her ear that must've muffled with Sam's earpiece or something as she started to fade.

"Sorry Cap, it ain't gonna kill you, but it won't tickle you either," Rhodey said, once Zoe was out of his way. He charged his electric wand again and zoomed up after him, pulling Steve away.

But once she saw Rhodey go after Steve, and T'Challa block him, she knew she couldn't give up. She had to continue. She had to get Rhodey to see reason, to see that he was in danger. They were all in danger, but the way Ava had described it to Wanda had made her spooked and she couldn't let anything happen to him.

By the parking garage, Tony hovered in the air facing Clint and Wanda.

"Wanda, I think you hurt Vision's feelings," Tony said.

She glared at him. "You locked me in my room."

"Okay, first, that's an exaggeration," Tony began his explanation. "Second, I did it to protect you."

She tilted her head to the side, trying to understand the Iron Man, who had now turned his attention to Clint when he noticed the arrow against his bow rather protectively.

"Hey Clint," Tony greeted. "Clearly retirement doesn't suit ya. Got tired of playing golf?"

"Well, you know, I played eighteen, shot eighteen," he gripped onto his bow, pulling his arrow gently. "Shot eighteen. Just can't seem to miss." He aimed his arrow for Tony and shot one of his trick arrows behind his head.

Tony whirled around and shot his pulsars fireballs at them, one by one. Grinning, he whirled around and smirked at the archer. "Well, first time for everything."

"Made you look," he motioned a quick nod behind him.

Tony spun around immediately at the sound of cars crashing one by one as Wanda used her powers, springing cars out of the parking garage on top of Tony, causing him to loose flight as he tried to fight them off, and fall to the ground in a pile of cars that surrounded him.

"Multiple contusions, detected," F.R.I.D.A.Y. announced.

"Yep, I detected that too."

 **~*CACW*~**


	102. Chapter 102: Airport Chaos

**Disclaimer: I do not own Captain America or the Marvel universe. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 102: Airport Chaos**

" _You couldn't have done that earlier?"_ Bucky asked.

" _I hate you_ ,"

"Other than your little banter bromance, how is everything in there?"

"We lost him, Killer, so keep an eye out for a counter attack," Sam warned darkly, still sending Bucky a glare.

" _Killer?"_ Bucky asked as confusion bristled in his voice.

"It's a long story…" she cringed.

"Which you don't have time for, Zoe, might wanna run!" Scott warned.

"What?" she asked, totally not concentrating on who was coming for her. She turned around and widened her eyes when she spotted Rhodey flying down, heading her way. She gulped and turned to run.

Zoe pumped her legs as fast as she could running away from Rhodey. She'd tried to talk to him, but Rhodey didn't listen to her. He was Tony's best friend after all.

"Please, Rhodes…you _have_ to listen to me," Zoe had pleaded desperately. But he wasn't having it. He was done listening and after her.

"Zoe, behind you!" Scott called out after disappearing into small ant-form to get away from Natasha's mean bite.

"I know!"

"No I mean duck!" he said.

She looked over her shoulder and widened her eyes when Rhodey had zoomed in closer toward her with his electric wand, alive and ready, pointed at her. She sucked in a gasp when she saw a red, white, and blue ran in front of her. He jumped and spun a small round house kick, kicking Rhodey to the curb with his shield so hard he skidded on the ground, electric wand broken, and some of his machinery became covered in black smoke as the metal scraped against the cement.

Sharp nails dug into Zoe's shoulders causing her to scream in painful sharp pains, and catch Steve's attention once more. The Black Panther threw her to the side of the ground, meeting none other than Scott. She looked up at Steve, now suddenly engaged in a fight between T'Challa again. That guy was hella fast and she was curious as to who she was. Thinking of something else always helped numb the pain, most of the time. And if she had her trusty handy S.H.I.E.L.D. computer she could find out information about this dude like _that_.

"Zo…" Scott was a lot quicker getting up from his fall no thanks to the Widow. She was strong and they'd both met each other's match.

Zoe lowered her head to the cement, hearing Scott's voice of concern for her. She inhaled and then exhaled. "I'm fine," she said, and tried to get up, though a little bit shakily. Scott helped her up and gave her a look of concern even though it was hard to tell in his helmet that covered his blue eyes. She bit her bottom lip and smiled at him softly.

"How bad is it?" he asked, getting up with her. "May I?"

She widened her eyes and suddenly her whole face went red. He wanted to check her wounds. But she shook her head. "I'm fine. They're just scratches. He is a cat after all."

Scott gave her a look, noticing the blood trying to seep through her black uniform and she smiled back at him, forcing it across her face. "I'm _fine._ I promise."

Scott sighed. "Come on, partner, Cap needs our help."

"Right," she said. She looked over at Steve and T'Challa, though they didn't have to go very far. He'd tossed the Black Panther over on the ground behind Rhodey who looked quite pissed at his wand.

She turned to face Scott, taking out her earpiece from the inside of her ear. "Wanna know a secret?"

He turned to her, finding it odd she'd take out the earpiece and wouldn't want to share it with the team. "Hmm?"

"I miss being at my desk," she said softly. "I'm not a fighter, Scott."

Scott gave her arm a gentle squeeze and motioned a quick nod for her to follow. She nodded and he got a head start, while she placed her earpiece back inside, hearing all the kicks and the groans and the grunts from each person she cared about. Every person in this messy and chaotic airport disaster she cared about and it was breaking her heart.

Zoe ran after Scott, though she slowed down in her trek when she saw him minimize a white truck to ant-size and she blinked, shaking her head. "Whoa…You know, I'll never stop being amazed by your abilities. What are you going to do?"

Scott grinned at her and picked it up into the palm of his hand. He spun around and jogged after Steve. She was about to go to him when someone yanked her arm and twisted her backwards, twirling her against her chest. "Zoe, Zoe, Zoe…" Natasha said, sitting on top of her, keeping her still. Zoe glared up at the redhead.

"Nat," she winced. "Come on, I didn't do anything to you."

"You joined a side," she said. "I told you this wasn't for the faint of heart. You're heart. You know what you have to do. Are you willing to do it?"

Zoe looked harshly into her eyes, wincing, struggling, and coping, finally giving up when she realized the same thing about her that Natasha wasn't trying to really hurt her. She was trying to make her see her own destiny.

"I don't want to hurt anybody," she said, trying to fight the tears but they'd fallen from the sides of her eyes. "I'm not like you guys at all. I'm an information specialist. I help people give out information they need, information that's really classified."

"Kind of like you did with HYDRA?" Natasha threw back at her face.

"I had no choice," Zoe said. She sighed. "Bruce should've told you."

Natasha glared at Zoe, and once Zoe had her attention, Zoe wrapped up one of her legs around her back, and curbed her neck around; bringing every ounce of energy she had left with her, knocking Natasha over. Zoe breathed out heavily as she realized what she'd just done. Natasha got up however, and started to run after Steve. "Oh no you don't," Zoe muttered under her breath. She pushed herself up and ran at Natasha, throwing herself onto her back. Natasha yelled at the shocked action from Zoe. Natasha pried Zoe's hands off of her and she fell to the ground.

"Hey Cap! Head's up!" he said, standing next to Steve. He gave him the truck and Steve looked at it peculiarly. "Throw it at this," Scott instructed, and threw the silver disc in the air.

"Now!" he said, once Rhodey and T'Challa were advancing forward. Natasha ducked and Zoe covered her head, cringing.

Steve threw it hard in the air at the disc. Zoe saw Rhodey jumping out of the way from the middle of the fire and smokey debris behind him. He looked over at his shoulder and groaned, "Oh come on!" he hissed when his team ducked out of the way and he only had seconds left to dodge it.

Steve looked over at Scott, sending him a look. "Oh man, I thought it was a water truck…" Scott winced, once he saw the damage it'd done to the outside courtyard.

"Uh…sorry," he cringed.

Steve helped Zoe up by the shoulder and he ran his fingers down her trembling body that had been through a shaky rollercoaster. "You okay?" Steve asked.

Zoe nodded as he checked the side of her cheek within the warm palm of his gloved hand. She smiled within his touch, feeling all warm and tingly side. It _did_ help when he was near her. "I'm fine," she promised. He brushed the dry tears away with the pad of his thumb and they looked at their enemies slowly starting to get up. Scott suggested they'd run and so they did, leaving Tony to help Natasha up off the ground.

"All right," Rhodey declared angrily, watching them run off. "Now I'm pissed."

"Is this part of the plan?" Natasha demanded from Tony.

"Well, my plan _was_ go easy on them, you wanna switch it up?" Tony asked.

Natasha nodded.

Meanwhile, Wanda and Clint were running toward the hanger bay with the quinjet in tow. They'd found it!

"There's our ride!" Clint called out to everybody on his team.

Scott and Zoe followed Steve in formation as they ran toward it. "Come on!" he waved over Bucky and Sam that had finally found their way out of the airport building and outside the courtyard.

They were so close to making it until something halted them.

A fiery like line that stopped them from going any further to their destination was beamed right before their very own eyes, halting Cap's team. Zoe gulped and slowed down next to Bucky and Steve as smoke piled in the air from the cement floor beneath her feet. She'd noticed the cracks like an earthquake in the cement before her and she bit her bottom lip.

She glared up at Vision.

"Captain Rogers! I know what you are doing, you believe is right," Vision began. "But for the collective good, you must surrender now."

Zoe carefully took a step forward over the line. "Vision," she began herself. "Who's side are you on?"

"That's funny. I should ask you the same thing," he said, looking at her directly.

"They're my team. All of them belong to the Avenger's Initiative or have all of you forgotten that?!" she asked, glancing between the two teams of six. "Tony, you said it best. We're just pawns in a game to them…" Zoe said, feeling her voice break and crack apart. "This is so much more than Bucky isn't it? Tony…please…there's another way…"

"You might want to step aside Killer, let the big boys handle this, this could get messy," Tony warned. "Oh wait, you already know that by cleaning up your parent's deaths, trying to cover up your shady past that started this whole mess."

Zoe frowned, and scrunched her brows together, feeling her face fall. She blinked and bit her bottom lip. She suddenly felt like she was back on the Hellicarrier trying to dispute an argument all over again. Maybe this time it really was for real.

She swallowed hard, and everything she felt…dissolved and washed away from her.

"Once an outlaw, always an outlaw," Tony said once she stepped back with Steve and the others. She didn't want to pick aside, she wanted to stop it, but Tony's words had sunk lower in her heart.

She felt Bucky's hand on her shoulder give her a gentle squeeze and she wanted to hug him right then and there for his support.

"That's okay, we got a guy who's pretty much like two guys in one," he grinned at them and Zoe shook her head, glaring at the billionaire that once used to be her friend. She watched Natasha, Rhodey, T'Challa, Spiderman, and Vision stand behind Tony in a line.

Zoe stood beside Steve and Bucky, taking her place between the two super soldiers as her friends stood by with her.

"What do we do Cap?" Sam asked.

"We fight," Steve declared, he turned to Zoe. "A diversion so that Zoe can get out of the limelight."

Zoe looked at him, "But Steve…"

"It's okay," he said, placing a warm hand underneath her elbow. He planted a kiss on her head. "We got this. I don't want you to get hurt."

She inhaled slowly and glanced back at them. "I can't watch."

Steve turned in toward her as if he was going to kiss her in front of Tony's team, but whispered, "Get the quinjet ready,"

She nodded, "Okay," she smiled.

Steve and Zoe turned back and looked back toward Tony's team. Steve gave his team the signal and together they walked forward, Zoe marching with them as though she was going to fight against them…

"This is going to end well," Natasha tilted her head to the side. They started walking forward. Neither team was slowing down, not even Zoe.

"They're not stopping…" Spiderman said a little bit nervously.

"Neither are we," Tony said, going in head first, ready to strike at Captain America…

 **~*CACW*~**


	103. Chapter 103: Vision Beamed

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the universe. I am just writing for fun!**

 **Chapter 103: Vision Beamed**

Zoe Sawyer never thought she'd seen the day when her teammates would fight each other. She always knew that Steve and Tony had their differences but she never knew it would come to this massive crazy chaotic mess in front of her that she could no longer control. Everyone fighting each other from her outside point of view had their hard set minds on their own driven beliefs. Zoe wasn't sure what side to be on herself, except Steve's. Tony was right. She was an outlaw. She had been an outlaw her entire life.

When she stopped running for the main hangar bay in front of her, she turned and looked back at who was fighting who. The red flare caught her eye when the Scarlet Witch was fighting off Spiderman and helping out her fellow teammates who were stuck in a tight jam. Clint and Natasha were fighting each other and it broke her heart because they used to be partners, and friends, and more so, they were family.

Steve and Tony hashed out some much held back anger within them and she felt her face fall at the terrible sight. Coulson _is_ rolling around in his grave right now, Zoe realized. And she'd failed to keep their team together. She couldn't do it. She wasn't strong like he was or like Fury had been. Who was she now if she didn't have the Avengers behind her? Just a civilian? Just someone caught in a firefight? She looked around for any sign of hope that this was all a bad dream, but there were no signs and she was still awake in this world that seemed to be crashing right in front of her. She took a deep breath and looked over at Bucky who'd fallen out of the fight with the Black Panther, claiming that he'd killed his father when Bucky did no such thing. With S.H.I.E.L.D. she probably could have helped him better and none of this would have happened. Hell, even when she was with HYDRA she could've made Bucky's life a hell of a lot better than this. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair for any of them to be put in this position. What in the hell was Tony thinking? She shook her head. They were no longer friends it seemed. It was just as well. Zoe never did well with friends. She couldn't even keep her own sister on her side. She couldn't even keep her family together, so why should she have the luxury of friends? And what about Steve?

Why should she have the luxury of Steve's affection and love? She tried to find him, but he seemed to be elsewhere. In fact, she didn't even see where Spiderman had gone. Maybe they were fighting off somewhere out of the way. With that thought in mind, she knew it was time to get to the quinjet. She wasn't sure how much time she had left so she turned around and went to make her move, but she was stopped by none other than Tony himself, hovering above her in his shiny maroon Iron Man suit.

"Ya know, maybe calling you an outlaw was a little harsh, Killer," Tony said, holding his hand out in defense.

Zoe turned around in a fighting stance of her own and crossed her arms, only to glare at him. "Ya think?"

"But come on, Zee, help me out here. You don't have any idea what I was shown and what I am trying to prevent!" Tony stressed.

Zoe tilted her head to the side, "So then help me understand, Tony. Tell me what is bothering you so that we can work this out together."

Tony chuckled and shook his head. "We don't have time for talking."

Zoe gasped when he got his pulsars ready on his gloved hands ready to shoot at her but then saw Sam coming to save her. He knocked Tony flying away from her and started to circle around Zoe and fly away from Tony so that Tony would chase after him.

"Thanks Sam," Zoe said, letting out a breath of relief. The last thing she wanted to do was to fight Tony. She'd refuse. And she'd only get beat up from his fire balls.

"Anytime, Zoe!" he called after her.

"Be careful!" she called after him and ran through the mess of debris in front of her, zig-zagging her way toward the hangar bay.

"I'm clear!" Zoe called back to Sam once she realized that no one was coming after her in her trek. She looked behind her shoulder, worried that Tony was going to get Sam.

"Clint, can you get him off me?"

"Buckled in?" Clint asked tiny Scott as he lowered himself on top of one of Clint's arrows.

"What? Oh yeah, I'm good arrow guy, let's go, let's go!" Scott said eagerly ready to fly off of the tip of the arrow. He got into position and Clint released the arrow. Scott let out a yell as he flew into Tony's suit and landed in the main frame of his inner mechanical machine that kept his suit afloat so to speak.

Tony tried to deflect Clint's trick arrows in the sky only to blow them up in black smoke.

"Zoe, run!" Clint warned, trying to get Tony's attention. Zoe ducked and rolled underneath one of the trolley trucks that kept everyone's luggage out of harm's way from Tony's fire energy balls.

Scott managed to make it inside and started pulling his wires apart. He could hear Tony's pulsars going off as Clint tried to distract him with his arrows.

"Uh, we have some weapons offline," F.R.I.D.A.Y. warned Tony.

"Da what?" Tony spun around, attention now off of Zoe and the arrows.

"Oh, you're gunna, you're gunna have to take this into the shop," Scott said to Tony as he pulled apart another wire.

"Who's that speaking?" Tony inquired curiously.

"It's your conscious," Scott jumped down to another level of wires that he could pull apart. He took out a silver wire and sparks flew inside. "We don't talk a lot these days."

"FRIDAY?" Tony panicked.

"Deploying fire suppressing system," she replied.

Scott turned his head and saw the white pressure smoke coming at him and he stepped back a bit. "Uh-oh…" Scott ran out of there like a bat out of hell and managed to shoot out of Tony's metal glove, landing harshly on the ground.

Meanwhile, Steve and Bucky found each other on the other side of the airport, and fell out of breath.

"We gotta go," Bucky said, glancing at Steve worriedly. "That guy is probably in Siberia by now."

"Zoe," Steve turned to his earpiece. "You in the quinjet yet?"

"Almost there, Steve!" she called toward him, running towards the building where it was just right in front of her, plain view, and open. No obstacles ahead of her.

Steve looked up at the sky. "We gotta draw out the flyers. I'll take Vision, you get to the jet."

Zoe stalled beside the hangar bay when Sam cut in her ear, "No, you get to the jet. The rest of us have one job to do. Both of you. The rest of us aren't getting out of here."

"As much as I hate to admit it," Clint said, taking an arrow out of his quiver and applying it to his bow. "If we're going to win this one, some of us might have to loose it. Zoe keep going, at least you can get them out of here."

"That's not part of the plan, Clint," Zoe said through clenched teeth as she crawled up into the quinjet's ramp. She walked inside the jet and passed by something that caught her eye. She blinked at the beautiful item in front of her and stopped to take a look at it. It was right above Romanoff's set of arsenal weapons with her name on it. It was a jetpack. She took the item into her hands and off of display. A fancy tech indeed. She blinked at it and held it curiously in her hands, trying to figure out the mechanisms of the piece within her fingertips, where the straps were, and how to handle herself in a jetpack.

"It may have to be, kiddo," Clint said with a sad tone in his voice.

Zoe sighed, and closed her eyes as an idea flooded through her with the jetpack in her hand. "Okay, I'm in."

"This isn't the real fight Steve," Sam declared.

"Alright Sam, what's the play?" Steve asked, glancing back at Bucky to make sure he was up for this.

"We need a diversion, something big," Sam suggested as he flew in the sky, trying to draw Tony and Rhodey away from them.

"I can-" Zoe began to interject as she looked up from the jetpack.

"No," he cut her off too quickly. "I need you there," Steve said.

"I got something big," Scott said, as he got up from his spot. He started running across the cemented round pegs in front of him. "But I can't hold it for very long. On my signal, run like hell, and if I tear myself in half, don't come back for me."

"He's gonna tear himself in half?" Bucky asked.

"Scott, he's going to _kill_ you!" Zoe said in a light and worried gasp. She gripped onto the jetpack tightly.

"Not if I'm already dead," Scott winked at her jab that Pym would probably kill him for messing with the regulator.

"Are you sure about this Scott?" Steve asked.

"I do it all the time, I mean once," Scott said before Zoe could correct him. "In a lab, then I passed out…"

"It wasn't pretty," she shook her head. "But he was still awesome." She added quickly remembering Scott needed the encouragement and not the other way around.

"Thanks, Zo," Scott muttered to her and she grinned.

"Any time…" Zoe said.

"I'm awesome, I'm awesome, I'm awesome, I'm-" with all his might, he pushed off the ledge of the wing and jumped onto Rhodey's back. Within seconds, he pushed the buttons on his arm band controller and pressed the button between his thumb and index finger until he was humongous in the sky.

Zoe was completely shocked when she saw his huge body as she got closer to the windshield view. Her jaw dropped in awe.

"Holy shit!" Spiderman exclaimed, stepping back as he widened his eyes at the big Ant-Man.

Scott laughed mockingly as he grabbed Rhodey by his fingers and turned him around so that he stared at the tiny War Machine. "Okay, tiny dude is big now, he's big now!" Rhodey exclaimed.

"I guess that's the signal," Steve said, smiling up at Scott.

"Way to go tic-tac!" Sam exclaimed excitedly.

Zoe was beaming for her friend Scott as she leaned up against the controls, jetpack still beside her on the seat. " _Maaaybe_ we just don't tell Pym?"

Scott chuckled as he waved Rhodey around.

"Give me back my Rhodey!" Tony said and zoomed right after him. Steve and Bucky took that moment to head toward the jet.

He flung Rhodey hurtling toward an airplane. "I got him!" Spiderman said and spun a web string toward him so that he could catch him from crashing into the plane. Tony flew away from Sam as Sam charged after him. Scott stepped on a bus that sent crashing forward toward the Black Panther. He turned to block it when Vision blocked it for him and it broke in half, spiraling in different directions. T'Challa looked over at Steve and Bucky as they started running away from the firefight. Tony and Sam were fighting each other in mid-air and Scott was breaking off a piece of the plane's wing to use as a weapon of his own. He used it to toss at Tony, but Tony ducked just in time before it blew up in flames. He flew around it and gritted his teeth together.

"Okay, anybody on our side, hiding any shocking and fantastic abilities they'd like to disclose I am open to suggestions," Tony said, annoyance dripping in his voice.

Sam zoomed in on Tony as he spun around and saw one of his little bird winged things smack him dead in the face. "Shit," Tony cursed, spiraling down on the ground.

"Wanna get to them? You gotta get through me," Scott said as he stomped on boxes that the Black Panther had been trying to use to get toward Scott and defeat him somehow, but he was too big for the cat until Rhodey and Spiderman came at him and started shooting tiny missiles at the Ant, while Spiderman started to wrap around his arm trying to get Ant-man from moving. He smacked him in the eye glass of his helmet that nearly knocked them both off their feet with their given strength.

Clint was firing arrow after arrow, finding him engaged in a fight with the Black Panther amongst the fiery chaos behind him as he protected Scott. He shot two more trick arrows in which he caught and blew up around him instead of his helmet covered face. Clint watched in astonishment at this character's abilities. "Zoe, what do you know about this guy?" he asked.

"From the looks of things, he's a Black Panther. He _is_ King T'Chaka's son, Prince T'Challa, so he's pretty powerful, so be careful," Zoe replied back to Clint's earpiece.

"Thanks for the tip," Clint remarked wryly.

The Black Panther stood up and his sharp nails appeared out of his gloved hands. "And he's got claws…" Zoe added with a small wince of worry for him.

Clint grunted at her added information _after_ the fact he had claws. "We haven't met yet," he said and stood back in his fighting stance, retracting his bow back into a spear like sword. "I'm Clint."

"I don't care," he replied and charged after Clint, both engaged into a fight.

Meanwhile, up above Clint and the Black Panther, War Machine was shooting his air blasts trying to stop Ant-Man at all costs as he waved a broken vehicle in front of him blocking Rhodey's missiles.

"Guys, where are you? You have to get out of there now." Zoe said worriedly as she gripped tight on the control panel in front of her, scrunching her shoulders tight against her cheeks as she watched in utter horror at the chaos. She said she didn't want to watch but that didn't make her stop from the intensity she felt between everyone. And what was more nerve wrecking is that she couldn't find Natasha in any of it.

"We're coming! Get it ready!" Steve announced.

Rhodey flew up and around as Scott tried to reach for him but Rhodey went after Bucky and Steve till he was shot with a red flared item that hit him underneath the belly of the plane no thanks to Wanda. She continued to toss heavy vehicle items at him as Rhodey dodged each one.

The Vision became solid and bumped into Scott, causing him to nearly fall on top of an airplane. He looked over at Steve and Bucky as they were way too close toward the hanger bay and he could see the jet lighting up with Zoe inside the windshield view, starting up the jet. Clint had the Black Panther caught around in a chokehold grip but it didn't last long when he was stronger than the archer and kicked him harshly on the ground. He ran away from the archer when he realized that he was done for. The Vision suddenly became transparent and flew inside Scott.

"Guys, something just flew in me!" Scott warned as he widened his eyes. He'd tried to grasp Vision but it was like grasping for straws. He'd flew inside Scott and headed toward Bucky and Steve.

"No!" Zoe cried out as Vision beamed his beam at the pillar next to the building while Zoe frantically tried to get the jet moving out of the building. "Hang on, I'm coming to you, Steve!"

It seemed like it was going to fall until Wanda stopped the pillar with her red magic, telepathically holding it so that it didn't fall. Zoe stopped for a brief moment as Steve and Bucky pushed on forward. They could make it. They were nearly there until Rhodey suddenly used his air blasts on Wanda causing her to loose focus and grip pain on her mind. She screamed in agony and held the temples of her head within her hands.

Zoe frantically pushed all the buttons until the building fell, crashing into a pile of dust and ash. Bucky and Steve had made it inside. She let out a breath of relief when she locked eyes with Bucky, giving her a nod to continue, however, Steve stopped and so did Zoe when she spotted the red head that had come out of nowhere. "Oh shit…" she whispered. "I didn't know she was…I should've looked…I can't get out. She locked me in," she said. "Steve, I'm locked in. I can't get to you."

"You're not going to stop?" she asked.

Steve shook his head. "You know I can't."

Natasha sighed. "I'm gunna regret this," she said, holding out her arm and a curled fist in front of her. Steve narrowed his eyes at her curiously. Zoe pressed her fingers against the glass and felt like she was watching Coulson die all over again until Natasha suddenly aimed one of her electro-bites at the Black Panther that had sneakily snuck inside.

Zoe widened her eyes when she saw the Black Panther stall at her bite.

"Go," Natasha said to Steve.

Steve nodded his thanks toward her.

"All you have to do is unjam the ramp and then you can get in," Natasha shot another bite at him, stopping T'Challa from going after them.

With his metal arm, Bucky yanked the ramp open and they climbed inside. Bucky got into his seat while Zoe got into her co-pilot seat, waiting for Steve to buckle in. She smiled once he was inside safe and sound with her and that they were on their way to Siberia.

Outside the hanger bay, Spiderman was running on top of an airplane trying to get away from Scott's big gloved covered hand. "Hey guys you ever see that really old movie? Empire Strike's Back?"

"Jesus Tony, how old is this kid?" Rhodey asked.

"I don't know, I didn't carbonate him, he's on the young side," Tony said.

"You know that part? When they're on the snow planet, with the walking-thingies?" Spiderman asked as he continued to wrap Scott around his big and tall body.

"Maybe the kid's onto something," Tony said as Rhodey attempted to toss every vehicle attempt to knock Ant-Man over.

"I know Tony, go high!" Rhodey said and zoomed up to the side of Ant-Man's body and when they got up to his helmet, together they knocked him down and then on the ground finally.

"Yes! Haha! That was awesome!" he said, giving the two flyers a thumb's up until Scott accidentally knocked him on the ground too.

Scott became normal-human sized and popped his helmet off as he winced at the harsh pain that went through him. "Does anyone have any orange slices?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, yeah, don't get your panties in a twist, Zoe gave me some before she left," Clint said as he rolled up off the ground. "Thought it might be a good idea."

Tony zoomed down and stared at the curled body that belonged to a high school kid and not a superhero even though he wore the outfit. His heart pounded against his chest as he dreaded to turn him over. "Kid, you alright?" he asked. Peter suddenly erupted in a fit as Tony let out a breath of relief that he was okay.

"Hey!" he said nearly freaking Tony out.

"Same side!" Tony stopped him, and curled his hands around Peter's wrists to keep him from fighting him. "Guess who? Hi?"

"Oh, hey man…" Peter sighed as he realized that it was Tony. He closed his eyes and nodded, relieved to see it was Tony. "That was scary."

"Yeah, you're done," Tony said sternly. "Alright?"

"What? I'm good…"

"You did a good job. Stay down."

"I'm fine! I gotta get him back!"

"You're going home or I'll call Aunt May! You're done!" Tony said and walked away from him.

"Mr. Stark, I'm not done, I'm not…okay, I'm done," he struggled once he realized that he had no energy to fight left. "I'm done, I'm done…"

Back inside the hangar bay, Steve and Zoe got the jet in the air, while Natasha kept the Black Panther at a stand still. Once the jet flew away from the hangar bay and into the clear blue skies, Rhodey flew after them when T'Challa couldn't hold onto the wheel that hid inside the underbelly of the jet.

He fell in front of Natasha. "I said I'd help you find them, not catch them. There's a difference," she said, standing her own ground and beliefs. She'd known that Zoe was going to go with them, no matter what, and she also knew the girl needed to be safe from all of this, which was why she'd locked her inside. She was only human and wasn't in the same boat as Clint, no matter how brave she pretended to be.

The Vision flew down to help Wanda as she recovered from her massive pain attack she endured in. He cradled her in his arms, taking a look at how much she took and felt sad. "I'm sorry," he said truthfully.

"Me too," she said, looking into his eyes, captured by his mystery.

"It's as I said, catastrophe."

"Steve…" Zoe warned inside the quinjet as she spotted Rhodey on her side of the windshield.

"I see him…there's nothing we can do…Sam?" Steve asked.

"Already on it," Sam said, heading toward War Machine.

"Vision I got a bandit on my sixth," Rhodey said in warning. Zoe blinked at the sight as she was worried that this is what Ava had said what was going to happen, what Zoe was going to try to prevent.

"Steve, he's not going to stop, and I can stop him," she said, taking the jetpack that was by her seat.

She was already unshackling her seatbelt and getting out of her seat. Bucky looked up in alarm as she put on the jetpack next to him.

"Sam's already on it, Zoe, sit back down, now," Steve said sharply, using his order tone of voice.

"I wasn't talking about Sam," she said through clenched teeth. Steve heard her anger in her voice and he frowned, gripping the controls in front of him tightly. "I'm talking about the fact that Vision is going to kill Rhodey and I can't let that happen. Rhodey is my friend too and if I can do something about it, I'm going to stop it. Please… Steve…for once let me do something right in my life."

"Vision!" Rhodey called out.

Sam shot out one of his own missiles at him and Rhodey tried to dodge it. He could see that Tony was trying to get to him as well. "Vision do you copy?"

Steve looked back at her and he lifted the ramp down for her. "Do you know how to use that thing?" Bucky asked her.

"Press the button and it flies. Easy peasy," she said, giving him a gentle smile. She turned to face Steve.

"I'm sorry, Steve…for everything. You deserve better than me," she said softly and ran out of the ramp to help Rhodey deflect Vision's beam that she could see coming from a mile away. He was already turning and ready to shoot from his mind gem.

"Zoe!" Steve cried out to her, almost ready to turn this jet around and try to stop her, but if it hadn't been for Bucky he probably would've given up, and right now that wasn't an option…no matter how devastating the results may be… from Zoe's sacrificial sacrifice to save a friend.

She pressed the button on the jet pack and zoomed passed Tony and hurled toward Rhodey. "What the…" Rhodey asked as he saw a flying Zoe somersault over him and block a beam that hit her squarely in the chest, but it went straight through her and hit Rhodey anyway, knocking him out of the skies… "Tony," he breathed in nearly choking. "I'm flying dead stick. Zoe managed to slow down my trek, but it's still no use…I can't.." he inhaled a large gulp of air and his eyes closed as he drifted to the ground. The beam could've been a lot worse as it made Rhodey's fall fly down slower and not as faster as it would've been, hitting on the ground in a large heap of dust that surrounded him. Zoe's jet pack blew to pieces and Zoe was nowhere near to be found.

Sam flew down, as he'd tried to stop Rhodey himself along with Tony. When Tony got to his friend, he popped Rhodey's head off. "Read vitals," he said to FRIDAY as he scanned Rhodey's chest for a heartbeat.

"Heartbeat detected, ambulance is on it's way," she said sorrowfully.

"Any sign of Zoe?" Tony asked, looking up and above and everywhere, but the indications were doubtful and it broke his heart, though he'd never admit it. Somebody wasn't going to be happy to hear what he was going to have to deliver back at the compound. He could already feel her sadness and anger and she'd never let it go.

"Unfortunately, no, boss. It looks like she's off planet," she replied.

"In heaven, you mean," Tony correct her.

FRIDAY bit back her response before replying it in a different way. "If she hadn't stopped him, Rhodey's complications would be ten times worse. Ava's vision probably would've come true."

Tony glared at the thought that FRIDAY knew about Ava's vision and didn't say anything to him. "She made me promise not to tell," she said quickly in response to Tony's deathly silence.

"I'm sorry," Sam said, eye goggles off of him as he blinked. Tony hit an energy fire ball at Sam that knocked him off of his feet, wanting to be alone in his misery of nearly loosing a friend, and loosing a friend. She couldn't just be off planet. It didn't make a lick of sense… none of this made any sense…how could they loose?

 **~*CACW*~**


	104. Chapter 104: Recovery Discovery

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the universe. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 104: Recovery Discovery**

The mountain was foggy and covered in snow but Steve could see that they were close. He was here. Somehow he could just feel it, just like he could feel the weight that suddenly captured Bucky and himself inside the jet. He looked to the side of the co-pilot where Zoe was supposed to be and he gripped tightly onto the controls. A flash of memory covered his mind like an old film reel and he saw Zoe standing besides Bucky, strapping on the silver and black jetpack, saying _"I'm sorry, Steve, for everything, you deserve better than me."_

" _It's my choice!"_ Steve's words to Peggy suddenly came in mind. It just felt like that scene all over again when he was back in the forties saying goodbye to the one he really loved and cared about.

"Why didn't you stop her?" Steve asked breaking the silence first.

Bucky looked up, black hair strands fell slightly and framed his face. "What?"

"Why didn't you stop her? You could've-"

"She had that look in her eye," Bucky stopped him from trying to break Steve's usual transit thoughts.

"What look?" Steve dared to ask, but he had to know.

Bucky inhaled a short sigh and then let it out in a puff before he began his explanation, "When I pulled you and Zoe out of that river, she had a determined look in her eye, like she was on a mission. I know missions, Steve. She had one and she was going to finish it with or without your approval."

Steve gritted his teeth together. "Well, she didn't have to do it alone."

"Didn't tell her that did you?" Bucky asked softly.

Steve blinked at his mistake and he shook his head.

More silence slipped in between them and silenced the jet at least for a little while. It was lonely going on kill missions, saving the world or a friend's life. Sometimes it didn't end well, sometimes it did like in Steve's case. He came back from the dead, well, frozen in ice, but that could be called dead too….he'd been dead for awhile even when he crawled out till he found himself a home, the Avengers, and Zoe Sawyer. He should've been the one to save Rhodey's life, not her. She didn't deserve it and Steve didn't get to tell her. At least Zoe could've gotten Bucky to the Siberian cave and then eventually they'd meet and team up to kick the super soldier's asses, definitely Zoe's words… Steve thought with a small smile on his face. Steve shook his head. Maybe they were being played somehow… all that mattered now was finishing the mission. He was here along with five super soldiers and they had to finish this once and for all.

"What's going to happen to your friends?" Bucky asked.

"Whatever it is, I'll deal with it," Steve replied.

"I don't know if I'm worth all this Steve," Bucky said with a small shake of his head.

Steve looked up, listening to him and turned over his shoulder. He wasn't going to loose his best friend now. He needed him, especially now when he'd lost Zoe. "What you did all those years, it wasn't you. You didn't have a choice."

"I know," Bucky tore his eyes away from the window and faced Steve. "But I did it."

Steve felt his heart break and he glanced back at the window of the jet, getting ready to land. He pushed the controls forward as he said, "Makes me wonder sometimes how you are not related to a Sawyer."

Bucky smiled fondly softly.

 **~*CACW*~**

Natasha walked inside the compound, the empty compound that used to hold a life, and only held but one that was slowly going to diminish the minute she gave her the news of her sister's death. It wasn't going to be an easy thing to hear and she figured it would be best if she told her from her own handler, trainer, partner, and former friend, despite everything that's happened, despite never admitting it. Tony wanted to come but he was with Rhodey in the hospital along with Vision. They both needed to be there for him while he got his cat-scan. And right now Ava needed someone. Someone that probably isn't her, but Natasha was under orders to bring them in where T'Challa was detaining them now.

So all that was left was her to tell the young woman that her sister died in action, a stupid and ridiculous not part of the plan death, but it was done and there was no going back. Zoe Sawyer was gone as far as Natasha was concerned FRIDAY couldn't find anything except for fragments of the blown up jetpack across the airfield.

"Ava…?" Natasha asked curiously as she climbed up the sleek staircase that led all the way into the lounge area and the small kitchen unit where she saw the young girl standing on her crutches, cutting a piece of fruit with her knife, kind of fast. "Ava?"

"What?" she asked completely lost in her trans of thought as she nearly sliced her finger. "Fudge…" she muttered. "Sorry, I've been learning to try and cook for myself. Helps clear my mind when I'm not so nervous for my friends' return…and there's only one of you….oh God… Rhodey did he? Is he? Are they?"

"Slow down, and don't hurt yourself," Natasha said, slowly holding her hands in the air as she walked slowly over to her. "You may want to put the knife down while you're at it."

"Um…yeah, that's not going to happen. I know your history," Ava said. "And I'm not about to fall for that, especially when I kind of helped break a big hole in the ground…I'm sure you noticed…"

Natasha nodded her head slowly. "I did. But that's not really a concern right now. Ava…Rhodey and Tony are fine. Please…you really should put the knife down…please."

Ava swallowed hard and looked at her kitchen knife and looked at Natasha's fierce pleading look. The bruises on her seem to be fading, but she'd still seemed like she'd been in one hell of a fight.

"Okay you said please twice, that'd can't be good. Just tell me what happened…" Ava said. "I mean am I under arrest because I helped Clint and Wanda break out? Fine. Then arrest me because I would do it in a heartbeat over and over again. I will never fight against my sister. No outside law can make me do that."

Natasha held her emotions back and looked at her like she was a ghost in the shell of Zoe looking back at her. It was weird telling a twin that someone they'd lost just died. It was so weird. "I'm not here to arrest you, Ava. And you won't have to worry about that."

Ava's eyes twitched slightly. She stepped back and smirked at Natasha. "This is a trick. You must've arrested her with Clint and everyone else…right? And you want me on your side or something like that? About my father or something because not sure if you've noticed or anything but I wasn't around when that happened. I was stuck in a box."

"What? No. That's not it at all." Natasha said and she shook her head. She stepped closer. She sighed slightly, trying to figure out how to word this. "Look. This isn't…easy for me to say to you. I'm really sorry, Ava. But Zoe's gone. She died saving Rhodey's life…"

Ava blinked and furrowed her brows in slight confusion. "Zoe's gone?"

Natasha swallowed hard and she nodded. "But that wasn't what I meant…no," Ava shook her head. "No. That's not what I wanted for her at all. This wasn't her destiny, Natasha! This wasn't her destiny to die…" she said tearfully, stepping back from the counter. "She wasn't supposed to die. She was just supposed to save him long enough to get away from the beam…not commit suicide!" Ava cried angrily, burying her face within the palms of her hands. Natasha looked down and walked over to her slowly as Ava cried out. When Ava saw her come closer, she abruptly buried her face within the black leather of Natasha's jacket, catching the Widow off guard, but when she felt Ava's shaking pain, Natasha wrapped a gentle arm around the young girl to keep her from going into hysterics. "This can't be happening…I just got her back…it's not fair…" she mumbled over and over again. "It wasn't in my vision…"

"Hey," Natasha said gently as she pulled Ava from her. She brushed a hair out of her eyes. "Rhodey's still alive because of you and Zoe and it looks like he'll get a speedy recovery…"

"Can we go see him?" Ava asked sniffily, looking at her like a scared-child.

Natasha nodded unable to say no to those doey-watery eyes staring back at her, and brushed the dark brown strands of hair away from Ava's face.

"Of course."

 **~*CACW*~**

"Tony. Someone's here to see Rhodey," Natasha's voice made him turn away from Rhodey's cat-scan. He turned to see the Widow with Ava Sawyer. Ava looked at Tony and how badly beat up he looked. She frowned at the bruise marks that were purple and blue covered over his right eye. His arm was in a sling underneath his black leather jacket.

"Thought this would be the last place on Earth you'd want to be," Tony said, tapping the glass sill with his knuckles. Vision glanced at Tony and kept his back toward Ava.

"I'm right where I should be," Ava said. She stepped closer to Vision. Tony gave her a gentle squeeze on her shoulder and took Natasha with him down the hallway.

There was silence between Vision and Ava an uncomfortable one when Tony and Natasha left them be for a minute. Ava was leaning against her crutches and watching the cat-scan take place. "I'm just glad he's okay."

"I'm sorry about your sister…" Vision said, looking down at his own reflection in the glass. "It was my fault. I was distracted as I've already told Mr. Stark."

Ava tilted her head to the side. "It wasn't your fault Vision. Please don't blame her death on yourself. I gave her the message. I saw it when Rhodey put me to bed rest and I freaked out. I thought the worst. I didn't count for her to…" she sighed and shook her head. "It wasn't her destiny to die at your beam, Vision. You're not a killer." She gave him a gentle squeeze of his arm and he looked at her with a small sad smile on his face. "What?"

"Guess, I'm just still trying to figure out how humans work," Vision said.

Ava smiled softly at him, "Well, that makes two of us."

Vision arched an eyebrow at her.

"I was my father's lab rat for twenty some years, I lost count," Ava said with a small nervous chuckle. She shook her head, still staring at the cat-scan that Rhodey was under. "Not anymore." She inhaled and exhaled, ready to change the heavy subject. "So, how is he?"

"I'm sure recovery will be expected," Vision replied.

 **~*CACW*~**

Tony and Natasha stared outside the hallway and overlooking the window.

"So how bad really is it?" Natasha asked.

"Well, the Doctor's say he's a miracle and that he's lucky to be alive. Extreme lacerations, spinal cord, probably looking at some form of paralysis, but they haven't really said. It's on the backburner for now. I think Zoe saved that part."

"Steve's not going to stop," Natasha said. "If you don't either, Rhodey's going to be the best case scenario."

"You let them go Nat," Tony said. "Zoe would be _alive_ right now."

Natasha glared at him. "We played this _wrong_!"

"We?" Tony scoffed. "Boy, it must be hard to shake the double agent thing…sticks in the DNA? I can see she learned from the best."

Natasha narrowed her eyes at Tony. "Are you incapable of letting go of your ego for one goddamn second?"

"T'Challa told Ross what you did so…" Tony said. "And I'm gunna have to arrest Ava."

Natasha's glare grew darker.

"What? She aided and abided." Tony said.

Natasha scoffed. "She just lost her sister, Tony. She's a grieving mess right now, do you really think locking her up again is your best case scenario?"

Tony gritted his teeth together. He turned to her. "They're coming for ya."

"I'm not the one that needs to watch their back," Natasha said and walked away from him.

Tony slammed his hand against the railing and turned when his watch started beeping at him for attention. It was FRIDAY. He tapped on his wrist watch and it showed a holographic picture of a dead man inside a hotel tub.

"What am I looking at FRIDAY?" Tony asked.

"Priority upload from Berlin police," she replied.

Tony looked up in dead realization and grimaced. "Fire up the chopper."

"I'm coming with you," Ava said.

Tony arched an eyebrow at the Sawyer sister. "What?"

"You're going to put me in prison anyway. Might as well, kill two birds with one stone, right?" she asked, eyeing him expectantly, resting on her crutches as she stood there in front of him.

Tony sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine. Come on. Just keep your hands to yourself."

Ava rolled her eyes. "They're occupied anyway," she said motioning to her crutches as she hobbled forward to keep up with Tony's speed. "And besides, for the record, I _have_ been learning to control my powers." She whispered under her breath. "Which was why I wasn't able to fully kill Rhodey that day. That's what the Avengers were supposed to be about. Helping people with those who have those weird powers like me…right? Now, it's dismantled, again. Just like HYDRA…just like SHIELD…just like Zoe…"

 **~*CACW*~**


	105. Chapter 105: The Raft

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or Captain America or anything related to the Marvel universe. I am only writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 105: The Raft**

An underwater prison, Ava thought with distaste, almost like she wanted to throw up in her mouth. As if loosing Zoe wasn't enough, there was a fully operated prison in the dark seas that thrashed before her with icy snow cap tipped waves that looked utterly ominous outside her window. The whole outside of her window looked rather bleak and dreary when the rain drops continued to hit the side of her window and fall down like crystals.

Honestly? She should have known Tony would come up with something so cruel. It totally fit with the rich billionaire playboy theme he had going on. He had the suit. He had control of the powers that be; why not add an underwater fortress to the list? FRIDAY was giving the police report details to them when Tony stared at the holographic picture and files. Ava just watched and listened in pure utter silence in the cool-aired helicopter. She just couldn't believe he'd go this far.

Zoe trusted him. She _trusted_ him. They all did.

"You're a hypocrite," she had told him just minutes before he started going over the files.

It was a quick and painful conversation that she probably should have kept to herself but she had a biting anger back within her soul riding within her that she wanted to lash out. It played like a bad b-drama movie in her head, like one of those old black and white films.

" _Excuse me?" Tony blinked at her, turning to the side so that he could face her. She looked very tired and warn out, like she wanted to just curl up in a ball and stay that way._

" _You turned your back on everyone! Were you going to throw Zoe in a prison too?" she asked._

 _Tony swallowed hard and gritted his teeth together._

 _Ava caught the drift of the silence and she scoffed. "Unbelievable."_

 _"You're no better playing Ross's assistant, taking Zoe's job, gathering all the file footage that S.H.I.E.L.D. had and sending them over to him? That's how he was able to make a case against this._

" _I didn't know what else to do, Tony. He…he had a cure for me. He had a cure that my father had been working years on to try and…stop me from killing people," she whispered._

 _Tony's eyes went from hard to soft. He let her continue. She licked her lips and looked up at him again, "If I could cure myself, maybe I can just feel normal again? I just want it gone. You have absolutely no idea what Strucker made me do. Loki's staff only enhanced my powers to a quicker death and a way for me to slow it down and make it more painful. I just wanted the pain to stop. I didn't realize Ross had an entire prison waiting for people like me. I thought Ross actually cared and wanted to help me. He was kind, hard working. He was actually more of a father to me than my own. Do you know what I remember about my father?"_

 _Tony could only guess, but again he let her continue._

" _I remember a white cotton lab coat, some weird goggle looking things over his head, and a clip board, recording things with a click pen. Silver. It was so goddamn annoying. I was relieved to see Zoe. I was relieved to find out that I had another family member who actually cares about me enough to risk her life to save mine. Not just her life, but her friends, her job, the people she loves and cares about…she loves me too, and I never got a chance to really tell her that. I mean I have told her, but I was so grateful to be out of that box. And I just…I was trying to fit into this world and I didn't. I screwed up. I screwed up and I was just trying to make up for loss I guess by trying to save Rhodey's life, all of your lives," she sighed and shook her head. "I guess that was just a fool's dream. I followed Ross's stupid footsteps, thinking I could be somebody in this world. I wanted to make Zoe proud, but I guess I took the wrong turn, not realizing that it could really harm you guys in the end. A prison was honestly the last thing in mind. He made me believe that it was for the benefit of the world and saving lives when it came to the Sokovian Accords. Guess I'm a sucker for traps."_

 _Tony looked up at the ceiling and then at her. He leaned forward, resting his elbow gently on his knees and glanced up from underneath his eyelashes and dark eyes. He quirked up the corner of his mouth and shook his head._

" _I can't remember the last time I ever liked my father," Tony said, sending her a small quick smile before he leaned against his seat and took out his cell phone, scrolling down for more files that FRIDAY had alerted him._

"The U.N dispatched a Dr. Broussard within the hour of Barnes's capture," FRIDAY continued. The picture image came up with the real photo of the psychiatrist that was supposed to interrogate him. "He was met by this man."

"Did you run facial ignition yet?" Tony asked.

"What do I look like?" FRIDAY asked testily.

"I don't know, I've been picturing a red head," Tony remarked dryly.

"You must be thinking of someone else," FRIDAY said.

"Must be," he looked at Ava.

Ava glanced sideways at him and rolled her eyes. He turned his cell phone sideways as the A.I. continued.

"The doctor is actually Colonel Helmet Zemo. Sokovian Intelligence. Zemo ran Echo Scorpion, a Sokovian covert kill squad."

Ava scooted closer to look at the face. A flash of remembrance struck her mind and she gripped Tony's arm as though she'd seen a ghost. Tony glanced at her curiously.

"He needed my father's help for something," Ava said. "I couldn't hear what they were saying…but I recognize those eyes. I'd never forget a face like him."

Tony gulped. He scooted closer to the window, holding the bar handle attached to the side wall of the helicopter to keep himself steady.

"He was found dead in a Berlin Hotel room," she replied. "Where police also found a wig and facial prosthesis in the appearance of one James Buchanan Barnes."

"Son of a Bitch," Tony muttered as he stared at the photo that was none other than Bucky covered with a scarf wrapped around his head and neck to keep hidden. To the side of the holographic picture, there was a picture of him in his World War 2 uniform.

"Get this to Ross," Tony said.

"Yes, boss," FRIDAY said and sent all the information right away to Ross's device.

"Do you really think he'll do something about it?" Ava asked worriedly.

Tony glanced at her and shrugged. "It's our best case right now to save Mr. Barnes' identity. And we have an eye witness." He smiled at her and she chewed her bottom lip a little bit nervously. Her? That was a long time ago. Would that really stick?

He pressed an index finger to the control screen panel next to him and slid a few things over, calculating and preparing to land the chopper as the prison swirled up from underwater. Ava pressed her fingers against the glass and looked at how huge and ominous the circular fortress was.

"This is Raft Prison Control. We are clear for landing, Mr. Stark," one of the operators informed over radio.

It was like a huge standstill black submarine underwater, except round and circular that could hold a lot of people prison inside with the type of abilities like her. The pad landing doors opened and the helicopter dipped down inside for a perfect and slow safe landing.

As the doors opened, Tony hopped down and tried his best to help Ava out with her and her crutches. She should be healing soon. Her leg wound hadn't been as bad as Zoe's during their fight with Ultron. It wasn't twisted and broken; just stitches and she needed to keep it off her feet for a few days. By next week, Ava could officially hold a funeral for her sister. Tony would help her make all the arrangements, providing he got out of this alive himself.

She caught up with him and stood beside Tony, glaring at General Ross. She really didn't want to be here and she doubted Zoe would very much want her in this position, but she wanted to see Sam. She wanted to see if he was okay. And like Tony said, she aided and abided, there was probably no need for a fair trial. People would see her the way they see Wanda, unfortunately. Ross had those files on her and it wouldn't help her one bit of what she did in the past, especially with Ultron.

"So you got the files? Let's agree with the satellites, start facial scanning recognition system and find this Zemo guy," Tony said with a shake of his head.

Ava looked around her surroundings. They were in the circular landing bay. The whole place was cold and gray, almost too gray to her to bear. Then her eyes landed on Ross's and noticed how rigid he was, towering over them with a stern look on his face.

"You seriously think I'm going to listen to ya after that fiasco in Leipzig? You're luck you're not in one of these cells," he motioned a quick nod behind him with his head.

Ava narrowed her eyes and stepped closer to Tony. "You know, I never noticed how white your hair is until I saw the backdrop of this gray prison, General," she clenched her teeth tight when she said the word general for emphasis.

"Get used to it, Miss Sawyer. It's going to be your new home," he said and started walking down the ramp. "I didn't buy Barton's sorry excuse when I interrogated him for any others like Miss. Maximoff."

She fought so hard not to curse at him. Instead she remained silent and followed him, listening to the clickity clanks against metal with her crutches to the control room. They stopped at a camera feed that kept an eye on Wanda. Ava's heart went out to the poor girl as she looked up directly at her and Tony. She was wrapped up in a blue straight jacket, cornered tight in her cell. She shared a small look with Tony, who felt the same guilt as her.

"Let me talk to them, find out where Rogers's location is," Tony said, turning toward Ross.

Ava scoffed, "Like they'd tell anything to you! Let me do it. I'm nicer. Besides, I've trained with them for awhile, they know me."

Ross glanced between the two of them and motioned a quick nod.

"Keep an eye on her Stark," Ross said as he allowed them both to go in. Tony nodded and placed a hand on the small of her back, ushering her through the small corridor that led them inside the prison.

They walked inside the middle of the room and saw many small cell rooms with glass doors. Each one had a member of Cap's team inside them from Clint Barton to who was that guy in the middle with the dark hair and pale skin? She hadn't recognized him. But he seemed to recognize her, a little bit, or maybe it was the whole twin thing since he just realized it wasn't really Zoe and it was Ava instead staring back at him.

Clint's clapping caught Ava's attention to the right. "The futurist, gentlemen! The futurist is here! He sees all! He knows what's best for you, whether you like it or not, along with his trusty sidekick, Essence."

Ava felt the burn and the sting. Maybe she deserved that, especially for accidentally making a case against them, helping Ross and all.

"Give me a break, Barton, I had no idea they'd put you here, come on," Tony said, climbing up toward the cell.

Ava stayed where she was, and stared at Sam, listening to their conversation. Sam had turned at the mention of Essence and he was staring back at her. It broke her heart to see him in this state like he was. He shook his head and turned his back toward her and she frowned, looking down at the floor.

He spit onto the floor and glanced sideways at him. "Yeah well, you knew they'd put us somewhere Tony."

"Yeah, but not some super-max ocean floating hokey, you know? This place is for maniacs, this is a place for…"

"Criminals," Clint supplied for him and got up from his seat to match his stance, so he could face him eye to eye. "Criminals, Tony. I think that's the word you're looking for. Right? It didn't use to mean me, or Sam, or Wanda. But here we are."

"Because you broke the law, I didn't make you. You read it, you broke it," he said over the chanting song of Clint singing law, law, law. "Right? You're all grown up. You got a wife and kids. I don't understand why you didn't think about them before you chose the wrong side?"

Clint glanced behind his shoulder, now seated again but then stepped up and spun around; glaring at him, but Tony was already off to see Sam.

"Better watch your back with this guy. There's a chance he's going to break it," Clint said, slamming the glass in front of him, making Ava jump. She gripped tightly onto her clutches and sent him a glare. Clint glared at her right back.

"I'm sorry," she mouthed to him but he just stared at her as she hobbled over to Sam's cell.

"Hank Pym always said you never can trust a Stark, or a Sawyer," the man in the middle spoke to her and Tony.

Tony turned toward him, "Who are you?"

He scoffed, "Come on man!"

"How's Rhodes?" Sam asked.

"Well he's flying out to Columbia Medical tomorrow, so fingers crossed," Tony said. "What do you need, did they feed you yet?"

Sam scoffed slightly, and turned, arms crossed to face him. "You're the good cop now?"

"I'm just a guy who needs to know where Steve went," Tony said.

"Well, you're going to have go get a bad cop, because you're going to have to go Mark Fuhrman on my ass to get information out of me and I _know_ Ava's too sweet for that kind of talk."

Ava smiled sweetly, and stepped closer beside Tony. "Sam, you've only scraped the surface of what you know about me. I know exactly who Mark Fuhrman is, and I can assure you, if need to be, I can get the information out of you within seconds of your death."

Sam stared at her coldly. She gripped on her clutches, trying not to shake at his hard stares that made her feel so guilty right now. "If that's how you want to play it…" he said.

Tony then suddenly did something fantastic with his wrist watch and suddenly things went offline. "Oh, I just knocked the A out of their AV. We've got about thirty seconds to realize it's not their equipment and for you to tell Ava that you really love her and I could shove her in the same room with you if you want to…though I doubt Ross would like that." He grinned.

Ava rolled her eyes and glared at Tony. "Really, Tony?" she sighed, hanging her head to the side toward him. She turned a twinge of pink. "I guess I'm kind of obvious," she muttered to herself.

"Just a little bit," Sam smiled at her. "But I don't mind."

"What'd you do?" Ross asked inside the control room. "Get it back up!"

"Alright you two lovebirds, just look," he pulled up Dr. Broussard's picture inside the hotel room. "Because that, is the fellow that's supposed to interrogate Barnes," he said and Sam paid close attention to it. "Clearly I made a mistake. Sam, I was wrong."

"That's a first," Sam flicked his eyes upward toward him.

"Cap is definitely off the reservation, but he's going to need all the help he can get."

Ava widened her eyes. "I can help."

"It's too dangerous, even for you. You're not Wonder Woman," Tony said, narrowing his eyes at her. She shrugged her shoulders in defeat.

"We don't know each other very well…"

Sam winced and shook his head. "It's…all right. Look, I'll tell you, but you have to go alone," he glared at Ava. She was trying to attempt to stand on her own two feet without falling to show that she could handle herself. "And as a friend."

"Easy," Tony grinned. As soon as Sam told him, the AV kicked back in and Tony was taking Ava over to one of the cells, holding her arm and crutches hostage, yelling in protest as he pushed one of his buttons on his wrist watch to allow the cell doors open. He thrusted her inside and closed them before she could, locking her inside.

"Tony!" she cried after him, slamming her hand on the door cell. "You bastard!"

Tony winced, but knew that it was for her own protection. He walked away as he ignored Ava's protests and cries. The doors shut behind him and he heard Ross follow behind him.

"That was bold, putting her in prison," Ross said. "What was she going to do?"

"Sometimes it's best not to find out how you're going to die in the future," he said in quick reply as he fired up the chopper in front of him on his wrist watch.

"Stark, did you find anything on Rogers?" he asked.

"Nope," he climbed on the helicopter, and held one of the handles, turning around to face the Secretary as he came close to him. "He told me to go to hell, but I'm going to the compound instead, but you can call me any time. I'll put you on hold; I like to watch the line blink."

He got inside and sat down, facing him. He gave him a nod and the doors closed, ready for him to take off in the air.

As he was flying back toward the compound, he sat there in pure thought till he finally pressed the button within his hidden armrest and climbed into his suit that attached to him from the inside of the helicopter and he flew outside the heavy rain, completely dressed in his Iron Man suit ready to help out a friend in need.

 **~*CACW*~**


	106. Chapter 106: Keep Fighting

**Disclaimer: I do not own Captain America or anything related to the Marvel Universe. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 106: Keep Fighting**

 **Two Months Later**

The surrounding trees bristled against the calm wind outside. First time Scott Lang broke out of prison he remembered the smell of fresh greens, fresh air, like it was yesterday. First time he ever saw daylight, it made him smile. It reminded him that he could see his family again, his daughter Cassie. But this time he broke out of prison he had the privilege of carrying his best friend's empty coffin to the ground that was in front of him with a bundle of red roses and white lilies on top of the mahogany wooden carved rectangular box. It didn't seem right. It didn't feel right carrying the empty box, but a month later, Stark insisted. Stark insisted they stop this charade of hope that Zoe would ever come back. It'd only eat them up inside. He represented Cap's team. He didn't want to risk the capture of everyone despite the funeral happening for a dear friend. Scott was brave enough to come out and pay respects to Zoe Sawyer, former agent of a shadow government called S.H.I.E.L.D. She is a hero and a best friend, and a savior, which is carved into her gravestone right next to Tony's parents, her only family.

"Thank you all for coming," Tony said, standing up behind the lifted coffin just above the grave. He looked out all the grim looks on a few people who were there: Vision, Rhodey, Pepper with her strawberry blonde hair down for the sad occasion and dressed in a black dress with a black pea-coat covering it. He saw a few staff from the Avengers' facility, like, Dr. Cho, and even Klein who were seated among the black chairs that were empty in the back. Scott sat right in front, dressed in his tux, not very clean shaven. He was watching the whole thing, still in disbelief that his Zoe was gone.

He was about to open up his mouth till he saw someone standing beyond the green grass that surrounded them. He tilted his head as if he recognized that person, but then he continued, "It's times like these where…" he cleared his throat and shifted his weight on his feet.

"We loose those we love the most the saddest. But right now that's the farthest from what Ms. Zoe Sawyer would want us to be right now in the mourning of her death. I always knew her as a strong fighter, an empowered force to be reckoned with. There's a reason why I had her buried by my parents and not her own. Her own possess a terrible past, and I didn't want her to go down in history as someone not to be trusted, despite what you may have read or heard about HYDRA and SHIELD. She may have been a Sawyer, but she wasn't one like I ever met before in my entire life. She was always the one who showed light through the darkness where darkness hits us the most in our hearts…

 **Unknown Location**

Meanwhile, during the funeral, Clint Barton returned home to his farmhouse, carrying his bow in hand, tired and exhausted, almost too exhausted to step further inside the kitchen.

"Laura?" he asked.

The house was empty in response. Clint's heart clutched in a panic. "Laura?" He got his bow ready to fire in case there was any movement inside his home, in case there were any danger to his family. Fear and adrenaline kicked in his system once more.

" _ **And the more light we possess, the happier her soul will be wherever she is, hopefully in a much much better place…"**_

Clint then lowered his bow when he saw a note on the counter. All of his resolve in his muscles diminished for a brief second. He picked up the note and read it.

" _My dearest Clint,_

 _I didn't know how long you would be in prison, so I took Lila, Cooper, and Peitro back to my mother's place. We're safe there. I'm sorry Clinton, but I cannot do this anymore. I thought I could support you with all of my heart, but every time you go off…a piece of me dies, and I wonder if you'll ever make it home to me alive…I wonder if you'll make it back to your children. The divorce papers are in the drawer. Please sign them. At least now, you'll have one less civilian family to worry about. But remember this, I'll always love you, no matte what._

 _Love always,_

 _Laura_

Clint crumpled up the piece of paper into his gloved fist and closed his eyes. He brought his fist to his forehead… "Perfect…timing," he muttered disdainfully and threw the piece of paper against the fridge. One of Lila's coloring papers of Cap and Zoe fell down from the fridge…

" _ **So let us pray for her soul, and hope she rest so that we can continue to fight the good fight because that is what Zoe Sawyer would want us to do no matter what. Amen."**_

Vision lifted up his head and tilted his head to the side. Tony stared out into the distance curiously at the figure that was watching from afar. Tony then glanced at each one of his friends in the front of the funeral crowd as they repeated the Amen in unison and the priest came up after Tony to start a soulful hymn. It was the silhouette of a man, not a woman like he thought it would be.

 **London, England**

Steve reached into a handful of dirt and picked up the soil in his fingers before he dropped it back into the soil that belonged to Peggy Carter. He heard footsteps behind him and his heart clenched at the sound. He thought he was alone. He thought he'd be alone forever.

"It's dangerous being out in the open," Sharon's voice echoed in his ear. He smiled and turned around to face the blonde as she came to her aunt's gravestone. Her black heels stepped together in front of Steve.

"I could say the same for you," Steve said.

"How are you holding up?" she asked.

Steve swallowed hard. "He went under. They're going to try and get whatever HYDRA put in his head out. So…as well as to be expected I guess."

Sharon frowned, and furrowed her brows. "About Zoe… Steve…you didn't tend to her funeral."

"Kinda breaks the whole rule of fugitive and on the run, right?" Steve asked humorlessly.

"Steve…" she said sympathetically.

"You know I can't even get drunk?" he said, trying not to shed a tear in front of her but she could imagine what he was feeling right now and it broke her heart to see him like this…so broken. "In any normal situation a regular man could get drunk and then all of his problems could go away."

Sharon placed a hand on his arm and shook her head. "I've seen many incidences where none of that is true. Getting drunk just makes you stupider and I know that's not what Zoe would want you to do."

"Then what would she want me to do?" Steve asked, feeling lost inside.

"Come on," she said, offering him her hand. He looked down at it and then took it. She brought him away from Peggy's grave.

She was going to take him back home.

 **Somewhere in Wakanda**

Ava stared out the elongated window, arms crossed over her chest. She was dressed in black skinny leggings, and a black cardigan that was comfy enough to give her some much needed comfort. She really liked the jungle that was life and beautiful in front of her eyes.

A shadow walked beside her and she looked over her shoulder to see that it was T'Challa dressed in a dark burgundy colored suit.

"I know what you want me to do young one, but I am not my father," T'Challa said.

"But you have…" she hissed and shook her head. "You…know people who can bring her back."

"That is playing with fire, Miss Sawyer. A fire I do not wish to tangle with, much less breathe it."

"They never found her body you know," Ava continued after a moment of silence. "Even though Tony was adamant about closure… it still feels empty."

"That is because you have not learned to let it go, once you let go, you can have peace."

"Peace is something of an illusion," Ava mumbled.

T'Challa smirked, and glanced from her face to the outside window. "Are you so sure about that, Miss Sawyer?"

She glanced to her right and saw the Black Panther statue looming in the skies, protecting the palace.

 **~*CACW*~**


	107. Chapter 107: New World

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the universe. I am writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 107: New World**

She expected darkness. She expected nothing but a sense of peace in her death. She knew there would be some slight pain but then it would fade. What she did not expect was waking up to a cell.

A cell that wasn't at all like the one where she was kidnapped by April and whoever it was she was working with. She didn't know why she remembered that part of her life. In reality she shouldn't remember anything since she was dead. Or at least, she thought she was dead. If she was dead, she'd hoped to have gone to Heaven or Asgard or some beautiful peaceful land like that. It was weird. This feeling that reeled within her. She wasn't quite sure what to make of it or how to combat it. Did the people back home feel this way when she was hit by Vision's beam of light by accident?

Did they get captured? What about Ava? What about her friends? And more importantly what about Steve? How was he holding up? He had to be a wreck by now, especially since the war was over and there was nothing to punch right now.

Maybe now that things have died down on Earth…she smiled at the thought on Earth? That's a funny thing to say. She should be on Earth. But she wasn't. Where was she? Anyway, maybe now that things have slowed to a stand still, he could find happiness just like he always wanted to. And Zoe Sawyer could finally find some peace and clarity even if it was inside this cell. Maybe Zoe Sawyer didn't have to play both sides anymore. Maybe she could just move on with her new journey into a brave new world, wherever she was.

She wouldn't mind it if Steve found someone else. She'd be sad of course, but he deserved to be happy. She couldn't very well return to Earth. Dead people don't return to Earth. It was physically impossible. Then again she'd seen stranger things in her days as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Speaking of S.H.I.E.L.D., she was surprised that she didn't immediately hook up with her old pal Coulson. After all, he died under Loki's staff. And he was the closest thing she had to family. She killed her father in self-defense and her mother was dead as well. Come to think of it, she should be with her parents… right?

Was something wrong?

How could be something wrong?

The Powers that Be were smart. They knew where souls went whenever someone died, whoever they were.

She was stuck in a cell.

Zoe twisted her lips into a frown.

Maybe it was a test?

Or a process?

Maybe all souls had to go through some weird process or something but she didn't remember learning that in Sunday school as a kid.

Then again monsters and magic and science were never supposed to mix, but it had happened anyway.

There were endless possibilities.

She got up from her current seat, back against the damp wall behind her. She looked up to see it was dark outside of her cell bar window. They looked extremely ancient. Then she looked down at her stomach, and her black uniform she still wore. She placed two hands over her stomach. There was no hole. There was no hole or blood through her back or her stomach at all. She twirled around and twisted, trying to figure out what was happening as panic began to grip her. Not only did she not feel like she was solid…she _was_ solid.

She knew she wasn't in Kansas anymore but how far out was she? How long had she been here?

She walked over to her cell window and pressed her fingers through the rusty bars, pulling herself up onto her tip-toes to peek through the window. She couldn't really see much of anything except for fire light that danced along the castle walls along the night skies that stretched for miles on end until the forest trees.

She bit her lower lip, and heard music and dancing as if people were having a good time. But why didn't Zoe feel that way? She should be on her way to ascending to peace and prosperity and to a place filled with love and joy. She should be with her family. She should be with Coulson.

How she missed him.

She wondered if Coulson was perhaps in a cell next to her. But how could she tell when there were four walls of rock that kept her concealed?

She looked all around her dark surroundings. There was no way to tell unless she yelled?

She gave it a whirl. "Coulson?" she asked. No answer. "Mom? Dad?"

Silence.

She gulped.

Maybe she didn't go to a place of peace.

Maybe she was in Hell?

She got scared all of a sudden. Maybe it didn't matter if killing in self-defense got you a free ticket to Heaven…

She swallowed hard. That would explain the firelight dancing along the walls. But it wouldn't explain the party downstairs.

She walked over to her wooden door and peeked through the small cell bar window only to see nothing visible.

"Anybody?" she asked, more so to herself than anything. She was starting to get scared now.

And sad.

Maybe her one good deed wasn't good enough. Maybe she'd done too many wrongs and this was her fate for eternity.

Stuck in a cell…

She closed her eyes and let out a sigh as she leaned her head against the wooden beam in front of her, letting all of her reserve fall away until she suddenly heard a creak within the door that made her jump backwards.

The door whirled open and two tall guards came toward her, blocking her way out.

She stared at their ancient armor that looked thick and heavy, almost gladiator like and she widened her eyes. She was trying not to let the fear hold onto her heart, but she couldn't help it. She was terrified.

"The Grandmaster will see you now," he said underneath the helmet on top of his head.

Zoe's eyes went wide and she felt a wave of dread wash over her. "Oh no…"

They grabbed her by the arms before she could sneak back against the wall, and took her out of her cell, letting her door close with a loud snap.

 **~*Thor 3: Ragnorak*~**

 **Zoe Will Return :)**


	108. Chapter 108: Thor: Ragnorak

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the series. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 108: Thor: Ragnorak**

1 Year Later

Sakaar

Grandmaster's Palace

Everything seemed bright and wide, and big, bigger than she'd ever seen in her entire life. And she remembered going to New York City for the first time in her life, seeing the tallest buildings in the country. This kind of topped that. And that made her a bit nervous as to who this guy really was. Zoe Sawyer was dragged and hauled up to a silver chair. They sat her down and silver straps wrapped around her arms as she tried to struggle out of the chair, trying to get out of it.

She was brought in front of an audience and the Grandmaster himself wearing a golden and bright colored suit as if he was a king. On either side of him, he had two guards stationed beside him. She glanced around her surroundings. Her escape was heavily guarded, no way of getting out of this…mess. She wasn't even sure what to call it because as far as she knew this was not heaven. This was not her home. Somehow she lost direction. This couldn't be…

"Agent Zoe Sawyer."

"Former," she said with a glare at the man who's face was covered in war paint underneath his silver and white hair. His silver eyes gleamed down at her. One of the guards held an orange and golden staff in her arm. The other looked at her like she was a meal, or a prize to put it lightly.

"Ah, yes," he said dramatically. "Former. Indeed you are. Which means I own you."

"What?" Zoe asked.

"I saw what kind of fighter you were on Earth, and grabbed you just in time for my little gladiator show," the Grandmaster replied to her puzzled and mixed expression on her face.

"There are plenty of other people who are better than me out there, I'm sure," Zoe said, eyeing him cautiously.

"True. However, I like that you're human. A human is something I don't have in my vault. A human who could be trained to be the perfect contender in my stadium," he said.

"Why don't you just let me die in peace?" Zoe asked. "Let me go to either heaven or hell as I wish?"

The Grandmaster smiled at me. "Sweetheart, this _is_ hell."

Zoe gulped.

"Take her away…" he waved an arm to his people and Zoe looked around her as she tried to get out of the chair that she was stuck in.

~*TR*~

Sakaar.

1 Year Later

It was a place that Zoe Sawyer had never ever heard about in her entire well being of life. Yet, here she was sitting here in her fighting gear, back against the wall, legs propped up as she rested her wrist, covered in leather. Over time that the Grandmaster had rescued her from death as he'd called it, she'd learned to call this place hell. He was able to resurrect her. He'd seen what she was capable of as a human being and as the only human in his Game of Champions he wanted to see how long she could last here. Or it was that other thing he did so much that Zoe would rather not think about since it rubbed her the wrong way.

Two years. At least that's how long Zoe was almost positive it's been since she's been here.

Behind the wall, there were scratch ticks of the days that she spent here. Two years. No one came to look for her. Of course not. Everyone back on Earth saw her die. A lot can happen in two years.

She trained to fight. She trained herself to survive a hellish planet like this.

She trained and trained and watched the few and far between of her fellow comrades she'd made friends with die at the hands of the Grand Champion that everyone raved about. Who was this Grand Champion? And was she even ready to face him herself?

She was exhausted. Tired. Hungry. And in pain. She didn't know how long she could continue to try and survive. And hope that someone in this world would find her and take her back to Earth.

Champions got special treatment.

She was nearly there.

She just needed to score a few more points before she could get her own room. Real food.

A real piece of freedom for once. It might not be home, but at least she wouldn't have to stay here with the aliens and hear Korg's dull voice every day.

Suddenly, in the middle of her rolling thoughts, the cell door opened, and guards tossed something in and onto the floor. Zoe let out a sigh, and continued to think about her life's choices that got her here. Perhaps she should have listened to Bucky. But, she never would've thought about doing it if it hadn't been for….the newcomer had suddenly tried to break the door down, and it was impacting her concentration and making her extremely irritable.

"Excuse me?!" she yelled at him. "But I've already tried that. We all have. You aren't getting out of here unless you win a certain amount of fights! Or at least the Grand Champion that's hogging all the attention."

The newcomer turned around and looked down at the voice to see who it belonged to. And Zoe looked at the newcomer in complete awe. Were her eyes really seeing this?

"Thor?" Zoe asked in a mere whisper.

"Zoe?" Thor exclaimed in awe and complete shock. "You…"

"And you…." Zoe said as she started to get up from the ground. She picked herself up and onto her boots. Of course the God of Thunder towered over her by far and he hasn't changed a bit, except for the hair. They cut off his hair. "Your hair!" she exclaimed.

Thor made a face. "My hair is gone, unfortunately," he said. "But you, look at you….you're hair is…"

"Short," Zoe said with a small smile. "They, cut mine too. They do it every year."

"You look like a pixie," Thor said with a warm smile and then he brought her in for a crushing hug. "It's been way too long Daughter of Saw."

Zoe hugged him tightly. "Yes it has. But what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be on Asgard?'"

Thor scoffed and pulled apart from his friend. "I could ask you the same my friend."

Zoe chewed her bottom lip at that. "Uh, yeah…about that. I um, died on Earth? It's a long story…but cliff note's version, well, the team broke apart, and I tried to save Rhodey's life, but unfortunately Vision's beam brought me here."

"Wait…the team broke up? Isn't it your job to keep them together?" Thor pointed out and Zoe frowned.

"I tried to keep them together, Thor," she said. "I really tried. But….I….failed."

"You loved the Star Spangled man didn't you?" Thor asked.

Zoe nodded.

"I could see it in your eyes," Thor said.

"I guess I was just blinded by love, that I couldn't see what was really happening with the big picture," Zoe said with a small shrug of her shoulders. "And now, I'm here. I was supposed to find you actually, bring you home. We miss you."

"I have no reason to go back to Earth now," Thor said.

"But what about Jane?" Zoe asked. "Isn't she a good enough reason?"

"We dumped each other," Thor said, glancing down at her.

Zoe's frown deepened. "What? Oh, Thor…I'm sorry."

"Maybe it was for the best?" Thor asked. "After all, she was human, and I'm Asgardian. Way older than she is," he said, smiling at Zoe.

"I guess. So, no real reason to come back to Earth? Not even for someone like me?" Zoe asked hopefully. "Your friends?"

Thor gave her a gentle smile and a comforting hand over her shoulder. "You always did know how to put a smile on my face, Daughter of Saw."

Zoe smiled at him. She'd never been more thankful for a friendlier face. "So, how'd you end up in this hell?" she asked.

"Well, it's a long story, but looks like we have time to share, since we're not getting out of here," Thor said, glancing around the circular dank prison.

"Nope," Zoe said. "Tried a thousand times, and the only way out is through that arena."

"You fight?" Thor asked, quite impressed.

"Every week," Zoe said in a dead monotone voice. "Small fights. I have yet to fight anything bigger than myself. I think the Grandmaster's warming me up. He's weird."

"He's insane," Thor agreed. "Well…if you don't mind hearing about Sutur…?"

"What's a Sutur? I mean I'd look it up on my usual computer screen, but I'm fresh out of those."

"I'm glad you asked, Daughter of Saw," Thor said, and started off his tale to the former agent of Shield.

 **~*TR*~**


	109. Chapter 109: Empty Revolution

**A/n: Chapter Formly named Korg! :)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own The Avengers or Thor or anything at all related to Marvel. I'm just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 109: Empty Revolution**

"We need to get you out of here. This is no place for a mere mortal," Thor said finally after telling Zoe his tale and how it began with Jane in Asgard, fighting the dark elves, then getting trapped in Surtur's nest, and eventually breaking free with his hammer. Then he met up with Odin who turned out to be Loki, who'd reimagined everything with a play honoring Loki, no doubt, only to find out that Loki had exiled his father and cast him out to Earth, so he could rule Asgard. Zoe knew this not to be a real surprise since it was in his nature. He tried to rule Earth once before.

That thought had not left her mind. But then once he and Loki found Odin with the help of an unusual character that Zoe had yet to hear about by the name of Dr. Strange, and had Loki falling for thirty minutes, which made Zoe chuckle for the first time in a long time, and it was nice to laugh again, especially with a friend of whom she missed so dearly to her. Then, Thor brought her up to date with Hela, his sister, the Goddess of Death, and how she was now taking over Asgard. If she could break Thor's hammer, that made her lethal. She was the Goddess of Death after all. She sounded really scary to Zoe. Odin had tried to conceal her from the Asgardians before he took his life away to be with Frigga. Learning that all this happened, Zoe was almost in tears, but then almost angry and hurt for Thor at how much of a coward Odin was.

"Guess we have more in common than I thought," Thor said humorously, a little bit in regards to Zoe's old history and how her own father had kept secrets about her family legacy and kept her in the dark. Zoe nodded at him. He saw her crestfallen face. He looked back at the door, and then went to try and break the door down again. Zoe winced at the noise as she crossed her arms and watched him try to break it down. He was God of Thunder and he couldn't break a door down?

Well, guess he couldn't now, not without his hammer. She frowned. She felt so bad for Thor. He'd gone through so much over time. It was no wonder he was like this. So lost.

That was when Korg decided to open his big mouth. The rock man as Zoe had gotten to know him as. He was not one of her fondest of people she'd met. But at least it was a little bit of company she had left.

"Hey, hey, hey! Take it easy man!" Korg said, trying to get Thor to chill out. "Over here man," Thor turned to try and find him, and Zoe pointed to the rock form beside them. Thor looked at Zoe and she shook her head, shrugging slightly at the creature. She didn't understand it either. "The pile of rocks waving at you. I'm actually a thing, a being. Allow me to introduce myself," he said.

Zoe sighed, "Here we go."

"My name is Korg. I'm kind of the leader here."

"You are not the leader here," Zoe reminded him. She eyed Thor cautiously, "There is no leader."

Korg scoffed. "She doesn't know what she's saying. Been in one too many fights, this one has, and still lives on her own two feet. Crazy right? Anyway. I'm made of rocks, as you can see, but don't let that intimidate you. You don't need to be afraid unless you're made out of scissors!" he said, telling Thor one of his only jokes that Zoe had heard a thousand times over. She sighed again, annoyed. "Just a little rock, paper, scissors, joke for you. This is my very good friend, Miek, over here. He's an insect, and has knives for hands."

Zoe watched Thor make a face and then turn his head at Korg. "You're a Kronan, aren't you?"

"That I am!" he said proudly.

"How did you end up here?" Thor asked.

"Oh, well I tried to start a revolution, but didn't print out enough pamphlets so hardly anyone turned up. Except for my mum and her boyfriend, who I hate," Zoe listened to this again, and she always was curious about that one. "As punishment, I was forced to be in here, and become a gladiator. Bit of a promotional disaster that one, but I'm actually organizing another revolution, I don't know if you'd be interested in something like that?" Korg asked.

Thor glanced at Zoe. "We're getting out of here," he said to her. And then before she could stop him, he took off running.

Korg looked at her, "So you two know each other?"

"Old friends," Zoe smiled. "We used to work together."

Thor stalled, and then came back to Zoe and Korg. "How did you…" he trailed off realizing what was happening.

"Yeah, no. This whole thing is a circle," Korg explained to him. "But not a real circle. More like a freaky circle."

"Better in here than up there," Zoe said, glancing up at the locked door where the Grandmaster was.

"This doesn't make any sense," Thor said with a shake of his head. Zoe watched him deep in despair. Poor demigod was out of sorts. He truly was at a loss for words, like he'd just lost everything he cared about in one day.

"No, nothing makes sense here," Korg said. "The only thing that does make sense, is that nothing makes sense."

"Has anyone fought the Grandmaster's champion?" Thor asked.

Korg and Zoe looked at one another and shook their heads, until Korg suddenly remembered and snapped his fingers. "Doug has!" he turned to Zoe. Zoe raised her eyebrows. Oh right. She forgot about poor Doug. New gladiators come in here every now and then that it was hard to keep up with them, especially the fallen ones.

"Oh, right, Doug's dead," Korg said sadly, when he noticed his body slugged in the corner. Zoe looked over at it with grave eyes. "That's right. Everybody who fight's the Grandmaster's champion perishes."

"What about you?" Thor asked.

"Perishable rocks," he said, glancing down at himself. A pebble trickled down to the ground. "There ya go. Another one gone. Yeah, no I just warm up the crowd, and whatnot. Wait, you're not gonna face him, are you?"

"Thor," Zoe gasped in shock.

Thor nodded. "Yes, I am. Like you said, Zo. Through that arena is freedom. Fight him, win, and get the hell out of this place."

Zoe swallowed hard.

"And wipe that worried look off your face. I'm going to win you out of here," Thor promised.

"What?" Zoe nearly choked on shock that came up out of her throat.

Korg sighed, "That's what Doug used to say," he shook his head. "See you later new Doug."

"Come on, let's get some rest," Zoe said, "It's pointless now anyway," Zoe said, tentatively reaching for Thor's arm. Thor looked down at her when she touched him and she hesitantly stopped, pausing at him curiously. He must've been warn out from what he'd just endured.

Thor nodded, and moved passed her to sit against her wall, where the tick marks were and he leaned his head against it, looking upward.

Zoe chewed her bottom lip, and went to sit down beside him. "You can tell me anything you know that right?" she asked him.

Thor looked down at her, and offered her a light smile, still trying to be brave in all of this. Zoe scooted close to him, and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I'm just glad you're here, even under the circumstances."

"Well, it is nice to see a friendly face," Thor smiled down at her and patted her arm, letting her rest on his shoulder as she curled up against him. He sighed, "I did miss you too, Zoe Sawyer."

With the little one finally asleep against his shoulder, Thor continued to look up at the ceiling, lost in his own thoughts that seemed like they would perish on their own into darkness.

"Odin," he whispered, careful not to wake Zoe. "I bid you take your place, in the halls of Valhalla….where the brave shall live forever. Nor shall we mourn but rejoice, for those that have died a glorious death."

"For those that have died a glorious death," Loki said at the same time Thor finished his prayer.

Loki then materialized into Thor's view. Thor glared down at his brother's appearance in black and green.

"It hurts doesn't it? Being lied to? Being told you're one thing, and then learning it's all fiction?" Loki asked.

Thor reached for the stones and pebbles on the ground from Korg's body, and started to toss them at him. They went right through him.

"You didn't think I'd really come and see you? This place is disgusting," he said, glancing around him, until his eyes landed on the former agent of SHIELD. An evil smile spread across his lips. "As is that filthy thing sleeping on your shoulder. Thor," he tisked at his brother, shaking his head.

He threw another stone at Loki, this time harder as if he wanted to break him at what he said about Zoe.

"Does this mean you don't want my help, then?" Loki asked.

He tossed another stone through him.

"Look, I couldn't jeopardize my position with the Grandmaster, it took me time to win his trust," Loki continued to explain to Thor. "He's a lunatic, but he can be amenable."

Another stone was tossed straight through the God of Mischief. "What I'm telling you is, you could join me at the Grandmaster's side. Even your little human pet," he sneered at her. Thor listened to his brother, still staring at him. "The man's fond of her for whatever reason, what can I say?" Loki continued after a slight pause. "Perhaps, in time, an accident befalls the Grandmaster, and then…" Loki wanted to take over. Thor knew this to be true. He tossed another stone at him.

"You're not seriously thinking of going back, are you? Our sister destroyed your hammer like a piece of glass. She's stronger than both of us. She's stronger than you. You don't stand a chance. Do you understand what I'm saying to you?'

Thor's face curled into a scowl.

"Fine. I guess I'll just have to go it alone. Like I've always done," Loki said and that made Thor smirk. But when he looked at the floor he realized he was out of stones.

"Say something!" Loki yelled.

"What would you like me to say?" Thor said finally when he thought Zoe was going to wake up, but she was tired, and out of it, in a deep sleep. He was silently grateful that she was asleep because he was sure she'd try to break Loki's illusion for all the hurt he'd caused her in the past. "You faked your own death, you stole the throne, stripped Odin of his power, stranded him on Earth, to die, releasing the Goddess of Death. Have I said enough, or do you want me to go further back than the past two days?"

Loki's eyes glimmered at Thor's choice of words. He glared at his brother, and Thor glared at him back. Loki regained his self composure before he spoke again, taking in everything that Thor had told him.

"You know, I haven't seen this beloved champion he talks of, but I've heard he's astonishingly savage. I've placed a large wager against you, and the human tomorrow. Don't let me down," Loki said.

Thor looked at him a bit surprised. Why would he wage against Zoe too?

"Don't look so surprised," Loki said, and glimmered away. Thor looked down at Zoe, and she shifted slightly in her sleep, trying to get comfortable.

Korg suddenly ran in to kick him, "Piss off, ghost! He's freaking gone," he said with a shake of his head and walked away from them.

 **~*TR*~**


	110. Chapter 110: Thor's Hammer

**A/n: Formerly Titled Valkyrie.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own The Avengers or anything related to the Marvel universe. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 110: Thor's Hammer**

Korg led Zoe and Thor to the holding area that was adjacent to the arena, filled with a million people who have come to see these fights on Sakaar. Zoe walked along side Thor to the weaponry and the armor till they reached to a row of swords and spears all ready to be used for a fight. Already waiting for her at her station was her armor in a wheel barrel. She pulled out the mini-leather skirt she would wear that had plates on to protect herself from these fights. She had a helmet and everything, she just had to put it on.

"Here you go love," Korg said, handing Zoe's specially hand made plate of armor that would protect her chest.

"Thanks, Korg," Zoe said, taking it from the big rock man. She could remember the first time she held such a piece of metal. It was heavy. It certainly wasn't made for a human, but she'd gotten used to it, and she learned to hone her skills over time, especially in between fights. She had to survive. She had to protect herself somehow and she had to…. She just had to fight to stay alive. She looked over at Thor, feeling his eyes on her. She reached in for her plate of armor.

"At first I thought I was in hell," Zoe said to Thor, as she lifted the plate of armor and placed it over her head. It was copper tone, a little rusty here and there, but perfect to deflect blows, and light on her shoulders. "Soon I realized Sakaar was part of your universe, when other people, aliens, came from all over in starships, a glimmer of hope shined in me. I thought to myself that if I could win these fights, if I could work my way up to beat the Grand Champion, his beloved, and win, then I could have freedom, and go anywhere I wanted. I want to go home," Zoe said, looking at Thor with wide and child like eyes.

"Here," Thor walked over toward her and he helped her string up her armor on, piece by piece in every right place. "Sif would've loved you," he said softly to her. "You two share that fiery piece of passion inside your heart you still carry, the heart of a warrior."

Zoe smiled. "Sif sounds lovely."

"She is…was…" Thor sighed. "I'm not sure what's happened to her or anyone I've cared about now that Asgard has fallen under my sister's rule."

"You know," Zoe began once she felt the sadness that had slipped in between them. "We win? We can go to Asgard and defeat her."

Thor's face suddenly hardened. "No," he said, shaking his head, and placed his hands gently on her shoulders. "You're not to go near her. She's too dangerous for you, Zoe. I won't have it. The sooner we find a ship, the sooner I'm putting you on it and getting you out of here, are we clear?"

Zoe pressed her lips together and chewed her bottom lip.

"Please listen to me," Thor pleaded with her. "It is my job to protect you, and I am going to protect you until the day I die."

"Yuck!" Korg said suddenly, breaking Thor and Zoe's conversation. They whirled around as he checked out a weapon to give to Thor. "There's still someone's hair and blood all over this. Guys, can you clean up the weapons once you finish your fight? Disgusting sobs," he scoffed with a shake of his head, mulling about the weaponry.

"Thor! Wanna use a big wooden fork?" Korg picked up another weapon and handed it to him.

"No," Thor shook his head.

"Zee?"

"You know that's not my style, Korg," Zoe's lips curled into a smirk up at the rock man.

"Yeah," Korg shrugged. "Not really useful unless you're fighting off three vampires that were huddled together."

Thor turned to Zoe. "I really wish I had my hammer."

"I wish I still had my spear," Zoe frowned. "And my knives. My poor knives rotting away in the CIA's vault…."

Thor crinkled his brows at her. "CIA? Do I want to know?"

Zoe shook her head. "Not really."

"Hammer?" Korg picked up on that.

Thor smiled fondly at him. "Quite unique. It was made from this special metal from the heart of a dying star. And when I spun it really, really fast, it gave me the ability to fly," he said, voice so soothing like a lullaby about his hammer. Zoe couldn't help but smile at how fond he'd been of his hammer. She missed it too. And more importantly? She had missed Thor. Oh God did she miss him. It wasn't the same without him when he returned to Asgard. She understood why he had to. He had o imprison Loki for the crimes he committed against New York, for the hell he caused.

She could literally fall asleep to Thor's calm voice.

"You rode a hammer?" Korg asked, not understanding Thor.

"No, I didn't ride a hammer," Thor said with a shake of his head.

"The hammer rode on your back?"

Zoe sighed at Korg. Oh, Korg…

"No, I used it to spin really fast, and it would pull me off the… "

"Oh my God!" Korg exclaimed. "The hammer pulled you off?"

"The ground," Thor struggled to explain it to him. "It would pull me off the ground, up into the air, and I would fly. Every time I threw it, it would always come back to me."

"Like a shield," Zoe said as if reciting a memory. Thor didn't miss her soft tone of voice, nor the look she had.

"Sounds like you had a pretty special and intimate relationship with this hammer and that loosing it was almost comparable to loosing a loved one," Korg said finally and Thor tilted his head to the side, contemplating it.

"That's a nice way of putting it," he smiled at the tall rock man. Then his eyes seemed to have landed on someone across the weaponry and through the prison bars that kept all the prisoners fighters inside from getting out.

"I said they're mine," she snarled, reaching for her items across the bar top.

"See her, the one that put me here," Thor asked, and Zoe looked across the room to see a young woman, tall, slender, and mysterious, standing by one of the bars, dealing at the bar. She had a lot of war paint on her face and her hair was up in a high ponytail, and Zoe couldn't help but notice her big and bold brown beautiful eyes that stared back. There was something on her belt clip that Thor was seeking, some kind of device. Then Zoe remembered what this woman had on her clip. Zoe had one too. It kept you prisoner and would electrocute you if you did anything that the Grandmaster didn't want you to do, like escape.

"Yeah, Scrapper 142. She's strong and she drinks a lot," Korg explained.

"Zee?" Thor asked and Zoe shook her head.

"We're not exactly fond of each other," she said. "She doesn't get close to anyone. And she's very cold."

Korg nodded in agreement with Zoe. "Gotta watchout for those Asgardians, man. They are hard to perish."

"Asgardian?" Thor asked suddenly before he broke off into a run to go talk to her, but only got as close to the bars that could allow him to access the bar area.

"Hey! Hey!" Thor tried to reach her.

She only held the device in her hand, sending him a warning look.

Korg and Zoe watched apprehensively as he spoke to her.

"Do not zap me with that thing," Thor said. "I just wanna talk. Asgard is in danger."

Thor looked on her arm, markings that went up and down from her shoulder to her wrist.

"My God, you're a Valkyrie. I used to wanna be a Valkryie when I was younger, until I found out you were all women, of course. There's nothing wrong with women, of course," he said, realizing at how that sounded and Zoe dropped her face within the palm of her hand, shaking her head. "I love women. Sometimes a little too much. Not in a creepy way, just more respectful of appreciation. I think it's great that there's an elite force of women warriors. It's about time."

Zoe couldn't help but smile a little and lifted her head up. She crossed her arms and placed her foot out in front of her.

"Are you done?" she asked, stonily.

Thor frowned at her, confused at her response.

"Lord of Thunder, you're up!" the warden called out. "And where's the human? The Grandmaster wants to see you!"

"Please help me, I need your help," he pleaded with her desperation leaving his voice that made Zoe's heart break a little.

"Bye," Scrapper 142 said, and walked away from Thor.

His kingdom was going to ruins and this woman wasn't going to help him?

"Fine, then you must be a traitor or a coward because the Valkyrie are sworn to protect the throne!" Thor yelled at her that mad her stop in her trek.

She spun around and marched her way towards him till she reached the bars that separated between them. "Listen closely, your majesty," she said tersely. "This is Sakaar, not Asgard. And I am a scrapper, not a Valkyrie."

Suddenly a bunch of the Grandmaster's guards surrounded Thor.

"Bring him in for processing! And bring the human in for the Grandmaster, she will not be fighting today!" the warden hollered.

"What?" Zoe demanded with a shake of her head.

"And no one escapes from this place," she said darkly. "You're gonna die anyway, and so is your little friend," she motioned a chin nod behind Thor's shoulder as he tried to rip apart from the guards to get to Zoe, but they were taken away from the holding cell.

 **~*TR*~**


	111. Chapter 111: Hulk Vs Thor

**A/n: Formerly titled The Incredible Hulk**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Thor or anything related to the Marvel universe. Just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 111: Hulk Vs. Thor**

After being forced to change into proper attire, Zoe walked into the Grandmaster's luxury suite. It was filled with the golden ladies as his servants, his right hand woman, Topaz, and many others who were placing bets and wagers on the current fight in the arena between Thor and his beloved champion that everyone was anxious to see.

Two guards brought Zoe to the couch, the VIP area as he'd so eloquently put it that was long, white, tufted. She scanned the arena out the window. The bleachers were packed full of people, cheering, and waving flags. Puffs of green were being shot out and around the night sky. Many starships were hovering around, waiting for the exciting fight.

She was about to take a seat on the couch, until a familiar voice caught her ear. A smooth talking, manipulative voice that grated on Zoe's nerves that pricked her very soul in more ways than some. There he was, dealing with one of the Grandmaster's patrons. Tall, pale-faced, black greasy-like hair, and dark green eyes. His signature colors were emerald green and black. It took every ounce for Zoe not to make a scene in front of the Grandmaster's suite. She thought she heard someone talking to Thor the other night while she was stuck in the circular prison. Damn him, she thought acidly. No. She couldn't hold back. She wouldn't be Zoe if she did. She marched straight up to him and slapped him when he was finished making another wager.

"Loki Laufeyson," she snarled.

Loki's head had been turned thanks to her slap. It was a rather hard slap. One he hadn't felt since Thor's Jane had given him. He loosened his jaw, and gritted his teeth together, as his wagers fell into the palms of his hand.

"Agent Sawyer," he greeted, and looked her up and down. She was dressed in a golden gown that fitted her trained body like a glove. She could almost be mistaken for an Asgardian but she was too small. Still a puny human trying to play the plucky hero when she had no real power. A thought occurred to him that made him almost giddy. She had no real authority here whatsoever. How'd this young human get to Sakaar without her Avengers beside her? "Let me guess, that was for New York?"

Zoe smirked as two guards went to take her back from the demigod, but Loki held up his hand to signal them back. She scoffed with an eyeroll. Why should she be so surprised that he'd weaseled his way up here?

"That was for Agent Barton," she said. "But yes, also New York."

He chuckled. "I thought it might've been love. I suspected from the Widow, but you? I always thought you had a thing for the Star-Spangled man?"

Zoe was fuming on the inside.

"You _do_ love him," Loki smirked at her. "Did he ever love you back?"

Zoe swallowed a thick lump that had formed in the back of her throat as she stared at him. Of course Steve had loved her back. He'd told her a million times. Did she ever tell him? She just took off to go save Rhodey by Vision's beam. She honestly thought it would be one way to end up in Asgard. Of course, she probably could've just called Thor….or ask Jane to get Thor's attention…to find out where he'd been. But she had to save Rhodey's life, didn't she? She didn't want any of her friends to feel that kind of pain.

"He doesn't know you're here, does he?" Loki said. It wasn't really a question when he said it.

Zoe shook her head and it took every ounce of her not to tear up in front of the demigod. A God of Mischief no less. And Thor's brother.

"So," he grinned at her as she went to sit down on the couch. He followed her closely as he spoke to her. "You're on a shore leave. How'd a human like yourself end up here?"

"Self-sacrifice," the Grandmaster said suddenly, making the two look up at the golden dressed man with a single painted blue line on his lips all the way down to his chin. "She's a willing contender of mine, and I don't want to give her up just yet."

"But you told me that if I defeated your champion, I could have my freedom," Zoe said, pushing herself up to stand next to Loki.

"Ah, yes, that's true, but I can also revive your death at any time, kiddo," he said. "You're just too much fun to watch."

"Well, what about Thor?" Zoe asked.

"What about him?" the Grandmaster asked.

"He said he'd win my freedom too," Zoe replied.

"Only one of ya can win freedom. Two against one, ain't a fair match."

"So, I have no chance of getting out of here?" Zoe asked.

"You're not ready," the Grandmaster told her. "Sides gotta give everyone we find a chance, right?"

Zoe sighed, and sat down on the couch against the armrest, stealing Loki's beloved seat. Loki sat in the middle. A guard ran up to the Grandmaster and whispered in his ear.

The Grandmaster smiled. "Now, if you two can at least try to be civil and play nice for a moment, it's time," he said and walked away for a brief moment, leaving the two alone.

They glanced at one another with uncertainty. She really did not want to be in the same room as him. And she'd surprised herself by not tearing him up at this exact moment like she would have when she was first training to be an agent with SHIELD. She really had learned control over the last couple of years she'd been here, surprisingly, because if she was patient and if it was her time, she could have freedom. That's what the Grandmaster always told her.

"What'd he mean by that?" Loki asked.

Zoe shook her head. "I don't know."

"How long have you been on this planet?"

"Too long," Zoe said, and she sat down on the couch to stare out at the window beyond the arena and the crowd. She looked down as the doors opened up revealing a very new Thor.

The hologram of the Grandmaster suddenly appeared in the arena.

"Wow! Look at all of you! What a show, a night! Who's having fun? Please, I'm your host," the Grandmaster greeted everyone. "Big round of applause for our undercard competitors who died so gruesomely. Good sports. What a show! What a night! This is what you've come for and so have I," the grandmaster continued. Zoe leaned forward, listening to his booming voice that stretched inside the arena too. She was trying to figure this man out, what his likes and dislikes were. So far from what she's known about him is that he was really big into the gladiator sport. She was very surprised when he'd given her the option to fight for her freedom, and now she couldn't? She was only human. She couldn't have been _that_ good. Then again these beings weren't very smart in handling fights, although some of them were and she'd almost lost her neck, but something kept telling her to hold on. Freedom was right around the corner.

There was a wave of applause around the arena.

"And now, without further ado, it's main event time!" A louder response this time echoed from the crowd, shocking Loki at how big of an event this was on Sakaar. Zoe had heard it before. Being the one human being, she had some followers of her own.

"Making his first appearance, though he looks quite promising, got a couple of tricks up his sleeve. I'll say no more, see what you think. Ladies, and gentlemen, I give you…Lord of Thunder!"

The arena cheered for Thor, but Zoe turned to Loki with a puzzled look on her face. "I thought it was God of Thunder?"

Loki just shook his head and shrugged at her. Zoe pressed her lips to the side and looked down in the arena in hopes to see Thor. She hoped he was okay out there. Sakaar was a very new planet to both of them.

"Watch out for his fingers, they make sparks," the grandmaster added humorously.

She saw Thor out there dressed in gladiator armor and she turned to glare at Loki with a shake of her head. He was a changed man now. He had short hair just like hers, and he was ready to fight for his freedom with no help at all on his side.

"How can you do this to your own brother?" she shook her head.

Loki said nothing. He turned away from her hard eyes on him, and looked down in the arena.

"Okay," the Grandmaster continued as the cheering died down at his word. "This is it. Let's get ready to welcome this guy. Here he comes. He is a creature. What can we say about him? Well, he's unique. There's none like him. I feel a special connection with him," he said. Zoe frowned. Who was this creature he was so fond of? Then suddenly, Zoe felt it. The entire VIP room upstairs of the arena, shook. She gripped tightly onto the armrest beside her and she looked all around her as the members in the room looked a bit startled by the shake of the arena.

"He's undefeated, he's the reigning, he's the defending, ladies and gentlemen, I give you….the incredible….." he raged on, and then the doors burst open and a big green Hulk appeared throughout the arena. "Hulk!" Hulk roared very loudly, exciting the crowd, and most of the people in the VIP room that cheered for him and pupped fists in the air with their drinks in their hands, crying out in joy for the beloved champion.

Zoe couldn't believe her eyes at what she was seeing. "Oh my…" she said, mouth practically dry. She was in shock.

"YES!" Thor exclaimed excitedly. The crowd stopped for a brief moment. He turned toward the VIP room. "We used to work together!"

Zoe turned her head to the Grandmaster and then at Loki who'd muttered, "I have to get off this planet," he quickly got up from Zoe's side and was walking very fast until the Grandmaster stopped him. She glanced over her shoulder, smirking as Loki tried to leave the VIP room.

"Hey, hey, hey, where are you going?" he asked, pushing him back to the couch.

The Grandmaster took Loki back to the couch and sat him down beside Zoe again. Zoe stood up from the couch and walked over to the window, pressing her fingers on the glass as she tried to get a better look. So this is where Banner ended up. Her heart went out to him. "Bruce…" she whispered painfully.

"Hey! We know each other," Thor said, trying to get Hulk's attention back in the arena, waving his hand in the air with his weapon tightly gripped. "We know each other. He's a friend from work! Where have you been? Everybody thought you were dead. So much has happened since I lost saw you. I lost my hammer like yesterday, so that's still pretty fresh. Zoe's here! Zoe ended up here too! Very long story, but she's here pal, and we have to help her. She's under the Grandmaster's thumb," Thor pointed toward the VIP room. Hulk turned to look up at the VIP and saw Zoe, pressing her hand on the glass. She gave him a faint but relieved smile to see him that he was okay. Hulk looked back at Thor with a grunt.

"Oh don't give me that," Thor shook his head. "That was a long time ago. You remember why she had to, right?"

Hulk rolled his eyes and breathed out a heavy grunt, breath nearly covering Thor as he did. Zoe could see it and she bit her bottom lip worriedly.

"And Loki! Loki's alive!" Thor continued, trying to remember what else to fill in the big guy of what he missed. "Can you believe it? He's up there with Zoe. I'm surprised she hasn't knocked him out yet," he chuckled nervously. He waved at them as Hulk turned to see Loki and Zoe inside the VIP room. "Look who it is!"

Zoe turned to look behind her and saw Loki's face totally freaked. She'd never seen him so pale in the face before. It actually made her smile a bit to see him so scared of the Hulk.

"Banner, I never thought I'd say this. But I am happy to see you," Thor said, a relived smile was spread across his face.

"Hulk! Hulk! Hulk!" the crowd was cheering all around the arena, and the Hulk was listening to them and how they loved him here.

Zoe was slowly starting to see why Hulk never left Sakaar. The crowd loved him. When he left, he left inside the quinjet, hiding in Stealth mode. He'd left as Hulk, not as Banner.

"Banner! Hey Banner!" Thor tried again.

"No Banner! Only Hulk!" he roared at him and charged after Thor.

"Banner? What are you doing?" Thor stepped back slightly, on guard. "It's me." But Hulk was charging after him, and suddenly engaged in a fight with the God of Thunder.

"Banner, we're friends," Thor continued to try again. "This is crazy! I don't want to hurt you!"

Zoe wished she could go down there to help, but she was stuck up here. She'd let him know that Bruce was stuck like the Hulk. He'd been stuck like this since they tried to defeat Ultron. She could only imagine what Bruce would've felt if he'd been there for Ross's tapes at the damage caused in New York and Sokovia. Maybe it was best he'd somehow found himself here after all. But to hide under the Hulk like this forever? It tore Zoe's heart up and she was not going to have it. There were qualities she liked about Bruce too.

The Hulk suddenly threw Thor across the arena making the Grandmaster excited. "Here we go!"

Zoe turned her head to stare wildly at him. She'd already gone through this one, fighting her friends, she didn't want to watch it. She walked over to him. "You can't let this continue," she said, thrusting her arm out towards the arena behind her.

"I designed it, of course I can," the Grnadmaster simply replied to her.

Zoe let out a small whimper of defeat and turned around to watch the engaging fight between the Hulk and Thor.

Thor suddenly had Hulk on the ground with one of his weapons and the Grandmaster looked shocked. "What?"

Thor ran to him, and tried to get Hulk to calm down. "Hey Big Guy," he said calmly, lowering his weapons slightly. He took off his helmet to show him mercy. "The sun's getting real low," he said in a calm voice.

Hulk was breathing hard, but he watched Thor curiously and then heard the familiar words to him, and took off his own helmet.

"That's it. The sun's going down. I won't hurt you anymore. No one will," Thor promised.

But suddenly, Thor is taken by his legs and gripped tight within the Hulk's green fingers. He flew him back and forth on the ground very harshly on the ground. Zoe widened her eyes and dropped her mouth in shock.

"YES!" Loki jumped up excitedly, causing all heads, including Zoe's and the Grandmaster's to turn at the demigod's response. "That's how it feels!"

Loki then looked at Zoe, and the Grandmaster. "I'm just a really big fan of the sport," he sat down shakily and nervously ran his hand over the armrest.

She scoffed at him, shaking her head and turned back to stare at the fight between her friends.

"All right, screw it," Thor said, getting up from that ordeal. He pushed himself up and waited for the Hulk as he rushed back toward him.

Again they clashed swords and weapons with one another. Thor blocked another blow from the Hulk, and held up his big hand, pushing him back. "I know you're in there, Banner! I'll get you out!" he tried and roughly pushed against him with all his might, heels digging into the ground.

They wrestled and fought, swords clashing against each other, as Hulk hit Thor's chest, and then Thor hit back. "What's the matter with you? You're embarrassing me! I told them we were friends," he said.

Hulk somehow managed to get Thor onto the ground, and started punching him in the face.

Zoe watched with agony as it twisted her heartstrings. She pleaded for Bruce to be in there somewhere. "Come on, Bruce," she whispered to herself.

Then all of a sudden, at that moment, electric blue light formed within Thor's body, making him glow. The blue glow caught Zoe's eyes and she watched in awe as Thor got covered in electricity from his eyes to his feet. He jumped up and pushed the Hulk across the arena's floor, landing on his back.

"Thunder! Thunder! Thunder!" the crowd was cheering all of a sudden. Even the people in the VIP room were cheering, all but Loki, and the Grandmaster. She silently cheered for Thor…he was the God of Thunder after all.

Zoe smiled proudly at him. She may be proud, but the Grandmaster was not.

 **~*TR*~**


	112. Chapter 112: Old Hothead

**A/n: Formerly titled Old Foe. :)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Thor or anything related to the Marvel universe. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 112: Old Hothead**

Thor suddenly found himself on a large bed. He woke up groggily, and glanced around the large suite he was in. There was furniture, cushions everywehere. Everything was fit for a rather large beast like the Hulk himself. He sighed, and got up walking around to take a look a the place until his eyes landed on the green guy himself, relaxing in a jacuzzi tub? Thor thought it odd that he was still Hulk and has yet to turn back into Banner. Perhaps he was stuck? He'd ask Zoe about it, wondering if she had any idea, but she'd been taken to the Grandmaster's chambers and he was locked inside here with the big guy.

"Are we cool?" Thor asked, eyes landing on the Big Guy.

Hulk's head was leant back against the rest of the Jacuzzi. He just blew out a shrug, and Thor shook his head. "Hulk in a hot tub," he said to himself. "How long you been like that?" he asked.

"Like what?" Hulk asked.

"Like this. Big. Green. Stupid?"

Hulk scoffed. "Hulk always Hulk."

Thor walked over to the window, looking outside. It was afternoon, and the city was bustling with fury. Starships were attempting to go through one of the big swirling wormholes that suddenly crashed into smithereens.

He turned to Hulk. "How'd you get here?"

"Winning," Hulk replied.

"You mean, cheating," Thor smirked. "Were you wearing these when you won?" He pointed to his own obedient disk. Hulk looked at it curiously. "How'd you arrive here?"

"Quinjet," Hulk said, waving his hand in the sky like an airplane.

Thor watched with curiosity as he smiled. "Yes. Where's the Quinjet now?"

Hulk stood up out of the hot tub. Thor blinked at him as the water dripped off of him. "That's naked," Thor fumbled, turning around. "He's very naked. It's in my brain now."

"Quinjet," Hulk said, moving closer to the window.

Thor looked down and peered at the black sleek quinjet just sitting there in the junkyard. Hope! Finally.

"Yes! I'm getting us out of here. This is a terrible and terrible place. You are gonna love Asgard. It's big. It's golden. Shiny," Thor exclaimed.

Hulk had grabbed a pumpkin from his array of food, and he sat on the bed to dig into the orange pumpkin. "Hulk stay."

"No, no, no. My people need me to get back to Asgard. We must prevent Ragnorak," Thor said desperately.

"Rag-na-rah?" Hulk asked.

"The prophesied death of my home world, the end of days, it's the end of the…" Thor said but then he stopped. "If you help me get back to Asgard, I can help you get back to Earth."

"Earth hate hulk," Hulk said bitterly.

Thor frowned. "Earth loves Hulk. They love you. You're one of the Avengers. One of the team, one of our friends. This is what friends do, they support each other."

"You're Banner's friend," Hulk stated.

"I'm not Banner's friend. I prefer you," Thor said and then leaned into whisper. "Zoe prefers you. She thinks you're the best Avenger."

Hulk lifted an eyebrow at Thor when he spoke about Zoe. He remembered fighting with her to save New York. But he also remembered that she favored Captain America, like most people did on Earth.

"Zoe hate Hulk too," he grunted and bit into the pumpkin, spitting out a seed. "You and Zoe Banner's friends."

Thor scoffed. "I don't even like Banner. I'm into numbers and science and stuff," he mocked.

"Thor go. Hulk stay," Hulk said finally.

"Fine. Stay here. Stupid place. It's hideous by the way. The red, the white, just pick a color," he said, glancing up along the walls splattered with different paint streak marks. He started to head for the door.

"Smash you!" Hulk said suddenly, making him stop.

"You didn't smash anything. I won that fight," Thor said proudly.

"I smashed you," Hulk tried again.

"Yeah, sure, sure," Thor shrugged, waving an arm at him.

"Baby arms," Hulk teased Thor.

"What?" Thor asked.

"Baby," Hulk said again.

"Moron! You big child!" Thor growled at him.

"Thor go!" Hulk said.

"I am going!" Thor yelled back. He was about to go but then he was suddenly electrocuted by the doors as he'd tried to escape through them. It landed him on the ground.

"Thor go again!" Hulk chuckled, then his laughter died quietly. "Thor home."

Later that afternoon, Thor had curled into a tired slumber, but had reached out to Hiemdell to see what was going on with Asgard. He'd told him that he was evacuating Asgard, trying to save as many Asgardians as he could from his sister that was making her way inside the palace doors.

Hulk rough-housed with the Valkyrie, enjoying an afternoon off, though it was part of his training that he endured in for his fights in the arena.

"Thor sad," Hulk noticed suddenly when he came up to the demigod, sagging to the floor. He'd been playing with his obedient disc, trying to get it off of him, but it was no use.

"Shut up," Thor hissed at him.

"Thor sad," Hulk repeated this time louder, hitting him on the shoulder.

"I'm not sad, you idiot. I'm pissed off! Angry!" Thor yelled, getting into his face so that he was close to the Hulk, even though the Hulk easily towered over Thor. "I lost my father! I lost my hammer! Zoe's in danger," Thor said, watching Hulk punch his own pillow.

"Whining and crying. Cry like a cry baby," Hulk said to Thor.

"You're not even listening," Thor said, shaking his head. He kicked a helmet with biting anger riling through him.

"Don't kick stuff," Hulk scolded.

"You're being a really bad friend!"

"You bad friend!" Hulk counteracted.

"You know what we call you?" Thor challenged back.

"No," Hulk frowned.

"We call you the stupid Avenger," Thor said.

"You're a tiny Avenger!' Hulk yelled at him, tossing a heavy shield at him. Thor dodged it just in time and watched it roll around on the floor.

"What, are you crazy?" Thor exclaimed, almost at the possibility of getting killed by him.

"Yes," Hulk replied.

"You know what?" Thor asked, looking at Hulk. "Earth does hate you. Zoe hates you. She hates you right now so much, that's why she's not here with you, with us. Because you nearly destroyed her fallen fortress, her home."

Hulk's lip quivered at Thor's statement and his heart fell. He walked over to a corner and sat down on his big bed The room grew heavy. And Thor sighed, shaking his head.

"No," Hulk whispered.

Thor sat beside him. "I'm sorry I said those things. You're not the stupid Avenger. Nobody calls you the stupid avenger. You know, when you were first recruited, you were one of the first people Zoe wanted to capture?"

Hulk raised his eyebrows and slightly smiled.

"She wasn't ready though, my friend. She was still training to be a level seven agent," Thor reminded him.

Hulk nodded in understanding. "It's okay. Zoe really like Hulk?"

"She does. She even sleeps with a stuffed Hulk by her bed," Thor smirked.

Hulk grinned at Thor and Thor sighed. "You just can't go around throwing shields at people. Could have killed me."

"I know. I'm sorry. I just get so angry, all the time. Hulk always, angry," Hulk explained to Thor.

Thor nodded. "I know. We're the same you and I. We're just a couple of hot-headed fools."

"Yeah, same. Hulk like fire. Thor like water," Hulk said.

Thor smiled slightly. "Well, we're kind of both like fire."

"But Hulk like real fire. Thor like smoldering fire," Hulk said, making Thor chuckle.

That night, while peace was made between Thor and The Hulk, Zoe slept in the Grandmaster's chambers. She turned around in her bed, hand draped across her stomach. The Grandmaster was not to be found, and the bedroom suite was quiet, save for footsteps that could be heard.

She was lost in a dream, until she felt a pair of lips on top of hers. Familiar. Sweet. Apple pie. His scent steel and cool, fresh shaven. The kiss deepened upon hers, and when her eyes fluttered open, she realized that it was not a dream, and that it was real.

"Mm," she whispered heavenly. "Steve…"

He kissed her deeply, and pushed down lightly on top of hers in an aggressive way, falling under his spell. She was almost lost within the kiss until he did something that he wouldn't do to her unless she asked. She suddenly stopped, reaching for her knife underneath her skirt, she gently pressed her knife into her intruder's side. As she opened her eyes, she looked into the face that belonged to Steve Rogers, same old Steve with his brown leather jacket and sandy blonde hair with blue eyes, but his mannerisms were different.

"You're not Steve," she snarled, gripping his shoulder, trying to push him away from her.

He chuckled, and then materialized back into Loki. She shoved him off of her.

"Ugh," she wiped her mouth and got up from her bed. "You arrogant asshole. Ugh. What the hell? Got a death wish?"

"Ha," he said as his chuckle died down. "As if you can kill me."

"Seriously," Zoe shivered and shook her head, gripping her knife tight. She felt like she'd just been screwed with her mind again.

"Ah, the look on your face," Loki chuckled.

"You get a kick out of torturing people, don't you?"

"Um, yeah, kind of goes with the job description of being, well, me," Loki smirked at her.

She shook her head and continuously wiped her mouth. "Ugh," she bemoaned, wrinkling her nose in pure disgust. "I think I'm going to have to wash my mouth out with soap. What are you even doing here?"

"I just wanted to see if you were okay," Loki said.

Zoe tilted her head to the side, totally confused and flabbergasted. "Wait a minute, did I just hear you right?"

"Why so shocked?" Loki asked.

"Um, maybe because last time you tried to throw me about sixteen thousand feet inside a circular container," Zoe said.

"And you survived!" Loki said with a grin on his face.

"With a little bit of help," Zoe said. She'd been with Thor, thank God, otherwise she probably would have perished. Loki twitched at the remembrance and mention of Thor. Zoe shook her head. "You killed my boss, my family. Don't think for once that I haven't forgotten. Why should I trust you?"

"Should you really trust Thor?" Loki asked.

Zoe narrowed her eyes at him. "Of course I trust him. Why shouldn't I?"

"He let me out in the first place," Loki said smugly.

"I know, he told me," Zoe said with a smirk across her face. "For a good reason. Too bad you didn't last. You really could have made a fine king one day, Loki, but I guess patience isn't really in your nature."

"Is patience in _your_ nature now? I felt your lips upon mine, yearning for that bloke, Captain America," Loki said that made Zoe's tummy flip-flop.

"What's your point?" Zoe sighed, crossing her arms over her chest, still keeping her knife tight in her hand.

"You're very close to the Grandmaster," his eyes cast down to the bed and Zoe scowled, rolling her eyes. "We're both really close to the Grandmaster. I'm willing to work on a truce to get us both out of here."

"And Thor?" Zoe asked.

"Maybe Thor," Loki said.

"And the Big Guy?"

"Now your pushing your luck," Loki said, fear flashing in his eyes and Zoe smirked at him seeing his cold feared look upon his pale face. He wanted to get out of here fast, he figured maybe the human could talk into the Grandmaster somehow.

"All right," Zoe said, even though she knew that Coulson was rolling in his grave right now, probably, but what choice did she have? The Grandmaster owned her ass. She wasn't getting out of here any time soon. And Loki was unfortunately right. She did want to get back home to Steve. "Got any ideas on how to get this off?" she pointed to the obedient disc on her neck. Loki narrowed his eyes on the disc, and thought for a brief moment on where he might try to get that off of her. Thor had one didn't he? Damn it. The human probably wasn't going to help him unless she got it off, and unless they worked with his brother.

 **~*TR*~**


	113. Chapter 113: Low Sun

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or Thor or anything related to the universe. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 113: Low Sun**

The next morning, Zoe got into her day dress. She had one gold dress for night, which was sheer, and one day dress which was crushed velvet. She wore her gladiator outfit (of which she liked best) when she fought others. Sometimes she wore the obedient disc, and sometimes she didn't. She wondered if that was the Grandmaster's doing because she was sure as hell, she'd be dust by now with those creatures she had to fight in the arena, especially the bigger ones because they wore them too.

She walked the palace halls that eventually led her into the main great hall, where most of everyone gathered for parties, for brunches, etc. There was a long buffet table next to the high windows, in which she caught Loki stealing some food with an arm around his back, leant over in his usual getup.

She sighed. Last night had been a blissful sleep. She took his advice and drugged the Grandmaster, so he would be waking within the afternoon.

She hated nothing more than to work with her former enemy. Steve would be totally livid if he ever found out she worked with the man that tried to rip the team apart.

But what choice did she have? Thor and the Hulk were prisoners. Hell, she was a prisoner. She had to survive. She had to find a way out.

"Okay," Zoe said suddenly, sliding up to Loki, who was picking at the different colorful fruits in each fruit bowl, onto his golden plate. "I gave him the sleeping potion, and found a way to get my obedient disc off," she said, eyeing the crowd around them.

It was quiet. Not many people were up yet, save for a few. She recognized the Grandmaster's right hand woman, Topaz off in the corner by the Grandmaster's throne, cleaning it, and getting it ready for him. She didn't see the scrapper anywhere. So maybe she was good to go find a ship to get out of here.

"How'd you manage?" Loki asked.

"It wasn't easy, trust me, but I figured he had to be controlling me somehow with something in his hand," Zoe said. "Took me all night to find it, so forgive me if I'm in a bit of a foul mood this morning."

"I knew you had it in you, pet," Loki chuckled.

Zoe balled up a fist and punched his shoulder to keep his voice down. "Do not call me that. I am not your pet."

"All right," he said with a sigh. "I'll keep this place occupied, hopefully the Grandmaster too whenever he wakes up, while you go find the ship. Once you find it, signal me," he said, placing a signal device in Zoe's hand. She looked down at it with uncertainty. "And we'll get out of here, far away when no one can ever reach us."

Zoe listened to what Loki was saying and then realized maybe this wasn't the best plan after all. "I don't know how I feel about this Loki…." she said uneasily.

"You _do_ want out of here don't you?" Loki asked her.

Zoe nodded.

"Then go find us a ship," Loki turned her around and pointed her in the right direction. Zoe walked back down the hall, feeling his ice cold fingers against her neck, steering her in the direction that would lead her to a series of ships, hopefully.

Zoe drew in a deep breath, and she walked down the hallway, zigzagging her way toward the double doors that would eventually lead her outside. She reached for a cloak once she walked several ways down the market, stealing one from a clothes' booth tent. She wrapped it around her body and placed the hood over her head to keep herself igcognito. "I can't believe I'm doing this," she muttered over and over as she meandered her way through the streets of Sakaar.

The Streets of Sakaar were busy, filled with many different people, different creatures of either Sakaar or perhaps different planets, Zoe couldn't tell anymore. She finally found herself in the junkyard that she hoped Loki was talking about.

She'd seen this place before. When she tried to escape, she thought she'd escape here but several scrapper's and guards had gotten to her and captured her once again before she could even get close.

She finally made it.

The junkyard. But there weren't many working ships available. Had Loki just sent her on a wild goose chase? What was this place? Her eyes scanned the entire junkyard. She hoped Loki was joking. This couldn't be the place that Loki was talking about. She'd heard of the Grandmaster's other ships, ones that he'd taken many women on before and Zoe had no desire to be apart of that. None, whatsoever.

She frowned. "I think I missed a wrong turn."

"Quinjet," A familiar voice said suddenly, who'd stood next to her. She gasped and turned her head to see that it was Thor. Zoe lifted her hood to reveal herself to the God of Thunder, and she smiled widely.

"Thor," Zoe said.

"Zoe?" Thor turned towards her. "What are you doing here?"

"I guess we were looking for the same thing!" Zoe said with a laugh. "I wasn't expecting to see the quinjet here at all to be honest."

"I was," Thor said with a wave of relief that seemed to wash over him. "How'd you find out?"

Zoe cringed. "Please don't hate me," she said. "But, your brother, actually sent me this way….well, I'm sure he was mistaken because I was supposed to steal, well borrow a ship from the Grandmaster and get us out of here, actually. I was trying to get Loki to agree to help save you and the Hulk, but he's having post-traumatic stress disorders riling through him as we speak," Zoe laughed nervously.

"Serves him right," Thor said.

Zoe nodded. "Yeah. I'm sorry. Please don't hate me."

"Oh, Zoe, I could never hate you. You were just trying to survive this crazy world. Anybody could be influenced by my adopted brother," Thor said, and then pulled her in for a hug. Zoe hugged him back, and thanked him quietly.

"It's just…it's felt like so long that I've been stuck here, Thor. I know it's only been a year, but a year to me feels like a lifetime. I was stupidly desperate," Zoe explained desperately and looked up at him with crest fallen eyes.

Thor ran his hand gently through Zoe's short hair as she trembled within his strong arms.

"I know. Look, let's check out the quinjet, see if it still works, yeah?" Thor asked.

Zoe nodded. Together, Zoe and Thor walked up to the quinjet. She pressed the button to lower the ramp, just like it was yesterday. She'll never grow tired of the quinjet. She missed it dearly.

"All right. Come on, help me out here, Zee," Thor said, flipping on switches. Zoe smiled at him and placed her hand on top of his to get him to stop.

"I'm a little rusty myself, but let's see…" Zoe sat down in the chair in front of the controls and looked at everything around her. "Hmm, let me try….this," she placed her hand on top of the scanner and it lit up in different colors.

"Voice verification required," The quinjet announced.

"Zoe," Zoe tried.

"Access denied," the voice said.

"Zoe Sawyer?"

"Access denied."

"Level seven agent," Zoe tried again.

"Access denied."

"Agent Sawyer?"

"Access denied."

"Try Killer?" Thor suggested.

Zoe shrugged. "Killer?"

"Access denied."

"Damn it," Zoe cursed. "Kiddo."

"Access denied,"

Zoe balled up her fists tight. "I'm gunna kill him."

"I'll try," Thor said with a slight smile on his face. Zoe waved her hand as if to have at it.

"Thor," Thor said.

"Access denied,"

"Thor, Son of Odin,"

"Access denied,"

"I think it's broken," Zoe mumbled.

"God of Thunder,"

"Access denied,"

"Strongest Avenger,"

"Access denied."

Zoe's eyes strained at this.

"Strongest Avenger!" Thor practically yelled into it again.

"Access denied!"

"Damn you, stark," Thor sighed, and then rolled his eyes. "Point break."

"Welcome, Point Break."

"Eowyn," Zoe said.

"Welcome, Eowyn," the woman stated.

Zoe smiled and Thor shook his head at her.

Suddenly, the Hulk crashed into the quinjet, and startled Thor and Zoe. They turned around only to see the Hulk enraged. "Friend, stay!"

He started to smash and break things, but Thor tried to get him to stop. Zoe stepped backwards, not wanting to get in the way of the Hulk.

"Stay!"

"Stop breaking everything!" Thor cried out to him.

Zoe watched with wide child like eyes, heart pounding in her chest. She leaned against the controls so much that suddenly a message popped up on screen to reveal Natasha. Zoe's heart warmed when she heard her voice and she turned to see the redhead talking to the Hulk.

"Nice work, big guy. We don't know where Ultron's headed, but you're going very high, very fast," Natasha's voice seemed to have calmed the Hulk down. Zoe's eyes danced back and forth between the Hulk and Natasha on screen. Oh. Right. They never found Ultron. He was still out there somewhere. Thor pulled Zoe out of the way so that the Hulk could see her. "So, I need you to help me out okay? I need you to…"

"No, no Banner!" Hulk cried as he cowered into a cradle position on the floor and started to change out of Hulk form, out of green and into human form again.

Thor rushed to his side, and knelt down, while Zoe went in search for clothes on the quinjet.

"Banner. Hey, hey, hey. You all right, Banner? Sun's going down. Sun's going down," Thor said calmly as Zoe watched worriedly over her shoulder while she panicked, frantically in search for clothes for him. "That's it, breathe. I won't hurt you. Sun's going down."

"Thor?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah," Thor nodded.

Zoe finally found a pile of clothes in one of the compartments, and bundled them up in her hands. She walked over to him hesitantly and stood by Thor's side, watching in complete awe.

"Who's the girl?" Bruce asked, not recognizing her.

"It's me, Zoe," Zoe said softly. "I know I look very different, but um, that's because I'm a gladiator. I know strange right? Um, a lot of this is going to sound strange to you….but uh…"

"Zoe?" Thor asked.

"Yes?" Zoe asked.

Thor shook his head. Zoe nodded. Right stop talking and let the man breathe.

"What happened to your hair?" Bruce asked.

"Some creepy old man cut it off. He cut Zoe's too," Thor motioned a quick nod over to Zoe.

Bruce looked at it and then at Zoe, eyeing her up and down. She squirmed underneath his gaze. "You two look good."

"Where are we?" Bruce asked. "How's Nat?"

Zoe wanted to quickly explain to him what he'd missed, but then she thought better of it. She had no idea what was up with Natasha now. Not since the split of the team.

"She's good, I'm sure," Thor answered for her. Zoe was thankful for Thor. She wouldn't know what to say and yet she was the one that was supposed to have all the answers.

She looked down at the metal floor beneath her feet, trying not to look at a very naked Bruce Banner.

"And what about Sokovia?" Bruce asked.

Again that question was for Zoe because his eyes were on the information specialist.

"Sokovia?" Thor asked.

"The city, Sokovia. Did we save it?" his eyes were burning into Zoe's skin.

"Banner, listen," Thor began.

"What?" Bruce asked.

Zoe's heart went out to him and she wanted to tell him everything but she didn't even know where to begin. Not without him turning into the Hulk again.

"Sokovia. Ultron. That was two years ago," Thor explained.

"What are you saying? I've been Hulk for two years?" Bruce demanded, eyes dancing between them.

"Afraid so," Thor replied with a nod.

His eyes went wide. "What the hell happened?" He asked, as he got onto his feet. Zoe thrusted clothes in his direction.

"Please?" she asked.

Bruce looked down at the clothes she'd found and he nodded. But he didn't put them on right away. He walked over to the front of the ship.

"Banner, there's something you should know," Thor said, after he took off to the control panel of the quinjet.

"Banner," Bruce said.

"Welcome strongest Avenger," the quinjet voice welcomed the Hulk.

Zoe and Thor glanced at one another.

"What?" Thor asked her.

Zoe shrugged.

"Ship's log," Bruce ordered.

The monitor screen changed to the Hulk, and the Hulk inside the ship that was thrusting and zooming into space. Bruce suddenly felt panicked.

"Thor, where are we?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah about that…." Thor began.

"It's bad news, bad news today," A voice boomed over the city. Thor and Zoe instantly knew the voice and Zoe froze. Shit. "Sakaar hear ye. Attention please. I have some bad news. My beloved exalted champion has turned up missing. As well as my beloved human!" the Grandmaster exclaimed.

"Oh no," Zoe said worriedly. The color on her face drained. Bruce quickly ran to the windshield of the quinjet to see the hologram of the Grandmaster in full view.

"Take to the streets. Celebrate my champion and my human!"

"Who's that?" Bruce asked.

"He kind of run's the place. You actually lived in his house," Thor explained tenderly.

"I did?" Bruce asked, still shocked and confused.

"I slept by him," Zoe swallowed hard.

Bruce crinkled his nose.

"Yeah, quite a lot's happened. You and I had a fight recently," Thor said.

"Did I win?" Bruce asked.

"No, I won, easily," Thor replied with a smirk on his face. Zoe smacked him on the shoulder.

"Doesn't sound right," Bruce said.

"Well, it's true," Thor said.

"No, it's not," Zoe said.

"Who's side you on, little avenger?" Thor whispered.

"Neither side," Zoe replied with a smirk across her face. She's learned her lesson.

"It seems that the criminally seductive Lord of Thunder has stolen him and her away," the Grandmaster continued.

"Seductive God of Thunder," Thor scowled at how the Grandmaster continued to get his name wrong.

"Oh no," Bruce shook his head. "This is really, really bad. Thor, Zoe, I think I'm freaking out. I mean how'd you even get here?"

"Uh, long story," Zoe cringed.

"Cliff note's version please?" Bruce asked.

"Cliff notes, right, well put on those clothes and I'll tell you."

Thor nodded. "Don't freak out, and put those on," he pointed to the clothes in his hands.

"These are Tony's clothes," Bruce said, glancing at them briefly.

"I know, come on," Thor said.

"Is he here?" Bruce asked them.

Zoe shook her head, wishing that he was because he'd know exactly what to do.

"No, he's not here. But listen, just stay calm okay? The sun's going down, the sun's getting real low," Thor said again as Bruce nodded and started to put on Tony's clothes. "Sun's going down…"

"Ready for the cliff note's version?" Zoe asked him and Bruce nodded. She got ready to tell him all about how she got to Sakaar in the first place. And she was sure Bruce was not going to like it one bit.

~*TR*~


	114. Chapter 114: Therapy Session 20

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avengers or Thor, I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 114: Therapy Session 2.0**

"The sun's going down real low," Thor started again when Bruce kind of freaked out at Zoe for how things went down on Earth. The team was separated and she was up here because she'd sacrificed herself to save Rhodey's life as best as she could with her sister's vision. Ava saw him dying. That was why she tried to prevent it.

"Did you ever think that maybe Rhodey's fall would've been salvaged because of Tony's technology and his suit that he made for him?!' Bruce had yelled at her and she cringed.

"I'm sorry! You know I'm not good with all this technical and science stuff," Zoe said. "That's why you guys are here to explain it to those who can't understand, like me, for instance. I mean had you been there of course I wouldn't have gone!"

"Uh, you didn't think to tell Tony?" Bruce asked.

Zoe cringed. "Okay, maybe I should have warned Tony…well, Tony was being a prat and a prick."

"Harsh…" Bruce said to her.

She rolled her eyes. "He called me an outlaw."

"Harsh too, but technically you are," Bruce reminded her. "And that S.H.I.E.L.D. only recruited you because of your ties to HYDRA."

"And because I was good at lying. I was a damn good liar. I could get myself out any situation when I was a teenager. I acted too. I wasn't really the best actress though," Zoe cringed. "I mean now that I think about it. I was terrible. I don't even know why I got that Maid Marion roll in the first place."

"Zoe?" Thor asked her.

Zoe looked at the God of Thunder and then she realized she was rambling again. "Oh, right, sorry. Anyway, it's just…I guess I just didn't want to feel so useless. Guess I wanted to prove it to people that I wasn't a liar, and that I wasn't HYDRA anymore. And that I wasn't that girl anymore, stuck in the past with all her demons, you know?"

Bruce nodded. "I know, but I also know you were trying to prove something to someone else too?"

Zoe wrinkled her nose at him. "Steve?"

Bruce nodded.

"Not just Steve, Bruce. The whole team. I was never super like you guys. I love that you can turn into this Hulk, and help people like you did before with New York, and I love that Bucky has super strength like Steve…"

"Bucky?" Bruce asked.

"Oh," Zoe chimed smiling. "You guys haven't met him! He's a super soldier like Steve and Steve's best friend. Really…kind of like you sort of….he's got um, issues…that he needs to take care of,"

"Don't we all," Bruce muttered.

"Yeah, well, anyway, I just don't know why you're upset when I was trying to save someone's life and that I was trying to do something with my life. I'd always felt useless, and never really useful, or used, I don't know," she sighed.

"Zoe?" Bruce had asked her. "You know that I care about you. I know we've had our differences in the past, but I still remember that bright-eyed pineapple fruit eating girl who just wanted a family and wanted to save the world with the Avengers who had a big crush on Captain America."

Zoe couldn't help but blush.

He had continued. "You are not a murderer in anyway shape or form. Your father was…he'd lost his mind. He used to be a brilliant scientist before HYRDA probably screwed him to hell, right?"

Zoe nodded slowly.

"We didn't find you in Strucker's lab for nothing, Zoe! What were you thinking? What would I have done? What about Ava? Or Nat? Or the others on the team? How do you think they'd feel loosing you? _I_ wouldn't want to loose you. You're like a sister to me, sister I never had," Bruce said, and Zoe wanted to well up. It was true. She loved Bruce like a brother and she was so happy that she could talk to someone like him who understands. "That said," he pulled apart from our hug. "It was stupid of you to go in front of Vision's beam like that!" he punched her shoulder and she couldn't help but slightly laugh. "Promise me you won't do that again?"

"Promise," Zoe said. "You know, I love our therapy sessions, always bring me back down to earth."

Bruce groaned suddenly and started freaking out again, "Oh right. Earth, which is what we're not on right now. Oh, man, oh man, oh man…."

Zoe cringed and looked to Thor for help. "Okay, maybe you should try the sun thing now," she said to him with a chin nod.

Thor nodded at her. "Okay buddy," he leaned in slightly. "Sun's getting real low. The sun's going down. It's getting really low. The sun's going down. It's getting real low."

Zoe nodded to Thor's beat of the lullaby in hopes that would help, but it didn't seem like it was working. Bruce was nearly hyperventilating. She chewed her bottom lip to the side worriedly and she looked at Thor with concern in her eyes.

"Would you stop saying that?!" Bruce chided him.

"I need you to stay calm," Thor stated.

"Calm?! I'm on an alien planet!" Bruce cried out, making Zoe wince. She shared a look with Thor.

"It's just a planet. You've been on a planet before," Thor said.

"Yeah!" Bruce cried. "One!"

"Now you've been on two," Thor chimed. Zoe widened her eyes at him. Not helpful. "That's a good thing. It's a new experience."

Zoe sighed at this. Where was Nat when you needed her?

"My neurons, they're firing faster than my brain can handle at the information. The whole thing is totally different this time. In the past, I always felt like Hulk and I had each other on the wheel, but this time it's like he had the keys and I was locked in the trunk."

Zoe frowned, pressing her lips together sadly when she listened to him. She always wondered what happened on Sokovia when he rescued Nat and how he became the Hulk again.

Thor looked at Zoe again before he replied back to him, "All right, well, you're back now, that's all that matters."

"Right. We missed you," Zoe said with a firm nod of her head in agreement with Thor.

But Bruce shook his head.

"No, it's not what matters. What I'm trying to tell you, is that if into the Hulk again, Banner may never come back," he explained. Zoe swallowed hard and hung her head low. She didn't want him to be the Hulk forever. She liked Bruce. Of course, she liked the Hulk as well, but she preferred to be with Bruce. "And we're on a planet that is designed to stress me out."

"We're not stranded," Thor said. "I'm gunna find a way to get us home."

"Thank you," Bruce said sincerely.

Zoe smiled. Home sounded really nice right now.

But how could she go home when the Grandmaster still had control over her? She could still die at any point and time. She only suspected she was still alive this long was because he was looking for her and was confident he was going to find her.

Zoe wasn't sure whether or not she should mention it to Bruce. She sort of managed to keep that part out even though she had told him that the Grandmaster managed to reincarnate her for her self-sacrifice on Earth. He was stressing out too much as it was, just by being on another planet that wasn't Earth.

"Not your home, though. Asgard," Thor said.

"What?" Bruce asked.

"Well, after we fly Zoe out of here, of course," Thor said, boring down into her eyes.

Zoe rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, Thor. You need numbers on your side, and you know it. I can help."

Thor sighed at Zoe and shook his head. "I can't protect you if I'm engaged in a fight with my sister."

"I will," Bruce said, scratching his head, confusedly. "Why am I protecting Zoe again?"

"Listen, my people are in great danger. You and I, we have to fight this really powerful being who also happens to be my sister."

"Okay, that's so wrong in so many…" Bruce shook his head. "I don't wanna fight your sister. Zoe shouldn't want to either," he glared at her. "That's family issue."

"No, she's an evil being." Thor said.

"I don't care what she is. I'm not fighting any more beings. I'm sick of it. I just told you. If I turn into the Hulk, I'm not gonna come back again. And you don't care."

Zoe raised her eyes at him. "Well, don't let him overpower you!"

Bruce scoffed. "Easier said than done," he leaned his forearms against the balcony's railings and Zoe looked down over the streets of Sakaar. All she knew is that she was ready to go anywhere but here. She hated it here.

"No, no," Thor shook his head. "I'm putting together a team. The Hulk is the fire. We're going to protect Zoe, and bring her home. She'll be protected alongside Asgard."

Zoe rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "Guys, it's sweet, but I don't need protecting. I've protected myself for a year now on this planet," Zoe said.

"And how many fights have you been in lately?" Thor asked. "Hmm?" he crossed his arms over his chest.

Zoe gulped and tried to remember. Not a whole lot of them, now that she thought about it more clearly. She didn't have as many as the Hulk did that's for sure.

"Uh…"

"Exactly," Thor said. "And I bet you that they were wearing that obedient disc, while you didn't have one so that the Grandmaster could control the fights and have you win. It's the only logical explanation."

Zoe frowned. "You're totally killing my thunder, Thor. Uh, no pun intended."

"None taken."

Zoe sighed, and ran her hands over her forehead, pressing her fingers into her skin to message her temples. "Okay, maybe you have a point. But still, even with those mini battles I fought, I still kicked ass, and you've seen me in action before. I can help."

"Barely," Thor remembered her falling and Steve picking her up in his arms during the Battle of New York.

"I held my ground," Zoe said. "For a good while, then we won."

Thor sighed. "Guess I have no choice to include you huh?"

Zoe smirked at him. "None whatsoever. I do like watching you try to protect me though. It's very sweet."

"Great one more on our team, and Banner can protect you during this fight…now we just need the Hulk," Thor said with a grin on his face.

"He is the fire of course, like you said," Zoe tilted her head with a nod.

"Like fire and water!" Thor built up his fist in the air. Zoe smiled.

Bruce frowned at them. "Wait, you're just using me to get to the Hulk."

"What? No!" Thor shook his head.

"It's gross. You're not my friends," Bruce shook his head. "All you cared about was getting your head on straight again," he motioned to Zoe. "I should start charging our therapy sessions."

"What? No, no no!" Thor and Zoe shook their heads at him.

Zoe shook her head and went to explain, "Seriously, Banner? That's what you thought I was doing when I was trying to get us back together?" she shook her head. "I _do_ actually prefer Bruce you know, even with all that science-y stuff," she waved her hand in the air.

"You do?" Bruce asked, like a lost puppy.

"I do," Zoe nodded. "That hug was real."

"Exactly! I don't even like the Hulk! He's all like," Thor said and demonstrated with his hands about what the Hulk usually does, balling up his fists to smash the air. "Smash, smash… smash. I prefer you, like Zoe said."

"Thanks," Bruce said dryly.

Zoe and Thor cringed, glancing at one another. While Zoe did like Bruce, she also realized that Thor might be right and they might need the Hulk on this one.

"But, if I'm being honest," Thor began slowly. "When it comes to fighting evil beings, he is very powerful and useful."

Zoe cringed at his choice of words. Maybe that wasn't the best approach?

Bruce rolled is eyes. "Yeah, Banner's pretty powerful and useful too."

"Is he though?" Thor asked.

"How many PHD's does the Hulk have? Zero. How many PHD's does Banner have? Seven," Bruce said.

"And how many PHD's does Zoe have?" Zoe asked, chiming in. "None whatsoever…I think I need to rethink my life," she sighed, placing her chin within the palm of her hand and leant her elbow on the railing.

"Fine. You don't have to fight anyone. But we're in danger here, so we have to move. And, Zoe, I'm afraid that means you're off the team," Thor said to her.

"What?" she exclaimed, leaning off the railing. "Oh come on!"

"That's just how it is, sorry," Thor said.

Zoe sighed and looked over to Bruce sadly. She wanted to kick some butt for being stuck here on Sakaar. Maybe next time, she'll think twice about sacrificing herself and telling Tony what her sister Ava saw in her futuristic vision of a death.

Thor suddenly leaned down and grabbed a towel from one of the racks in the market as they soon descended down to the streets. They definitely shouldn't stay long in one place, as people of the Grandmaster's palace were looking for them.

"What are you doing?" Bruce asked. Zoe looked over at Thor curiously.

"I need a disguise," Thor said. "I'm a fugitive."

Zoe looked around her and placed her hood over her head to cover herself up. Bruce saw this as well.

"I need a disguise," Bruce realized, searching through Tony's pockets and then found a pair of colored sunglasses to hide his face.

"You are the disguise," Thor whispered to him.

"What do you think?" Bruce nudged Zoe.

Zoe looked over at him as he placed them on his nose. Zoe let out a laugh. "What?"

"You look…" She shook her head.

"Like Tony?" Bruce asked, almost smiling at her. Almost.

Zoe started to cough within her bought of laughter and she shook her head. "Sure." She totally wished she had a camera…

"I'll be Tony Stark," Bruce said.

"What?" Thor and Zoe asked in sync.

"Yeah. Tony and the gypsies. Sounds kind of like a cool band name, am I right?" Bruce asked.

Zoe placed her forehead within her hand and shook her head.

"No, no, you're not Tony. You're Bruce Banner."

"Then why did you dress me up like Tony?" Bruce asked.

Thor pointed to Zoe. "You were naked," he said.

Zoe punched Thor's shoulder. "Thanks for selling me out."

"You found the clothes," he shrugged.

"Good point," Zoe muttered. "I wasn't sure where his was."

"Probably back in some underground cave on Sokovia," Bruce said to her.

Right. Zoe cringed.

Banner suddenly started to scratch down below uncomfortably and Zoe winced slightly at that. She looked away.

"What are you doing? Stop doing that!" Thor cried in a whisper.

"Tony where's his pants super tight!" Bruce explained to them.

"Ugh, I so didn't need to hear that," Zoe said, swallowing unevenly.

"Why are you being so weird?" Thor asked Bruce.

"I don't know. Maybe the fact that I was trapped for two years inside of a monster that made me a little weird," Bruce replied back, and his face suddenly flashed green on his side profile face.

Zoe tensed. "Bruce…" she shook her head, not in front of all these people walking around them in the market.

"Hey. It's okay. You're good. Calm down. Come on. Listen, we're going to Asgard, and you're not gonna have to think about the Hulk, ever again, all right?" he asked him.

Zoe watched Bruce apprehensively.

"All right," Bruce said.

Suddenly a thick flying piece of paint hurtles right towards Bruce's face, and another one at Zoe's. She nearly fell over into Thor, who caught her. She grimaced, and coughed through the paint.

"What the hell?" she demanded.

Thor looked all around him. Oh no. "It's a festival….one the Grandmaster promised would happen in order to try and find us. We have to move," he said at the noise that suddenly surrounded them.

"Where's Bruce?!" she yelled.

Thor looked around them, to realize that they'd gotten separated by the amount of Sakaarians smiling, and playing instruments people dancing all around with Hulk banners and green paint alike filing about the market place.

"Come on, let's find him," Thor said to her and ushered her forward to try and meander their way out of the busy crowd that was closing in on them.

"Banner!" Thor cried.

"Bruce!" she looked out the other direction, not finding him in the crowd. She was sure that Bruce was trying to call out for them too.

"Banner!"

He grabbed Bruce from the crowd, pulling him back next to Zoe, crouched against him. They moved their way forward with Thor protecting them through the crowd of fans, circling the loud market place. They looked at one another and then they tried to continue forward but then Thor stopped, recognizing Valkyrie. He moved another direction, continuing to take Bruce and Zoe with him, as she tried to keep up with them, trying to stay on the move.

Thor then knocked someone down. A scrapper. Zoe gasped, and found her heart pounding against her chest as he looked menacing at them until he was knocked down by an unlikely ally.

They turned to look at Valkyrie.

"Hi," Thor greeted her.

Zoe and Bruce shared a look.

"I was gonna do that," Thor said.

"Yeah, well, I did it first," she replied sarcastically.

"That's good. What are you doing here?" he asked. "I thought you were leaving."

"I got sidetracked," Valkyrie said with a small shrug of her shoulders. She looked at his strange getup with the towel wrapped around his head. "What's with the…" she moved her finger around, circling his face.

"It's my disguise," Thor replied proudly.

"But I can see your face," she said.

Thor covered his face, "Not when I can do this, you can't. You're hair looks nice. I like what you did with it. Change it? Washed it maybe?"

Zoe quirked an eyebrow. Smooth, Thor…she thought with a shake of her head.

She rolled her eyes and took Thor by the arm, and started to move in another direction.

"What are those things on her eyes?" Bruce asked Thor as they began to walk through the crowd again. "Are those people that she's killed? She's so beautiful…"

Zoe sighed, "Boys…" she said, shaking her head.

Valkyrie smirked at Zoe's comment and chuckled at her. "Who are these guys?" she aksed Thor.

"They're friends," Thor said.

"Who me? I'm Bruce," Bruce introduced himself.

"And I'm Zoe. I know we haven't really been properly introduced, to be honest I was kind of intimidated by you," she said. "Like Bruce said, you are very beautiful."

Valkyrie shook her head. "And here I was almost starting to like you, Zoe."

"Well, I like you," Bruce said.

"I feel like I know you," Valkyrie said.

"I feel like I know you too!" Bruce said.

as she dragged them back to the inside of her apartment.

They walked inside another building and inside the elevator. "Look," Valkyrie began. "I've spent years in a haze trying to forget my past. Sakaar seemed like the best place to drink and forget and to die one day."

"I was thinking that you drank too much, and that it was probably going to kill you," Thor said a little bit candidly. "

"I don't plan to stop drinking, but I don't want to forget. I can't turn away anymore. So, if I'm gonna die, well, it might as well be driving my sword through the heart of that murderous hag," she explained.

"Good," Thor smiled at her with a nod of his head.

"Amen sister," Zoe whispered at her. Valkyrie looked at Thor who shook his head and Zoe cleared her throat. "Or…not…" she sunk back next to Bruce. "Just kidding…" she turned to Bruce. "I really think I need to go home," she whimpered, thinking that maybe Sakaar has also made her a little odd these days. Bruce nodded at her and patted her shoulder gently.

They made it to Valkyrie's door. "Yeah, so I'm saying that I wanna be on the team. Has it got a name?"

"Yeah," Thor nodded. "It's called the Revengers."

She gave him a weird look. "Revengers?"

"Because I'm getting revenge. You're getting revenge…." Thor sighed, hating to pull Zoe into this, but she was right, they were outnumbered and he could use her help in some way. He'd think of something for her to do, something minimal that wouldn't get her killed in all of this. "You're getting revenge, Zee?"

"Definitely," Zoe nodded. "If she succeeds, that means she'll come for Earth next, and we cannot have that. So prevention early revenge…r…yeah….I really really need to get to home," she said, cringing. She held her head within her hands, shaking her head at her choice of words lately.

"Great," Thor said and then turned to Bruce.

"I'm undecided."

"Okay," Thor nodded with a smile.

"Also, I've got a peace offering," Valkyrie said, and opened her apartment door to reveal a chained up Loki.

Zoe widened her eyes at how he could've managed to get stuck like this. Whoa….

"Surprise!" Loki smirked at them.

 **~*TR*~**


	115. Chapter 115: The Revengerer's

**Disclaimer: I do not own Thor or the Avengers or anything related to the Marvel Universe. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 115: The Revengerer's**

Zoe was beginning to like this girl. She had Loki all wrapped up in chains against a chair, no way to break free. She crossed her arms, leant against her foot, and smirked at him. Thor on the other hand, picked up a bottle on the floor of the Valkyrie's apartment, and Zoe followed suit, finding another ride beside it. They tossed their bottles across the room, watching them bounce off his head.

"Owe!" Loki exclaimed.

"I just had to be sure," Thor explained tentatively. Thor looked at Zoe. "You too?"

"Yup," Zoe nodded.

"Hello, Bruce," Loki tilted his head to the side to look at the beast in human form.

"So, last time I saw you, you were trying to kill everybody. Where are you these days?" Bruce asked.

"It varies from moment to moment," Loki replied.

The Valkyrie was soon busying herself with unraveling an Asgardian sword. She began to sharpen it, loudly in Zoe's ears.

"Is that a…Dragonfang?" Thor asked, completely mesmerized by it.

"It is," she replied.

"My God, that is….the famed sword of the Valkyrie," Thor exclaimed in pure wonderment of his eyes.

"Sakaar and Asgard are about as far apart as any two known systems. Our best bet is a wormhole just outside city limits," she said at the second sound of sharpening ringing around the apartment. "Refuel on Xander, and be back on Asgard in eighteen months."

Zoe widened her eyes at that. What? She didn't want to be stuck here any longer than she needed to be. There had to be another way off this rock.

"Nope. We're going through that one," Thor said, pointing through one across the sky that looked like a huge black hole in the sky above them.

"The Devil's Anus?"

Zoe wrinkled her nose at the name.

"Wait, whose anus are we going through?" Bruce asked.

"That sounds really unpleasant," Zoe muttered to him. Bruce nodded in agreement with her.

"For the record I didn't know it was called that when I picked it," Thor tried to explain himself as Bruce studied it some more.

"That looks like a collapsing neutron star inside of an Einstein-Rosen Bridge," Bruce said.

"We need another ship," the Valkyrie said. "That would tear mine to pieces."

"She's right. We need one that can withstand the geodetic strain from the singularity," Thor added.

"And should have an offline power system that could also function without the on-board computer," Bruce said.

"So quinjet is out," Zoe frowned.

"And we're gonna need one with cup holders, because we're gonna die," the Valkyrie exclaimed. "So, drinks!"

"Quinjet definitely out, Tony failed to design them in that one," Zoe said with a small frown on her face, sad to see the little ship go.

"It's all right, Zo. We'll be home again, and you'll get to see Tony and yell at him for that then, you can run into Steve's arms again and tell him how much you love him!" Thor explained. "So long as the world isn't dying again, that is…"

Zoe smiled at Thor. "I think I like the sound of that, God of Thunder."

"This is why you're my favorite human," Thor grinned at her.

"Do I know you?" Bruce asked the Valkyrie. "I feel like I know you!"

"I feel like I know you too. It's weird," she replied.

"What do you say doctor? Zoe? Uncharted metagalactic travel through a volatile cosmic gateway. Talk about an adventure," Thor marveled.

Zoe and Brue glanced at each other. Zoe and Bruce turned to high-five Thor at the same time with his two hands in front of him.

"We need a ship!" they exclaimed in sync.

"There are one or two ships, absolute op of the line models-"

"I don't mean to impose, but the Grandmaster has many great ships. I may even have stolen the access codes to his security systems," Loki said.

Zoe glared at him and walked over to him, "No you haven't! You lied to me, you sniveling little liar. You told me this before and led me out into the junkyard!"

"Actually, to be fair, little one, I did nothing of the sort. You took a wrong turn," he simply smiled at her and she balled up her fists ready to punch him in the face. No one stopped her, save for a broken bottle that seemed to smash over his face. Glass shards flew about him and Zoe who jumped back from the shards of glass flying everywhere.

Loki closed his eyes and then opened them in annoyance at being hit.

"And suddenly you're overcome with an urge to do the right thing," she said.

"Heavens, no. I've run out of favor with the Grandmaster. Honestly, I did like seeing your miserable face around the palace," Loki looked over at an angry Zoe. "I thought me posing as your boyfriend would ease your mind. Forgive me for trying to favor an old friend…much better company than the Grandmaster…anyway."

"Old foe you mean," she snarled at him.

"Right well, no one gets to mess with you but me, so," Loki smirked at her and she rolled her eyes at him, shaking her head.

"What do you want?" Zoe demanded.

"And in exchange," Loki continued as he was saying. "For the codes and access to a ship, all I'm asking for is a safe passage through the anus. That's all I ever wanted," he looked at Zoe. Zoe stared down at him, trying to figure out Loki's play.

"You're telling us, you can get us access into the garage without setting off any alarms?" he asked.

"No, he can't," Zoe crossed her arms, looking at him squarely in the eyes. He'd sent her on a wild goose chase more than likely just for kicks and giggles to see what the Grandmaster would do to her no doubt.

"Yes, brother, I can," Loki said to Thor.

"Okay, can I just…." Bruce interjected. "A quick FYI, I was just talking to him a couple minutes ago, and he was totally ready to kill any of us. He sent Zoe on a wild goose chase probably hoping to get kidnapped by a Sakaarian or something worse…"

"Thank you," she smiled thankfully at Bruce for his input on Loki.

"He did try to kill me," the Valkyrie added.

"Yes, me too. On many, many occasions. There was one time when we were children, he transformed himself into a snake to admire it, and he knows that I love snakes. So, I went to pick up the snake to admire it and he transformed back into himself, and he was like, "Yeah, it's me!" And he stabbed me," Thor explained and Zoe widened her eyes and wrinkled her nose at the story. Poor Thor. "We were eight at the time."

Loki smiled at the mere memory racing across his mind.

"If we're looking for a ship, we're going to need to draw the guards away from the palace," the Valkyrie informed.

"Why not set the beast loose?" Loki suggested seductively.

"You guys have a beast?" the Valkyrie asked, almost impressed.

"No. There's no beast," Thor replied quickly with a shake of his head. "He's just being stupid. We're going to start a revolution."

"Revolution?" Bruce asked quizzically.

"I'll explain later," Thor replied to him and Zoe turned to Thor.

"You sure about this?" Zoe asked.

Thor smirked at her and gave her a firm nod. He was sure all right. It was a great way to keep the guards occupied.

"Who's this guy again?" Valkyrie pointed her thumb to Bruce.

"I'll explain later," Thor said.

"Oh dear…." Zoe said in hopes that this was going to work.

 **~*TR*~**


	116. Chapter 116: Grandmaster's Commodore

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the Marvel saga series. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 116: Grandmaster's Commodore**

Loki entered the code of the elevator, and they stood waiting for it to arrive.

"Hey, so listen, we should talk," Thor said.

"I disagree," Loki said. "Open communication was never our family's forte."

"You have no idea. I've had quite the revelation since we spoke last," Thor said, and caught Zoe slipping by him, but he extended his arm and caught her from leaving. She sighed and walked her way back to them.

The door opened and Sakarrian guards appear in their gear. Thor, Zoe, and Loki pulled out their guns ready to fire.

"Hello!" Thor greeted them.

"Hi," Loki said.

"What's up?" Zoe asked before they all shot their weapons at the guards knocking them all out, except Zoe's gun didn't have any smoke appear from hers and she frowned wondering why hers hadn't worked. "Is this thing on?" she asked, checking the weapon in her hands. Loki reached over and turned the safety off.

"You forgot the safety," Loki said.

Zoe gulped, and inhaled. "Right," she said, tight lipped, at how Loki just casually helped her figure out another worldly weapon.

"I honestly don't know why I'm with you," Zoe said with a small shake of her head as she glared at Loki, standing right next to Thor.

"I need a witness, someone to let the Avengers know that Loki meant to do some good this time," Thor said. "And well, you represent the Avengers don't you?"

"Uh…actually no I don't. Not since I've "died"," she did air quotes with her fingers to show Thor she didn't mean to say she actually died, "I am currently unemployed, unless you count gladiator as a title…I mean that would be kind of cool to add onto my resume," Zoe smirked up at Thor.

"And I don't know how Loki is doing good right now when we have him hostage…ish," Zoe said, talking to him as if Loki wasn't there. Loki rolled his eyes at her.

Thor and Loki walked right in while Zoe hesitated. "Zo?"

Zoe cringed and she twisted her hands in shy of the elevator, "I…I should've gone with the Valkyrie and the Hulk," she muttered, though she really didn't have any good choices. She had to go with one or the other.

"He'll be fine," Thor said. "Banner's in control."

"Sure he is," Zoe muttered.

Another guard appeared next to Zoe and she gasped in alarm, jumping, ready to shoot at him but Loki was too quick, quick enough to shoot him down on the ground leaving Zoe stunned.

"Odin brought us together," Loki continued. "It's almost poetic that his death should split us apart. We might as well be strangers now. "Two sons of the crown set adrift."

Another guard came out to get to Loki, but Thor knocked him out to the ground, while Zoe saw one at the corner of her eye gunning for him till she zapped him down with the trigger of her button. "I like this," she grinned.

"Thought you didn't want to talk?" Thor asked after he grinned at Zoe's admiration for the weapon in her hand. It was a nice protection detail that he thought she'd need for this type of war they were jumping into.

Zoe was about to follow Loki and Thor onto the elevator.

"What's the matter? Scared of a little flight jump?" Loki asked, quite amused at Zoe's fear.

"No," she scowled.

"I promise I'll protect you. And there will be no falling glass boxes here," Thor said, glancing a warning glare towards his brother who merely smirked but said nothing.

Zoe nodded and she tentatively took a step forward on the elevator and took a deep breath and let it out.

It'd been awhile since she'd been on an elevator. Last one was when she was with Steve. She wasn't sure which one was more terrifying.

"Here's the thing," Loki said once Zoe settled in. "I'm probably better off staying in Sakaar."

"That's exactly what I was thinking," Thor exclaimed.

"Sakaar?" Zoe asked with uncertainty in her voice. She couldn't see Loki staying in this God-awful place….then again Loki was kind of God-awful. But Sakaar? That was just too low, even for Loki.

"Did you just agree with me?" Loki asked.

Zoe leaned into whisper to Thor, "Is this how you guys operate when you're not playing Avenger?"

Thor grinned and patted the top of her head.

"This place is perfect for you! It's savage, it's chaotic, lawless. Brother, you're going to do great here."

"Do you truly think so little of me?" Loki had the face who'd just looked like his puppy got kicked and it broke Zoe's heart… a little….

"Loki, I thought the world of you. I thought we were going to fight side by side forever. But at the end of the day, you're you, and I'm me. I don't know, maybe there's still good in you, but let's be honest, our paths diverged a long time ago."

Zoe frowned at Thor's statement. She flicked her eyes to the look on Loki's face that deepened and her heart sunk lower.

"It's probably for the best that we never see each other again," Loki said softly. Loki hadn't missed on what Zoe was feeling. "Oh don't feel pity for me, little one. I don't need it."

Zoe swallowed hard and she shook her head. "No. None at all," she licked her lips and stared straight forward till she took a step closer to Loki and cringed slightly, closing her eyes….she hugged Loki.

"Whatever happened to-" Loki was cut off.

"I lied," she said, standing on her tip-toes and burying her face within his shoulder until he hugged her back.

She could feel Thor's shocked eyes at this peculiar affection from his Zoe, but the two had shared a small moment. A moment that Thor wasn't sure to think about this till she pointed a finger at him and narrowed her eyes. "If you tell anyone, I swear I will…."

Thor shook his head, and lifted a hand in peace. "Nope. Not saying a word. Of course you know that's how a wedge had formed between us last time…but okay."

There was a bit of silence between the three of them until Thor said, "Hey let's do get help."

"What?" Loki asked, perplexed.

"Get help!" Thor exclaimed.

Zoe narrowed her eyes, wondering what Thor was planning.

"No," Loki shook his head.

"Come on, you love it!"

"I hate it," Loki said through clenched teeth.

"It's great. It works every time," Thor smiled.

"No," Loki shook his head.

"We're doing it," Thor grinned.

"What's get help?" Zoe asked.

Suddenly Loki had an evil glint in his eye and a mischievous grin on his face that Zoe did not like.

As soon as the doors opened, landing on the platform that should hold the real ships of the Grandmaster's, Zoe was placed on the ground. Thor and Loki both pulled her arms up, "Now, fake an injury," Loki said to her.

"What?" Zoe asked.

"Pretend your dying," Thor explained.

Zoe cringed.

"Like that!" Thor whispered in excitement. "That's perfect! You can totally do this. You were one of those…actresses before right?"

Zoe's cringe just deepened as she tried to fake a leg injury, which wasn't hard to do considering her leg had been injured before by one of Ultron's robots.

"Oh, I really hate this," Zoe groaned as she felt dragged across the floor.

"Now you know how it feels," Loki smirked down at her and she glared up at him.

"Get help!" Thor cried. "Please! Our sister is dying! Please!"

Zoe tried to make a moan escape from her lips as if she were dying.

"Sounds terrible," Loki said.

"Well, when you die, you don't make a sound!" Zoe hissed.

"Be quiet!" Thor hissed back.

"Get help!" Loki shouted. "Help her!"

The guards turned around unsure of what to do, standing there questionably with their guns in their hands.

Thor and Loki picked up Zoe and threw her in the air knocking the guards down, one by one.

Zoe groaned and held her hand over her forehead, looking up as the brothers walked down to help her. She glared at them. "I hate get help," she said. "How could you do that to your own," she said in the midst of being pulled up by Loki. "Brother?" she dusted her self off and felt a little woozy like she almost fell but Loki steadied her until she focused.

"It was something to do," Thor shrugged.

Zoe couldn't help but shiver with the touch of Loki's gentle hands on her shoulders. He looked at Thor. "I have to agree with her. I still hate it. It's humiliating."

"Not for me, it's not," Thor grinned at him.

"It's humiliating," Zoe said, having to agree with Loki there.

"Which one's the ship she told us to get?" Thor asked.

"The Commodore," Loki said, pointing to the large ship in the middle. Loki, Thor, and Zoe went to walk towards it, till Loki sneakily illusioned backwards behind them.

"Though, I feel it won't make much of a difference…" Loki stalled…

Zoe narrowed her eyes and then turned towards where the voice was heading. She frowned at Loki's illusioned self beside them. Alarms suddenly went off inside the starship hold.

"Never for one sentiment, are you?" Thor asked.

Zoe swallowed hard, and chided herself. She should have known Loki was going to pull something.

"Easier to let it burn," Loki said.

Thor pulled an obedient disc from his pocket, and Loki widened his eyes at it. Zoe looked at it and smiled.

"I agree," Thor said.

He blasted Loki with the obedient disc and walked over to the fallen God. Zoe twisted her head around to the sound of alarms blaring through the hold. Guards were going to be here any minute.

"Oh brother, you're becoming predictable. I trust you, you betray me. Round and round in circles we go," Thor said.

"See, Loki, life is about growth. It's about change. But you seem to just want to stay the same. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you're always the God of Mischief, but you could be more. I'll just put this over here for you." He placed the device on top of the security panel.

"Anyway, I got places to be so, good luck," Thor said and started to head towards the Commodore when he noticed a saddened Zoe at the paralyzed Loki. He gently pulled her away from him, "Come on, we gotta go," he said soflty.

Zoe sighed and followed Thor inside the Commodore ship, walking towards the cockpit, dragging her feet. She sat down in the co-pilot seat. "I just…really thought he could change."

Thor glanced at her and nodded, placing a hand on her shoulder. "All right. I can figure this out. It's just another ship. Real reason why I brought you with me. You're good at this right? Barton taught you a little bit didn't he?"

Zoe sniffled, and looked down at the controls. "Little. I read some of it in the level seven package. Though, this is a bit different than the quinjet."

"We'll figure it out together then," Thor smiled.

Suddenly, the Commodore lifted from the ground, and Thor pushed forward, flying out of the building. Zoe winced, holding on for dear life.

"Loyal Sakaarians, Lord of thunder has stolen my ship, and my two favorite champions! Sakaarians, take to the skies. Bring him down. Do not let him leave this planet!"

It was the voice of the Grandmaster. Thor and Zoe looked at one another worriedly as pilots down below them rushed to get into their own ships. A couple of them got on the tail end of Thor and Zoe until all of a sudden they were shot out of the way.

"Good shot!" Bruce exclaimed in the Warsong ship.

"Open the doors!" Valkyrie said over the intercom.

Thor looked at the panel, Zoe reached over and pushed the button to open the doors. Thor tightened his smile at her and she nodded.

"I hope you're tougher than you look," Valkyrie said to Banner.

"Why?"

she popped the button open and a gust of air took Bruce out of the Warsong ship and flew him straight into the Commodore.

Zoe unbuckled her seatbelt and the door slid closed. She ran over to help Bruce up off the ground. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm good," Bruce groaned as she pulled him up. They walked back to the cockpit, where Zoe took back her seat.

"Shouldn't we be shooting back or something?" Bruce asked.

"Yes we should," Thor said and then flicked the intercom back on. "Where are the guns on this ship?" he asked Valkyrie.

"There aren't any! It's a leisure vessel!" she replied.

"What?!" Bruce, Thor and Zoe asked in sync.

"Grandmaster uses it for his good times, orgies, and stuff," she replied.

"I just thought they were myth," Zoe said, feeling sick to her stomach, pale in her face.

"Did she just say the Grandmaster uses it for orgies?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah, don't touch anything," Thor said and Zoe suddenly took her hands off the controls.

 **~*TR*~**


	117. Chapter 117: Ruined Asgard

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or Thor or anything related to the Marvel Universe. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 117: Ruined Asgard**

The Warsong ship suddenly exploded within the mess in front of them. Thor screamed out a biting, "No!" from his lips as his eyes widened at what he just saw. Zoe's heart stopped for a moment as well, having not expecting that move from one of the Grandmaster's other ships that were in hot pursuit.

"Wait, there!" Zoe said, pointing out at the windshield, as she gripped Thor's wrist so he could see that she'd spotted the Valkyrie, reaching her way towards the window on their ship.

Thor continued to pilot the ship with Zoe's help, meandering her way through the city and heading towards the Wastelands.

"Zoe?" Banner singsonged.

"Yeah, I see 'em!" She yelled at him, glancing behind her, noticing the Sakarrian ships, six of them behind her as she tried to push on further as much as a leisure ship would allow.

She zoomed across the ocean with the Valkyrie still on the windshield with Thor yelling at her. "Get inside!"

"In a minute!" she hollered back at him.

She suddenly maneuvered her way on top of the ship, and started running backwards towards the Sakarrian fighters behind them. Zoe, Bruce, and Thor watched her every move in awe as the warrior shot up in the air and jumped on the other ship and then started to tear the Sakarrian into pieces. Thor and Bruce shared a small look at one another.

"I should probably go help," Thor contemplated.

"Like she needs the help," Zoe muttered. Thor might've missed that from Zoe, but Bruce didn't.

"Here, take the wheel," Thor said, handing the wheel to Bruce.

"No. I don't know how to fly with one of these things," Bruce said frantically, shaking his head. "Sides, Zoe seems to be doing a pretty good job."

"Thank you," Zoe smiled.

"It takes two to fly the ship. You're a scientist. Use one of your PHD's," he said as he took off to leave Zoe with Bruce.

"None of them are for flying alien ships!" Bruce yelled back at him. Bruce glanced at Zoe worriedly. "You know what you're doing right? I mean you were trained for this kind of thing."

"Not alien technology," Zoe gulped. "Never had the luxury. I was strictly information specialist remember? Your guess is as good as mine. I'm just literally pushing forward here."

"Great," Bruce said.

"Can you see what they're doing?" Zoe asked, glancing behind her, trying to see how Thor and Valkyrie were doing.

"Eh, probably kicking, punching…" Bruce trailed off. "But we need to focus. We can do this. You and me, right?"

Zoe glanced at Bruce worriedly, but she nodded.

"Okay, come on. There's got to be a gun on this thing. That's your specialty, you like weapons and knives of protection. That looks like a gun?" Bruce pointed to one of the control buttons on the panel before Zoe could warn him of what that might be. To her it looked like something else, and when Bruce pressed the button, the ship suddenly morphed into a disco ball dance room. Music started blasting and lights spun about all over the ship.

"It's my birthday! It's my birthday!" the song repeated in the Grandmaster's voice.

"Yeah, this is much better!" Zoe glared at Bruce.

Then they saw Topaz's ship get caught in the middle. Bruce pressed another button and Zoe pushed on as fast as she could. "I gotta shake her off, Bruce!" she yelled at him. Bruce nodded, and glanced at all the controls on the ship. "Find something that looks lethal!" she yelled at him. Bruce pressed a button, but instead that just created more chaos as fireworks exploded in the air and confetti popped out.

"Speed up! Speed up! Get closer!" Bruce said to Zoe, as she accelerated the ship towards Topaz.

The fireworks exploded and hit Topaz over the water and she crashed right into the ocean.

"Yeah!" Bruce and Zoe exclaimed happily as they both high-fived.

Valkyrie and Thor finished fighting the other ships, and joined Bruce and Zoe not a moment later, leaping inside the ship.

Zoe glanced behind her and saw that Thor and Valkyrie were out of breath, but they were okay.

"Guys, we're coming up the Devil's Anus," the Valkyrie said as she looked up through the windshield as Zoe continued forward, taking a deep breath.

"Here we go!" she exclaimed and everyone braced themselves. Zoe sucked in a deep breath and gripped onto the control panel's edge until it suddenly sparked and shorted out, making Zoe jump. Bruce protected her, and pulled her in a huddle as they all felt ill trying to get out of Sakaar. All around them, the ship tore apart at an alarming rate.

"Hold on!" the Valkyrie cried out as everyone in the Commodore braced themselves, but suddenly exploded onto the ground at full force of space.

It was quiet for a brief moment.

And then darkness.

Until the ship landed in Asgard…

Zoe woke up, finding herself on the ground and in Bruce's protective arms. She blinked and then suddenly realized she was in Bruce's arms and quickly disentangled herself from him, tapping him awake. "Bruce," she said.

"What…" Bruce groaned until she said his name again. He found his glasses beside him and pulled them on over his nose to look at the stars in front of them. He was suddenly in awe, just like Zoe. Speechless.

"Never thought I'd be back here," the Valkyrie said.

Asgard. Zoe had always dreamed of Asgard ever since Thor told her about it. It was supposed to be so beautiful and magical she could already taste the waters from the waterfalls that he'd described in his tales of wonderment and peace.

But it wasn't anything like what he'd described. The closer they got, the more ruined Asgard became, and that broke Zoe's heart.

"I thought it'd be nicer," Bruce stated. "I mean, not that it's not nice. It's just, it's on fire."

Zoe's eyes wandered over the wounded soldiers on the ground and Zoe's heart ached even more.

"This is Hela's doing I take it?" Zoe whispered, glancing up at Thor.

Thor nodded grimly in reply to Zoe.

Everything around them seemed dead.

"Here," Valkyrie said. "Up in the mountains."

A holographic map presented on the control panel showed that there seemed to be some movement in the mountains of Asgard that remained.

"Heat signatures. People clustered together. Hela's coming for them."

"Okay, drop me off at the palace and I'll draw her away," Thor said.

Zoe, Bruce, and the Valkyrie glanced at each other incredulously at Thor's declaration of already going into fire with his crazy sister.

"And get yourself killed?!" the Valkyrie demanded.

"The people trapped down there are all that matters. While I'm dealing with Hela, I need you three to get off Asgard."

"No," Zoe said worriedly, not wanting Thor to go alone.

Thor nodded at her and gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"How the hell are we supposed to do that?" Bruce asked.

"I have a man on the ground," Thor said.

Zoe and Bruce looked at one another and she twisted her lips to the side. She hoped at least this man was reliable. Zoe didn't even meet the woman yet and she already hated her, related to Thor or not. Her message was clear: Death. And that was not okay with Zoe.

 **~*TR*~**


	118. Chapter 118: Rainbow Crossing

**A/n: Formerly Titled: Crossing the Rainbow**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or Thor. I also don't own the AC/DC lyrics either. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 118: Rainbow Crossing**

Zoe was sitting among a rock inside the Asgard hold. She'd been scanning the people's faces that were tired, scared, frightened, all of the above, but they still seemed to have that spark, that spirit within them to keep them going, to keep surviving. She admired them a lot.

Bruce walked over to Zoe, eating an apple. "Penny for your thoughts?" he said, tossing her an apple. He caught her out of her gaze, and lost thoughts that had her wondering how things have turned in such a way that they were now. She looked at the green apple caught in her hands and smiled at Bruce as he leaned against the rocky wall beside her.

"Look at them, Bruce," Zoe said. "Imagine if that were our world. What would we do?"

Bruce raised his eyebrows at the question and then looked from the Asgardians to her. "Same thing we always do. We don't give up. What would Tony do?" he asked and Zoe cringed.

"I don't think you want to know the answer to that," Zoe said.

"Okay….Cap then. You're very own Captain America. What would he do?"

"He would continue to fight," Zoe said thoughtfully. "He wouldn't lay down and roll over."

"Exactly," Bruce said.

"But," Zoe, said, glancing at the apple in her hand. "What if…what if there were no superheroes? Or monsters or magic or any of that stuff? What if we were all human….and it was just…plain war."

"We still don't give up," Bruce said. "It's not in our nature to give up peace and prosperity. It's our nature to evolve. We have to fight those who wish to control it, who wish ill on other people, who want to tear down resources, and build fear in the people so that they are docile and don't fight. I may not be a soldier, Zoe, but you are. You were trained for this sort of thing. You protect your people. If we don't nip Hela in the bud now, she will come after Earth next. She intends to destroy the 9 realms. That's according to Thor," Bruce said.

Zoe looked at him. "You did. You gave up. You tried to put a bullet in your mouth Bruce? How many people on our Earth want to do that? How many people want to kill themselves because of the way things are going? Because no one can see the light after the tunnel?"

"The Other Guy spit it out remember?" Bruce asked.

"No one gets a second chance like you do."

"Or you," Bruce reminded her. "Zoe…did you want to die?"

Zoe felt her heart twist. She wasn't sure what she wanted. She loved Steve and Steve had kissed her after she thought all was lost for them. But there was Sharon, who was everything good to Steve. She wasn't as tarnished as Zoe was. She was pure and just good, someone kind, someone that Steve can rely on and doesn't have to worry about being lied to. IF Steve wanted her, she was fine with that even though it would hurt her for a long time. And she wasn't sure if she'd ever get out of the pain, the more she thought about it. She'd always admired Steve. Always admired him and what he represented. But then there was Clint. And she'd crushed on him so hard too, but when she found out he was married…she got jealous, jealous that she was never going to have that. Steve was…an interesting kind of guy. He was older than her. A lot older. And Zoe? Zoe wasn't so sure anymore.

"Zoe," Bruce frowned. "Hey, look, yes, you've made mistakes in the past. But haven't we all? And what have we done? We've learned from them."

"I just keep making new ones," she shook her head.

"So we keep learning from them and move on. Right? You are one amazing person. You've kept strong through every obstacle you've faced. And you will not die on me, okay? I won't let you. HYDRA ties or not. You're not your family anymore, Zoe. Hell, you were trained by an assassin! And one day you'll be just as good as she is."

Zoe sighed and she shook her head. "I'm none of those things, Bruce. I mean I appreciate it, I do, it's just…before I found myself here, General Ross had a mission for me," she cringed as she spoke. She knew exactly who General Ross meant to Bruce. She felt his hard eyes on her but she continued anyway. She took in a deep breath, "And, that mission was to collect you and Thor to bring back to the Avenger's Headquarters. My sister's vision was right. I'd been planning to die. I mean Rodes was going down anyway by Vision's blast, and well…I figured I'd try to kill two birds with one stone…the only way I was going to get anywhere near Asgard, was to die. At least that's what I was hoping. And by some miracle, I found Asgard. I'm here. I ran into Thor and you, two of the very people I were supposed to capture and bring in. That split wasn't for nothing, Bruce. It was about so many things, and not just about Bucky. It was about your freedom that Tony thought was a good idea to snag away. He was going to lock you, Wanda, Vision, up at the compound….maybe much worse, I don't know, I mean, I died. But now…now I can't bring myself to do it. I fought for your rights on Steve's team. At least, that's what it looked like I was doing. I was going to turn you and Thor in," Zoe said. "So see? I am still my family. And before I died….Steve gave me a real deep meaningful kiss that meant something to me. And now I'm supposed to turn you and Thor in if we ever make it out of this alive, if we ever destroy Hela, and I don't think I can do that."

"So…don't," Bruce said.

"He got to my sister, Bruce," Zoe closed her eyes. "I don't know if I can ever get out of his grimy fingers."

"And you don't have any idea what happened after that?" Bruce asked.

Zoe shook her head. "It was lights out for me, well supposedly."

Thor came into the stronghold, making everyone's heads turn. He walked over to Bruce and Zoe.

"The Commodore is ready," Thor said. "Zoe?"

Zoe flicked her eyes to the side to see Thor walking towards them. Bruce got up from the wall, and Zoe got up from her seat. "Your Majesty," she smiled at him.

He held up something for her that was folded and had a silver breast plate and silver armor that had Asgardian symbols embroided on top of the folded fabric and arm guards.

"This is the strongest armor for female Asgardian warriors. I found this in the armory while I was searching for weapons. Sif wore something similar. I thought you might like to wear it. It will protect you."

Zoe's eyes marveled at the outfit, Thor had presented her. It gleamed with such grace in her eyes that she didn't even think she deserved it. "No," she shook her head. "I couldn't."

"I'd be honored," Thor said, unable to contain a smile from suppressing upon his face.

"Really?" Zoe's eyes lit up as she looked into Thor's eyes.

"Really," he nodded.

She threw her arms around him, crushing the outfit into his chest, as she hugged him tight. She felt Bruce's eyes on her as she hugged him. "Thank you. I'll wear it with honor and I promise to take care of it."

Thor chuckled. "I know you would, that's why I gave it to you. Now, suit up, she's almost here."

"Yes, you're majesty!" Zoe said, and Thor went back to talk to Heimdall. She smiled, gleaming at the armor and fabric in her hands. She turned to Bruce who had a look of exasperation on his face. She frowned. "Don't give me that look. I promise I won't turn you guys into General Ross. We'll figure something out."

Bruce shook his head. "No, I know you won't. It's not that, it's just…we're really doing this."

Zoe gave him a smile, and a pat on the shoulder. "Yes, Bruce, my friend, yes we are."

Heimdall turned to the Asgardians. "Asgard?" his voice bellowed out into the room. "She's here."

Zoe gulped, and clutched onto the armor in her hands. That was her cue to get ready. She shared a small look with Bruce and bustled her way to find a space to change and get ready for whatever was about to come.

~*Thor*~

Dressed in silver armory of Asgard with pride, Zoe hopped onto the Commodore that now had its very own gun stationed for a good fight. Bruce and Zoe were at the control's getting everything set up while the Valkyrie was talking to Thor.

"Your majesty," she said as Zoe lifted the ship up in the air, standing on the ramp that was about to close. "Don't die."

Thor gave her a tilted head look, and she smirked at him before she took off, "You know what I mean!"

She ran back to join Bruce, and Zoe, watching them as they sped off into the skies above them, while Heimdall continued to usher the Asgardians out of the mountains and through the rushing rivers and down to safety.

"We must keep moving! Get to the Bifrost!" Heimdall shouted.

Zoe led the ship over the skies, giving them some cover. The Valkyrie was changing behind them into her own special gear that Thor had found for her. Gloves, cuffs, boots, and a breast plate for protection. She placed her Dragonfang sword right inside her belt.

"I feel like this ship needs some tunes," Zoe said.

"Zoe, no," Bruce said with a shake of his head. "I doubt the Grandmaster has anything but his own voice."

"Doesn't hurt to check," she smirked.

She switched on the button in front of her, but all they got was the Grandmaster's singing voice again, but then she flicked it to another channel, and a rock song came on and she grinned instantly, till the Grandmaster started mimicking it, but hey at least it was an AC/DC cover. Tony would be proud.

" _Ahh, Ahh, Thunder, thunder, ahh, ahh…"_

Bruce rolled his eyes as Zoe seemed to be rocking it out, while Bruce took control of flying the ship and making sure they didn't crash into anything. He turned the song down out of pure annoyance not wanting to hear the Grandmaster's singing voice even if it was fairly decent.

"Thunderstruck…" Zoe mumbled as she attempted to sing it, then she frowned. "But…but that's a good song."

Bruce smirked. "Covered by the Grandmaster. Are you sure you and Tony aren't separated from birth?"

Zoe stuck her tongue out at him. "Funny. I could say the same about you, Mr. PHD."

Bruce scoffed, and he leaned back in his seat. "So, what do you suppose Thor and Hela are talking about?"

Zoe shrugged. "My throne is bigger than your throne? I don't know. I just hope Thor gets through to her you know?"

Bruce nodded. "Yeah. Whoa… Zoe? I think we're coming up on something…it's no longer friendly outside."

Zoe frowned, as she leaned forward to see out the window of what was in front of her. A wash of dread fell over her as she looked to the greying skies and dark clouds that fell over the rainbow bridge. The rainbow bridge was so shiny and magical, just as she'd imagined when Thor told her a few stories about his home a long time ago. It was so beautiful, but the thing, black massive dog did not look beautiful at all. And his army behind him? Even worse. They had to do something.

"Go back!" Heimdall was shouting, trying to get his people out of harm's way.

"Val?" Zoe asked, calling to the Valkyrie. She had just finished getting ready when she walked up to the control panel, hearing Zoe's voice and the human's look of concerned as they came across the gloomy look before them.

"I got this, keep going, lead us to the army," she ordered and walked over to the gun, getting it ready and hooked up.

"Go! Go! Go!" Valkyrie yelled at Zoe as she and Bruce punched it forward, zooming their way down the rainbow bridge over the Asgardians as they retreated under Heimdall's orders and care. Valkyrie fired at the dog, and the army that started to fall one by one with the showering bullets. But soon they found they were trapped and nowhere to go.

"Heimdall! The sword!" Skurge yelled.

Heimdall looked to the palace, where he could sort of see Thor, and Hela locked in a fight. His heart went out to him, worry washing over his face, but he had to get his people out of here, out to safety. He wasn't going to give up. He looked at the observatory. "We must cross now! The Bi-Frost!"

He yelled to them to keep pushing across the rainbow bridge.

Zoe glanced over at the looming palace worriedly, wishing she knew what was going on between Thor and Hela. She really hoped that Thor was all right.

Valkyrie was continuously showering bullets down the dog, trying to kill it off. But he wouldn't die.

"This stupid dog, won't die!" Valkyrie yelled back at them.

Zoe glanced over at Bruce as she looked at his pensive face. He was looking down at the mess below before he looked at Zoe's eyes. He gave her a faint smile. "We don't give up?" he asked her, balling up a fist, ready to smash hers gently. Zoe reluctantly balled up her fist, and she shook her head.

"Bruce, no," she said worriedly.

He shrugged. "I don't know a little birdy told me that the Hulk was your favorite Avenger."

Zoe twisted her lips to the side, "Even though I'm a fan of Bruce too?"

He nodded. She sent him a faint smile and sighed. She hit his fist with her own and he looked back at the worried Valkyrie. Zoe gulped, and took control of the controls.

"Everything's going to be okay," Bruce said, finally. "You want to know who I am?"

He asked, glancing at the Valkyrie.

"What the hell are you talking about? What is he talking about?" She asked, flicking her eyes between Bruce and Zoe. Zoe smirked at her.

He stood up and saluted to Zoe. Zoe pressed the button to open up the trap door so that he could leap out of the ship and land hard onto the rainbow bridge with a loud clink sound.

Zoe and the Valkyrie glanced over at the window, worriedly for his concern. "Come on Bruce, come on…." She whispered.

He was supposed to Hulk out during his air defying jump, but that hadn't gone right away as planned. The dog walked over to Bruce and sniffed him, making Zoe worry.

Suddenly, Bruce leaped into a big green monster, bulking out with huge muscles of arms and legs, tearing his clothes off, ripping into a tall creature almost as tall, if not taller than the dog itself. He jumped up and threw a mighty punch towards the dog, and they landed into each other's arms, crashing over the rainbow bridge into the water down below, leaving Zoe speechless.

 **~*TR*~**


	119. Chapter 119: Asgard People

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the series. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 119: Asgard People**

"Here, let me," Val said, rushing over to the controls to take over Zoe's.

"What are you doing?! You're gunna get us killed!" Zoe cried, as she got up from her spot, while Val took control of the Commodore.

"Relax, mortal," Val said, steering her way into the battle down below. "I got this."

But they were skimming and skidding alongside the rainbow bridge. Zoe braced herself and held onto the second co-pilot, watching the scene in front of her with wide eyes, praying she made it out of this mess.

The Commodore crashed onto the bridge, sparks flying everywhere. Val jumped to cover over Zoe and protect her from anything that might harm her until the ship came to a full stop.

Zoe opened her eyes to the battle sounds out front of the ship, and she patted Val to get up. "Val?" Zoe asked.

She shoved her awake, and Valkyrie jerked awake. "I'm good."

"Good," Zoe said. "Now what?"

"Now? We fight," she said, handing Zoe a sword for her own.

Zoe licked her lips nervously at the sword she was given and swallowed hard. "Fight. Fight those monsters out there," she said.

"If you don't, they'll come for your people," Valkyrie said. "And uh….they'll come for the Hulk."

Zoe smirked, "The Hulk's pretty strong."

"I'm beginning to notice," Valkyrie nodded, glancing behind her as The Hulk continued to wrestle the big black dog in the water, jumping back in. Valkyrie helped Zoe out of her chair and together they walked out of the ship, ramp lowering to the rainbow bridge. Together, they held their swords, and looked at each other. They both nodded and charged forward.

Zoe came in close contact with one of Hela's minions, dragging her sword right through its interior. She fell right on top of it and dug it right into its heart. She yanked out her sword, dark blood dripping from her first kill, and elbowed another that tried to get at her. She jumped up and ran at it. It ran at her, she collided with it, knocking it on the ground, rolling against the glass bridge, straddling it with her legs. She rammed her sword into its chest.

Someone picked her up from behind, and dragged her backwards, making her scream as he twisted her wrist, making her drop her sword that clinked to the ground. She tried to yank him off of her but he threw her to the ground hard on her back and closed off her air supply. She glared at the butcher that was about to kill her. She was trying to fight him off, prying his hands with hers but it was no use, until, a spear suddenly breached its heart. She looked into the monster's shocked eyes as he looked down at the sudden kill. Zoe eyed it curiously and watched him fall backwards.

"You're savior is here!" Loki cried.

Zoe gasped out, gasping for air, coughing. She turned on her side, trying to catch her breath. Only two kills and that'd made her exhausted. These monsters were strong, as strong as the ones she fought in New York City.

She looked up at Loki's presence and behind him was a big ship. "Did you miss me? Everybody on that board now!"

Zoe could have kissed him right now for showing up when he did. He sauntered over to her and held out a hand for her to get up. She looked at it cautiously. "You betrayed us…" she shook her head, slowly backing away.

Loki rolled his eyes. "I betray everybody, what makes you so special? It's in my nature, remember?"

Zoe gulped.

"More of them are coming," Loki said with a testy sigh that she wasn't going to go with him. "We need to keep fighting. We need you."

Zoe shook her head. "I can't fight them off. They're too strong. They'd crush me in a second."

Hiemdell walked over to them, and helped Zoe up off the ground. "Then you go with the Asgardians, stay with them, make sure they're protected. We would do the same if it were your people that Thor cares so much of." He looked at Loki. "Welcome home. I saw you coming," Heimdell said.

"Of course, you did, Zoe get on that Ark and start bringing in the survivors!" Loki ordered her.

Zoe glared back at the God of Mischief in wonder, while Hiemdell and Loki started to fight off Hela's monsters as more of them came onto the bridge. Zoe looked at all the terrified Asgardians that have survived this long, some of them families, mothers and children. Heimdell was right. She had to help them. She ran to protect them, and get as many of them as she could on the Ark, while Loki and Heimdell fought them off, including a straggler that was suspiciously covering his bald head that Zoe noticed, the tattoos gave it away, but she let him pass on the Ark. She had her orders.

"Everyone on that Ark! Come on! Come on!" Zoe cried out.

"Hey, missing something?" Valkyrie threw her, her sword and she caught it. "You know just in case," she winked at her, making her way through the monsters that were coming at them at a rapid pace.

Zoe looked over at Thor, as the lightning caught her eye. He was covered in lightening strikes, but he was wielding and being incredibly amazing and powerful and getting as many as the monsters that Hela had brought upon these people.

"Behind you!" someone cried out. Zoe whirled around but didn't have time to defend herself as the monster jumped on her. She rolled on the ground, hoping to get the upper hand, but his strength outweighed her and he was about to strike her down, but someone grabbed him off of her in one swift move and stuck their weapon into his heart.

"Get on the Ark!" Zoe yelled at the one Asgardian. Zoe frowned. He was just a kid. "Go!" she yelled, pointing at the Asgardian little one who ran up the ramp to Korg who was helping the others get on board with Meik. "Make sure there's no stragglers." Zoe said, pulling herself up and she looked at Loki, offering her a hand. She sighed and grabbed onto it. He yanked her up off the ground.

"What'd you say to that now?" Loki asked, smirking at her.

She sighed. "I had it handled."

"I'm not sure I like what the Academy teaches you on Earth on how to fight," Loki smirked.

"I've been out of practice," Zoe muttered.

"But the arena?"

"Didn't help. They were monitored," Zoe said softly.

Loki looked at her, feeling pretty down about how she was cheated out of believing she was strong, when in reality Zoe realized that she wasn't.

She was only human.

"Your late," Thor said, coming to join them.

"You're missing an eye," Loki said, as he and Zoe walked over to Thor.

They seemed to have killed most of Hela's minions, Korg, Meik, and Heimdell were getting Asgardians on the Ark to safety.

"This isn't over," Valkryie said after battling another set of Hela's monsters. She just finished slicing one with her dragon sword. She walked over to them. Zoe twirled her sword around and gripped it tight.

Hela, dressed in all black with her headdress that looked like branches or something out of a dark forest, walked onto the bridge, anger pulsing in her veins.

"Hey, Thor?"

"Yeah?" Thor said, looking at Zoe.

"No offense, but you're sister's a bitch," Zoe said.

Thor chuckled, "None taken. I think we should disband the Revengers."

"Hit her with a lightning blast," Loki suggested.

"I just hit her with the biggest lightning blast in the history of lightning. It did nothing," Thor said with despair.

"We need to fend her off until everyone's on board," Valkyrie said.

Zoe inhaled sharply, and tightened her sword.

"Why aren't you on that Ark?" Loki asked Zoe.

Zoe swallowed hard. "Like you care."

"Why do you think I came back?" Loki asked. Zoe looked up at him, swallowing hard.

Thor looked back at the Ark. "It won't end there. The longer Hela's on Asgard the more powerful she grows. She'll hunt us down. We need to stop her, here and now," Thor declared.

"What's our move?" Valkryie asked.

"I'm not doing get help," Loki said.

"Me either," Zoe shook her head.

Thor eyed his sister up and down, still approaching the long rainbow bridge, and then looked back at the palace and the Ark, waiting for the straggling Asgardians.

"Asgard's not a place. It's a people. This was never about stopping Ragnorak. It was about causing Ragnorak," Thor turned to Loki. "Go to the vault. Surtur's crown. It's the only way," Thor walked over to Zoe.

"Bold move brother, even for me," Loki said.

"Zoe, I need you to get on that Ark now."

"No, I want to stay here and fight with you," she said.

"She'll kill you," Thor said.

Loki hesitated and then turned toward them. "She can come with me."

Thor eyed his brother carefully and curiously.

"At least then she'll be safe, I'll keep her away from Ragnorak, you have my word," Loki said.

"Go then," Thor said.

"What about you? What about Banner?!"

"I'll keep an eye out! Just go!" Thor shoved Zoe into Loki's arms, and together they took off.

 **~*TR*~**


	120. Chapter 120: Ragnorak's Prophecy

**A/n: Formerly Titled Prophecy Ends**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Thor or the Avengers or anything like that. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 120: Ragnorak's Prophecy**

Zoe got into the co-pilot seat with Loki.

"You're not going to let me drive are you?" Zoe asked.

Loki glanced at her and then sighed, "This is madness."

"Agreed," Zoe nodded. "But, in order to defeat your crazy-ass sister, maybe the End Times aren't such a bad idea, so long as we get everybody to safety. Korg and Miek are doing a pretty good job of it. I can't believe I'm even saying this..." she sighed, and looked at him, giving him a nod. "It's up to you to end it. Loki," she said, and he looked at her, staring at her with his green eyes. Zoe swallowed hard at his gaze. "You were suited for this."

Loki nodded, and he pushed the controls forward, and zoomed off of rainbow bridge and towards The Asgard Palace.

~*TR*~

Zoe followed Loki into Odin's vault, and looked at her cave-like surroundings, standing at the top of the staircase. She was completely in awe and overwhelmed by the entire vault itself. She tried to keep up with Loki, even though her eyes wandered the room. "So, this is Odin's great Vault?" she asked.

Loki paused in his step, hands folded behind his back, and he pivoted on his heel slightly, his body facing her. "You've heard of it?"

"Odin's treasures," Zoe nodded. "After the Battle of New York, Thor brought the Tesseract home and locked it away in here. Many other items are here that include the Eternal Flame, Casket of Ancient Winters, The Destroyer," she watched him carefully as Loki faintly smiled at the mere memory of that when it touched down in New Mexico. "And of course, the Infinity Gauntlet."

"Well, the Infinity Gauntlet is just a replica," Loki said, shrugging his shoulders.

"It's still powerful," Zoe said.

"Doing a history paper on Asgardians are you?" Loki asked in a mere taunting voice. He started to walk forward again, "Come on, we don't have much time."

Zoe nodded and followed the Prince of Asgard down the steps and into the dimly lit pathway. "I was given an assignment a long time ago, to figure out the properties of each of the six infinity stones. Thor thinks something is coming. At least I know now it isn't your sister. The Tesseract's in tact and so is the Gauntlet. It's an impressive vault to say the least."

"The very least, are you done now?" Loki asked.

"Yep, I'm done," she smiled brightly at him.

Loki rolled his eyes, "Then let's go," he said, jogging down from the steps as fast as he could into the hallway that had the items on display. Zoe jogged after him, and nearly bumped into him when he slowed down and spotted the glowing Tesseract. Zoe glanced down at it and grimaced. "Loki, no. You're better than this. If you want my respect, and trust? You'll let it go," she said.

Loki swallowed hard, and nodded. Zoe gave him a gentle push and nudge forward out of his trance. He jogged forward to surtur's skull, picked it up, and ran to the Eternal Flame, where Zoe stood by his side, and watched him complete the task at hand. He chucked it into the flames and they burst high in the air. Zoe stepped back a bit, keeping a distance.

He stood with his arms out, ready to recite the end times.

"You know, this place kind of reminds me of the Cave of Wonders," Zoe said.

Loki paused, peeking at her. "What the bloody hell is a Cave of Wonders?"

"Aladdin reference, never mind," Zoe shook her head and cleared her throat. "Continue."

"Thank you, I will," he said with a nod of his head and continued to recite for the end of times. He concentrated. "With the Eternal Flame you are reborn."

The flames burst high, and Loki reached for Zoe, quickly pulling her away from the Eternal Flame, and turned to her. "You need to run. I'll direct Ragnorak, but you need to get the hell out of here, you understand me?"

Zoe nodded, and she leaned up to place a kiss on his cheek. He looked at her with utter surprise and forced her to move forward. She ran as fast as she could down the dimly lit pathway and up the stairs. She would get their ship ready and she would come back for Loki once Ragnorak had his sites on Hela and Asgard.

"Tremble before me Asgard!" Ragnorak rose up from the flames and ashes, breaking the Asgard palace. Rocks and debris fell everywhere. Zoe dodged as fast as she could not to get hit by anything. She dodged inside the palace from a falling pillar that landed in dust and smoke. Her heart beat quickened, and she panted, trying to catch her breath.

The entire place was going to crumble, and then they were going to die within it. Maybe not the best idea to with Loki after all, but she had to make sure Loki didn't take the Tesseract. It was falling right into her plans. She didn't like it, but she needed to know if it was still safe, still in tact, but now the palace was crumbling around her, and it would crush the Tesseract. Should she go back and save it?

She paused in the middle of her trek, wondering if she should go back to get it. She could have it safe in the Avengers' facility vault locked up or in the Raft locked up and underwater.

"Zoe? Are you mad? I told you to get out of here, let's go," Loki said, coming up to her side. She blinked at him and nodded. Together they ran like hell towards their parked ship outside the palace.

They hoped inside, and got it started up again, watching everything crumble to pieces around them while Ragnorak tore it apart.

"Did you tell Ragnorak-"

"Yes, and yes," Loki said in a rush, as he got the ship running. They lifted up and zoomed out of the fiery skies and crumbling beautiful buildings that once resembled many things to Asgardians.

"Surtur destroys Asgard, he destroys Hela, so that our people can live," Ragnorak said.

Down on rainbow bridge, Thor and Valkyrie watched Ragnorak destroy everything that they loved.

"I hate this prophecy," Valkyrie stated, glancing worriedly as Surtur destroyed everything in its path.

"So do I," Thor said. "We need to let him finish…" Thor was about to say but then he spotted the Hulk trying to fight Ragnorak. "No! Hulk!" he walked forward to him. "Hulk no! Stop it you moron!"

Surtur grabbed the Hulk from its horns and tossed him on the rainbow bridge, tumbling about close to Thor and Valkyrie.

"Hulk! Just for once in your life, don't smash!" Thor said, trying to reason with the Big Guy.

"But…" The Hulk said, glancing around him. "Big monster."

"Hulk! Let's go," Valkyrie said, pleading with him.

He sauntered over to Thor and Valkyrie and picked them both up in a hug. "Friends," he squeezed them tight and then dropped them. He looked at them both and a worried look fell upon his face. "Where's Zoe?"

Thor gulped, and swallowed hard. "She's…."

Valkyrie placed a hand on Thor's arm. "Safe," she said, glancing at him sideways, and then at the Hulk.

The Hulk then picked them up and jumped up towards the Ark, where they were met with Loki and Zoe. Zoe ran over to Thor and she hugged him. "I'm so glad you're safe," Zoe said.

"As am I," Thor hugged her back, and looked over at Loki against her shoulder. He nodded a silent thank you to him, and he nodded towards him.

Thor looked back at his people, tired and warn out. No sign of Surge anywhere, but he spotted Heimdell.

He walked up to ramp, watching Ragnorak tear up Hela and Asgard.

"I am Asgard's doom!" Surtur shouted angrily as he raised his sword and stabbed Hela into her heart, killing her instantly. She screamed in agony, but Zoe didn't care. She was dangerous and all she wanted was bloodshed and war and power. Something one too powerful for anyone to handle.

"The damage is not too bad," Korg began. Zoe looked up at her rock friend who was lucky to survive. "As long as the foundations are strong, we can rebuild the place. It will become a Haven for all people and aliens of the universe."

Zoe smiled a little, liking Korg's optimism that was sorely needed in the Ark.

Suddenly there was a violent eruption, his sword connecting to the ground, erupted and leveled the entire set of foundations, the very same that Korg was talking about. Everyone watched in utter horror as their home they've worked so hard to build get destroyed. Split into two.

"Nope, those foundations are gone now. Sorry," Korg said.

"What have I done?" Thor asked tiredly, sadly. Zoe felt and heard his pain within his voice and her heart went out to him.

"You saved us from extinction," Heimdall said, reassuring Thor he did the right thing. "Asgard is a place, not a people."

Zoe swallowed hard, hearing that had hurt her heart a little, but then she realized maybe it was better this way. For what was coming… Zoe walked up to Thor's side and she looked at him. He looked at her and she nodded.

"You saved your people, and you will most undoubtedly save us all," Zoe said. "I will help you no matter what, my king," she said, smiling, and knelt down to bow before Thor.

Thor's eyes traveled down to hers, and then within moments later, Heimdall took a knee, followed by Valkyrie, Korg, Meik, and the Hulk, along with the rest of the remaining Asgardians.

"You did well brother," Loki said, still standing.

Thor swallowed hard and nodded, taking it all in.

Leaving Asgard had been hard enough. Leaving it to ruin, to end of days, it was a lot to take in, especially for Zoe Sawyer, who was only human and got caught in the mess that she'd just witnessed. She still hasn't changed out of her battle outfit. She was still covered in muck and mess from her fights on rainbow bridge. She looked at the sword on her makeshift cot inside her small room. Each Asgardian was given a single space on the ship.

She pulled out her communicator that'd been stuck in one of her deep pockets, and she looked at it, a piece of SHIELD tech still with her.

There was a knock at her door and Zoe turned to face it. She placed her communicator underneath her pillow and went to open the door. There was an Asgardian dressed in dark blues, her blonde hair up in curls. She was holding a folded piece of fabric for Zoe. "I hope I'm not disturbing you," she said.

Zoe smiled at her and shook her head. The Asgardian had the most brilliant blue eyes Zoe had ever seen. "Not at all."

"I thought you might like to wear these for the ceremony. We could only grab what we could, and this was another outfit of mine. Many of us consider you and your friends great heroes, especially my king, I would be honored if you wore it."

Zoe swallowed hard. She was just going to wear her battle armor. It suited her.

"Thank you," she said, giving the Asgardian a formal nod.

"We could hem it if it's too big for you," she said.

"No trouble, really-"

"It should fit for a warrior like yourself," she said. "Even warriors can wear a face of beauty."

Zoe smiled.

"Thank you," Zoe said.

Inside the Captain's quarters, Thor continued to stare out the window into space. Asgard gone. Ashes. Dust. He may have saved his people, but he lost his home. He tried to bear Zoe's words to heart, and anyone else who tried to reassure him including Heimdall's wise words. He cherished Heimdall, and tried to let his words sink in. He glanced down at his bandages, and the scars left upon him from Hela's demanding war. He had one eye thanks to her. It probably could've gotten worse.

"It suits you," Loki said.

He turned around to face his brother, staring at him with one eye patch over his hollowed eye socket. He smiled. "Perhaps your not so bad after all, brother."

"Maybe not," Loki said.

"Thank you, Loki," Thor said sincerely, picking up a soap dish. "And if you were here, I'd give you a hug." He threw the soap at Loki, and he caught it.

"Do we have to hug now?" Loki asked.

Thor smiled at him.

~*TR*~

The Asgardian women had just finished cleaning Zoe up as best as they could. A light green gown fitted her to the best of their abilities with what remaining materials they had. She had to give them credit for being so resourceful. She wore her wavy hair down to the base of her back that showed with the long sheer flowing dress, in dark greens and blues that she gratefully wore in layers.

She walked down the halls of the ship to join the others at the main deck where the ceremony took place.

She stopped and stared at the window, staring back at her. It was so huge. She knew space was huge, but she never expected it to be so massive, so beautiful. She couldn't believe she was here.

"The flower of our people," A voice startled her, and she turned around to see Thor standing beside her. She swallowed hard and smiled at him. "My mother wore the same in her hair." He looked at the cuts and bruises on her arms and on her face that were in the process of healing.

"I know I never met her, but from what I read about her, I would have loved her," Zoe said.

"She would've loved you," Thor smiled at her. "The Tesseract?"

Zoe nodded. "I think it's safe. Surtur would've destroyed it."

"Good," Thor said. "And the Mind Stone is still with Vision?"

"As far as I know," Zoe said. "I do believe your highness, if I may, that you are late for your own coronation?" Zoe asked with a small smile on her face, trying to hide it.

Thor chuckled at her. "After you," he said, showing an arm to lead the way to the main deck. Zoe offered him to go first. He offered her the hook of his arm and she locked on his, smiling, feeling for the first time in a long time, happy. She walked with him to the main deck, where everyone waited for him. The Hulk, Valkyrie, Heimdall, Loki, and of course Korg was waiting for him on deck that's been set up for him that day.

Zoe let go of him and stood over to the Hulk. The Hulk smiled at Zoe and she smiled up at the Big Guy, standing by his side. Valkyrie turned to her king, "Your throne," she said.

Thor nodded as he walked up the small set of steps to his new throne, and sat down. He glanced behind him and looked at the Asgardians and Sakarrians. He smiled and lifted a hand in the air to wave at them. They nodded at his presence and he looked back at the space view in front of him.

"So, King of Asgard," Heimdall began. "Where to?"

"I'm not sure. Any suggestions? Miek, what's your home planet?" Thor asked, turning towards Korg standing in a corner that was holding what an appeared dead Miek under his arms.

Zoe frowned at the purple guy.

"Oh, Miek's dead. I accidentally stepped on him on the bridge, I've just felt so guilty, I've been carrying him around all day," Korg explained sadly.

Zoe tilted her head to the side curiously at him.

Suddenly Miek's head twisted and then popped out of its hiding spot, back to life. She raised her eyebrows at the little guy. Huh.

Zoe gave Thor a look, and Thor smiled at her.

"Earth it is," Thor said.

Zoe raised her eyebrows at him. Earth? They were going to Earth? She smiled. She wouldn't attest to that. She could go home. Could she go home? Even after the Grandmaster brought her back to life? Didn't that mean he owned her?

She bit her lip worriedly.

"Oh, when you get back you might want to buy a Hulk stuffed animal," Thor said. Zoe glanced down at him quizzically.

"Huh?" she asked.

"I kinda told him that you were his favorite Avenger," Thor smiled at her. "It was the only way to trust you."

Zoe glanced back at the Hulk, who grinned widely at her and she gave him a half smile, shaking her head. Oh lord. This was going to be interesting. How was she going to explain this one? She wondered if Earth would accept the Asgardians.

She already accepted them.

But was Earth itself ready?

~*TR*~

Zoe came back to the main deck, alone. She stared out at the stars and black canvas around her. She was going to miss rainbow bridge. It was so pretty. She was going to miss everything about Asgard, but at least the Asgardians and Sakaarians were safe.

Was the Grandmaster alive? Would he come back for her? Did he survive? There wee many questions rolling around in her head.

"So, Earth," Loki's voice echoed within the hollow deck. Everyone had gone back to their quarters, and continued to help others settle within their new quarters. He strolled down towards her.

Zoe turned to face Loki. "You touch anything…"

He chuckled, and held up his hands in defense. "Relax. I don't plan on doing anything. Might get trampled over actually."

Zoe smirked. "You just might. You are not their favorite."

"How do you think your friends will fair of your return?" Loki asked.

Zoe inhaled sharply and then exhaled. "I don't know."

"Well, if not well, you know where to find me. Having that drink," Loki said.

Zoe rolled her eyes. Of course.

"It better be Asgardian," Thor said, joining them.

Zoe and Loki turned to look at Thor. Thor smiled at them, and walked to join them, standing in the middle of the two.

"Do you really think it's a good idea to go back to Earth?" Loki asked Thor.

Thor glanced at Zoe, and she shrugged.

"Hulk doesn't seem to mind," Zoe said.

"Sure! They love me there," Thor gloated.

"Let me rephrase that, do you really think it's a good idea to bring _me_ back to Earth?" Loki asked.

Thor smirked at him and then patted his shoulder. "Probably not. But don't worry brother, I've got a feeling that everything's going to work out."

Zoe smiled, hoping that was true, but then her smile soon faded when a shadow cast over them. A huge ship, that seemed twice the size of the Ark floated slowly above them.

 **~*Avengers: Infinity War*~**

 **A/n: Don't forget to review, follow, and favorite! Thank you all for following my stories and reading them, I really appreciate it! I'm rewriting Infinity War. :)**


	121. Chapter 121: Infinity War

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the series. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 121: Infinity War**

" _This is the Asgardian refugee vessel. We are under assault, I repeat, we are under assault. Engines are dead, life support failing. Requesting aid from any vessel from within range…our crew is made up of Asgardian families, we have very few soldiers here. This is not a war craft, I repeat, this is not a war craft…"_

Seeing the array of dead Asgardians littered on the ground broke Zoe's heart more than she could bear. She was broken just as they were, unable to do much of anything at the captured hands of Thanos and his Black Order. Heimdall was suffering on the ground with all the other littered Asgardians everywhere and she was helpless, utterly helpless within the hands of Proxima Midnight, one of Thanos's children. She'd lost that fight pretty damn quickly trying to defeat them. She was only human after all. Zoe sighed. She should not have taken the deal with Ross. Did she really have a choice? And she wanted to find Bruce. He was missed back at home. She had to find Thor and Bruce. They needed to come home. But maybe it was too late. She glanced around her bleak surroundings at their destroyed Asgardian ship she once found herself looking out the window from.

She detested hearing the stench words spew out of Ebony's mouth right now that sent chills up and down her spine. "Here me and rejoice. You have had the great privilege of being saved by the great Titan. You may think this is suffering. No. It's salvation. Universal scales tipped toward balance because of your sacrifice. Smile, for even in death you have become children of Thanos," Ebony Maw, Thanos's right hand man had spoke eloquently in his words that probably held deeper meaning to him, but not to Zoe Sawyer. She watched with horror as one of Thanos's children stabbed his staff into the fallen Asgardian. Her heart broke a million pieces once more and she wasn't sure how much heartache she could take but she had to stay strong, stay strong for Thor and for Loki and for the Hulk.

"We will _never_ become children of Thanos," Zoe spit out, unable to keep quiet any longer. She gave Loki a sympathetic look. She saw the warning in his eyes but she couldn't help it any longer. She hated him and she didn't want Thanos to have any focus on Thor or Loki. "Not when his true nature is death!"

"I see we have a whipper snapper on our hands," Ebony mused as his evil eyes cast down at her. Zoe gulped, and squirmed underneath her captives. She'd been standing with the Black Order, right beside Loki, Proxima keeping her close. Loki sent her a nervous look. "Shall I kill this one?"

"Bring the child forth to me," Thanos said.

Ebony motioned a quick nod. The one holding her tight, Corvus Glaive squeezed her shoulder tight, making her wince and nearly cry out. Loki looked over as he brought her to Thanos. Loki moved slightly but Proxima Midnight, holding her staff's tip at him, glared at him, daring for him to move toward her at any rate. Loki held his hands in defense and stayed where he was.

"Zoe Sawyer," Thanos said after he looked her up and down. Zoe gulped and wanted to sink back, but Glaive held her in her place.

"You know me?" she asked, finding that hard to believe.

"I once recall an artist with red flaming hair and green eyes. She had the ability to paint realities and realms beyond her own. Sometimes they were better realities than the one she was from. She joined my reality. And when she learned the true nature in my kingdom of what was to become of the universe, she painted her reality and tried to get back home to warn her people. Fortunately my order got to her first, and killed her before she could utter a sound," Thanos said that sent chills down Zoe's spine. "Thus rejoicing within my care."

"You killed my mom," Zoe said, glaring at Thanos.

"I saved her," Thanos corrected. "From this reality you call real."

Thanos dropped Zoe to the ground like a trembling ragdoll. All emotion and tears that had been built up to this moment wrecked through her body as she continued to listen to Thanos's words out of his lips. Thanos picked up Thor up off the ground, and dragged him against his will. She looked up and saw Thanos dragging him. She picked up her legs to run after Thor, but Maw saw this and he waved his hands over a few scraps of metal from the ship and used them as wrist shackles holding her still. She tried to yank free. Maw shook his head at her. Zoe glared vehemently, fuming in silent anger.

"I know what it's like to lose. To feel so desperately that you're right, yet to fail nonetheless," he suddenly grabbed Thor. Zoe looked up, a tear streaked face with fear in her eyes as he picked on Thor next. "It's frightening. Turns the legs to jelly. I ask you, to what end? Dread it, run form it, destiny arrives all the same. And now it's here. Or should I say, I am."

Thor spit blood out of his mouth from Thanos's tight clutches on him before he spoke, "You talk too much."

"The Tesseract, or your brother's head," Thanos said, looking over at the God of Mischief. "I assume you have a preference?"

"Oh, I do, kill away," Loki said so casually that it made every bone in Zoe's body cringe and want to scream out.

Thanos set his gauntlet on Thor's head and as soon as Thor started to scream in pain, the power of the stone inside of the gauntlet's knuckles, glowed.

"Stop! Stop this madness!" Zoe yelled. "Loki, please, don't let him do this! He's your brother! My friend!" she cried out, begging to the God himself. Loki could barely look at her even so much as hear his brother's cries of pain that rang inside his ears. And then with another wave of Maw's fingers he sent another piece of metal to cover Zoe's lips to keep her from talking. She struggled within, trying to break free.

"All right, stop!" Loki shouted out to Thanos.

"We don't have the Tesseract," Thor managed to speak out against him. "It was destroyed on Asgard."

Zoe nodded indefinitely to help prove Thor's point.

But as the two brothers exchanged a quiet glance, Loki suddenly revealed the Tesseract from behind his back. Zoe's eyes widened at the blue glowing cube in the palm of Loki's hand.

"You really are the worst brother," Thor said.

Holding out the blue Tesseract in the palm of Loki's hand, he replied, "I assure you brother, the sun will shine on us again."

"Your optimism, is misplaced Asgardian," Thanos said.

"Well, for one thing, I'm not Asgardian," Loki began, which almost made Zoe crack a small smile. "And for another, we have a Hulk."

As soon as Loki said those horrifying words anyone wouldn't wish to hear on a known soul, the Hulk charged forward into Thanos, punching him in the face and backing him into a wall.

Black Dwarf went to interfere, but Ebony stopped him, holding out his hand, "Let him have his fun."

Thanos tossed the Hulk into the ground after a heated and well-fought fight.

Zoe looked at him worriedly and then at Thor and Loki, sharing a worried look with them, as it seemed like Thanos was playing their game quite well. Thor ran up to Thanos and tossed a weapon at him but it just bounced and clung onto the ground with a loud ping in Zoe's ears against Thanos's golden armor. Maw captured Thor into another metal snare trap just like Zoe's iron shackles against her wrists as she desperately tried to get out of.

"Forefathers, let the dark magic run through me, one last time," he said, and then suddenly the rainbow Bifrost hurtled through, catching the Hulk away from this torture.

"That was a mistake," Thanos said and then stabbed Heimdall through the heart with his weapon.

"No!" Thor cried out painfully and Zoe watched with utter horror as the pain continued to soar into her heart, watching everything from her captive, and helpless state. "You're going to die for that!"

Maw glanced over at Thor and waved his fingers over another set of iron shackles and tacked them onto Thor's lips to keep quiet. Maw placed his fingers over his lips and whispered, "Shh." Thor and Zoe looked at one another as tears streamed freely against Zoe's cheeks.

"My humble personage…bows before your grandeur, No other being has ever had the might, nay the nobility, to wield, not one but 2 infinity stones. The universe lies within your grasp," Ebony announce as he held the Tesseract in his hands, giving it to Thanos.

Thanos suddenly crushed the space stone within his fingertips. It was so simple, with his strength, all Zoe could do was watch painfully at how strong he was becoming. How strong he was already as he placed the stone inside the gauntlet.

"There are two more stones on Earth. Find them my children, and bring them to me on Titan," Thanos ordered.

Proxima bowed humbly towards him. "We will not fail, father."

Loki emerged from another part of the ship, hands folded behind his back as he walked out bravely to face Thanos, "If I may interject, if you're going to Earth, you might want a guide. I do have a bit of an experience in that arena. Miss Sawyer does too."

Zoe did a double take and glanced at Loki with wide questionable eyes.

"If you consider failure an experience…" Thanos presumed.

"I consider experience experience. Almighty Thanos. I Loki, Prince of Asgard, Odinson, the rightful king of Jotunheim, god of mischief, do hearby pledge to you my undying fidelity," Loki declared and then looked at Zoe, eyeing her to get up, and stand with him, but she didn't want to but then she saw it in his hands. Loki's pea-stick of a dagger. She bit her lower lip nervously.

He attempted to stab Thanos, but Thanos gripped him around his neck tight and Zoe glanced at Thor and then at Loki.

"Undying. You should choose your words more carefully," Thanos warned. He glared directly at Thanos as he watched helplessly within his shackles as he squeezed the life and air out of Loki's neck. Loki stopped struggling within Thanos's grip and Zoe watched as tears sprung out of her eyes at the more people Thanos killed in front of her and Thor.

"You will never be a God," Loki whispered his last breath before life left his body. Thanos tossed him on the ground. Zoe looked at the lifeless form that once belonged to Loki and felt her heart twist painfully in her chest.

"No!" Thor and Zoe cried out painfully as they witnessed Loki fall onto the ground, no more life out of the God of Mischief.

"No resurrections this time," Thanos said.

"Loki…" Zoe cried out breathlessly. Zoe's lips trembled at this thought and she glanced over at Thor's watered eyes.

"What do we do with the human?" Proxima asked.

"She knows about the stones and who has them. The human will guide you to Earth," Thanos said. "If she tries anything? Kill her."

Proxima nodded and took Zoe by the shoulders, grabbing her as she tried to struggle and get away from her until she was exhausted and could no longer fight her way out.

~*AIFW*~


	122. Chapter 122: Strange Encounters

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the series. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 122: Strange Encounters**

Zoe suddenly felt the engine slow down. She knew they'd penetrated Earth's atmosphere as it came to a slow stall and a heavy stop in the middle of New York City. She could see it outside the window. Ebony Maw and his comrade, Cull Obsidan stepped over towards Zoe. Zoe fell from Maw's icy restraints that had been pulling on her body, leaving her dry and exhausted. Proxima helped her up off the ground and shoved her close to Ebony's side. Zoe trembled beside him.

Zoe glared at the woman over her shoulder. "You'll pay for this," she warned vehemently. "My friends will tear you apart and rip you to shreds."

All Proxima did was just lift the corners of her dark purple painted lips into one of the coolest smirks Zoe had ever seen in her life.

Zoe could only harrumph as she was forced into the blue light to help become Ebony Maw's guide for Earth.

It was a feeling Zoe couldn't really describe as the beam lowered her down to Earth, but she was more than grateful to be finally home. Now, she just had to find a way to get out of Obsidian's and Ebony Maw's clutches.

She couldn't help but notice the slight damage the ship entering Earth's atmosphere alone of what it had done to her home. She was suddenly having a PTSD attack from when the aliens attacked New York City during her first real time in battle. She bit her bottom lip worriedly as the anxiety heaved inside of her. She tried to keep it calm as best as she could but she was getting angrier by the minute with these goons who think that they could just trample all over her home like this? Thanos was not getting away with this. Not after learning the fact he'd killed her mom. Zoe kept thinking about how her mother must've been able to create her own realities. She must've gotten the reality stone somehow; maybe a little bit after Zoe and Ava were born. Maybe her mother was working with her father to find a cure for Ava? And maybe somehow like how Bruce got to be the Hulk, maybe something happened with the reality stone and then that was how her mom was able to do such a remarkable thing.

When she was forced to walk forward by Obsidian's huge axe-like weapon, she stumbled forward, frowning and frowned even deeper when she saw Tony Stark standing next to an abandoned car. The debris was everywhere. Papers flew along the streets. It was as if Armageddon had hit.

She looked at Tony and he looked at her, staring at her through his infamous dark glasses. She could already feel and see the disappointment from him. His face was stoic, but she knew him underneath that tough exterior of his. She wished she could tell him that it really wasn't what it looked like and that she wasn't with the enemy. Bruce caught her eye and she smiled, feeling a bit better that she hadn't lost him too. She just couldn't bear to loose anyone else.

She must've looked awful though, with her soul tight in Ebony's grasp as she tried to fight against his restraints and tried to fight against the truth of everything her body could muster, but she was only human. And right now she just wanted to curl up in a ball and just cry.

"Tony Stark I presume?" Ebony Maw asked Zoe.

Zoe looked up at the tall creature and nodded guiltily. She had no choice but to tell them. She'd told Ebony each one of the Avengers from one of his torturous traps inside his ship on the way to Earth due to his microsurgery icy needles that were threatening to infuse pain inside of her and she felt that pain when she did not comply to Maw's wishes and questions of the truth. He would have tossed her out of the ship, having no need for a guide, but she pleaded mercy to save her life. The location of the next stone, which was with Vision. She could help locate him for him and one of those ways to help locate Vision was Tony Stark. Maybe that was the pain she was feeling inside her heart right now. Maybe all of it was coming up to fusion, ready to explode.

"Here me and rejoice. You are about to die at the hands of Children of Thanos!" Ebony announced. "Be thankful that your meaningless lives are now contributing to…"

"I'm sorry Earth is closed today. You better pack it up and get outta here!" Tony yelled back at Ebony Maw. He winked at Zoe. "But uh, you've got something of ours. That Earthling? Yeah, we want her back," Tony said.

Zoe felt her heart soar just a tiny bit, a tiny bit of hope etched into her glass heart she'd perfected over time during Ebony's torture on her. She wasn't really sure how to describe the pain she felt when he asked her about who he should be dealing with when he got to Earth. She didn't want to. She didn't want to feel anymore.

"Oh this thing?" Ebony asked. Obsidian yanked her close to him with its large weapon and placed the weapon right against her neck. She winced at the sharp edge against her skin, trying to hold off the pain once more. She tried to yank his arms off of her the best of her abilities. "Stone keeper," he looked to the man who looked a lot like a wizard with his magic orange orb like Mandela rings around his wrists that acted like his own shield. His monk friend had them too. "Does this chattering animal speak for you, and do you own her?"

"He can own me," Zoe mumbled with plead in her voice, as she tried to break free of her captive's grip on her.

"Certainly not. I speak for myself. But that girl is an Earthling from the looks of it, so technically she does belong to me. And, there's no trespassing in this city and on this planet," he said firmly, ready for action if needed.

"It means release the hostage and get lost squid ward!" Tony yelled at him.

"He exhausts me," Ebony sighed. "Do as he says and bring me the stone."

Obsidian nodded his big head slowly at Ebony's request and tossed Zoe across the street, nearly hitting her back against one of the parked cars, causing her to cry out in alarm as she flung across the street.

"Hey, do you want a piece?" Tony asked Bruce as Tony rushed over to help Zoe up off the ground.

"No, not really. But when do I ever get what I want?" Bruce asked his best friend. "You okay Zo?" he asked, and she nodded groggily, rubbing the back of her head at the searing pain running through her once more.

"That's right," Tony patted Bruce's chest after checking for anything else broken. All Zoe felt right now was a rush of adrenaline and a numb tingling feeling that probably couldn't be good for her self composure. "Been awhile. Good to have you back."

She clutched onto Tony's arms, trying to keep her balance and hold her strength as much as she had left. "Thank you, Tony," she looked over at Strange and Wong, two new friends, she'd hoped. "I'm Zoe Sawyer by the way."

"Doctor Strange, this is my colleague, Wong," he motioned a quick nod to the monk and Zoe smiled at both of them, thankful they were on their side at least.

"And what are you like wizards or something?" she asked, doting the orangey shields around their wrists that felt like a wave of flowing magic around them that kind of reminded her of Wanda's magic a little bit.

"Of sorts. I do prefer Master of the Mystic Arts."

"Duly noted," Zoe nodded, holding her head. "Ugh, I missed so much in two years," she groaned.

"Two years?" Strange asked.

"That's how long I've been off-planet. Long story," she shook her head.

"Hey Killer, you sure all right?" Tony asked.

Zoe took a couple of deep breaths but she nodded. "I'll live. I think."

"You're still with us right?" Tony asked.

Zoe gave him a dark murderous look and Tony backed off. "Wrong place, wrong time, Tony."

Tony sighed. "Same old, same old, huh?"

"At least this time it was for the right reasons," Zoe said with a small smile.

"I missed you old bee," he said, pulling her in for a hug.

She hugged him back, missing him as much as she missed Steve. "Me too…ah…" she winced when he had hugged her too tight.

"Sorry. You sure you're gunna be okay?"

"Thanos killed my mom," Zoe whispered. Tony took those words in and his head tilted to the side. He'd known something had gone wrong with her mother. Back in the day when her own mother was painting, team shield had asked her to team up with her husband to go on a mission. Somehow she got herself entangled with the reality stone and then she fell into that mess, got missing for awhile, then returned dead. It was a missing file that shield failed to find for their own keepsake. Jarvis was able to encrypt it before Ultron hacked into everything and stole their files. "I have to….I have to continue this fight," she said. "I need a weapon."

"Bruce?" Zoe asked, concernedly suddenly as she looked at the troubling green that was trying to come up onto his fleshy surface. He wasn't turning into the Hulk. She frowned.

"I just…need to concentrate here for one second. Come on man, come on!" Bruce struggled with all his might, trying to turn green and become the Hulk but for some reason he wasn't.

"Where's your guy?" Tony asked.

"I don't know. We're certainly having a thing!" Bruce replied in a panic as he tried to get the Other Guy to come out.

"There's no time for a thing!" Tony exclaimed, pointing to Obsidian that was walking down the street, heading their way for a show down. "That's the thing right there. Let's go!"

Bruce looked over at the monster walking down the long street, heading towards them, as he whacked his way through the empty cars on the streets with his weapon, stomping on the ground. Bruce bared his teeth down and let out a growl with all his might, trying to release the Hulk, which they sorely needed right away or neither of them were going to make it out of this, barley. He was huge. They definitely needed Hulk on this one.

"Dude, you're embarrassing me in front of the wizards," Tony muttered under his breath.

Zoe arched an eyebrow and smiled slightly at Strange and Wong as they looked at each other with curious stares on their faces. She shrugged.

"I can't, he won't," Bruce said, finally giving up the conflict between him and the Hulk.

"It's okay. Stand down. Can I leave him and this one with you?" Tony asked, indicating a small nod towards Zoe.

"I have them," Wong said, giving Tony a nod.

"Tony, I am not standing down," Zoe said, refusing to give up in her own fight that was started back in space. She wouldn't let Thor down. She wasn't going to let him down or Loki for that matter. She wouldn't let either of them down. "I need a weapon."

"Boy that Steve Rogers really does rub off on you doesn't he?" Tony asked. "Even when you're light years away."

Zoe gave him a dry look. Tony sighed in response, "All right." He didn't have time to waste much more because Obsidian was heading their way with its huge weapon in his hands. He looked like rock, solid, huge. Zoe was an ant compared to him. And Tony for that matter, but it didn't matter for Tony. In fact she was in awe when Tony pulled the strings of his daybreak jacket that pulled into him and curled out his maroon and golden shiny Iron Man suit that was completely maroon and highly brand new. Her jaw dropped as the suit materialized over him and covered his entire body, eyes glowing a light blue hue.

"Whoa…" Zoe exclaimed in beautiful awe at his new suit. She definitely missed a lot. Tony's deflecter shields, at least three on each side pulled apart and hovered in the air. As soon as Obsidian charged his weapon at Tony, Tony fired his pulsar energy beams at him, knocking him to the ground in a heavy heap that made him rise up in the air taking road debris with him in the blue skies above them. "Whoa." Can't say she hated it because she absolutely loved the new tech.

"Where did that come from?!" Bruce asked.

"It's nano-tech. You like it? A little…" Tony began, but Maw raised his telekinetic powers with a wave of his hand, pulling out the trees from the ground and forced them to hurtle towards Tony in defense. Wong suddenly used his magic and summoned an orange glowing shield to deflect the blow and swoop the trees elsewhere from hitting them.

"Dr. Banner, if the rest of your green friend won't be joining us…" Dr. Strange turned around, facing Bruce and Zoe. He flicked his eyes over at Zoe. "Nice meeting you, and I'm sure you mean well, Miss Sawyer, but I can't afford anymore casualties, so..." with a wave of his hand, a portal to central park opened up and dropped both Zoe and Bruce down suddenly, causing them to drop unexpectedly, making them cry out in alarm and land on top of one another with a flying taxi cab on top of them, half of one.

"Owe…" Zoe groaned.

"You get used to it," Bruce stated within a groan beside her.

Back in the city of Manhattan, Strange carefully twisted his wrist and formed another orange glowing spinning shield to protect himself from the car that was hurtling towards him next from Maw's doing. Tony flew back and used his pulsar energy beams towards him to help assist the situation. That did nothing for Maw just cut the car in half before it could hit him and bounce off across the street behind him with his telekinetic powers.

Tony turned towards Dr. Strange, "We gotta get that stone out of here!"

Strange glared at him. "It stays with me."

"Exactly," Tony replied. "Bye!" he pushed off the street and into the air, hurtling straight for Maw as he used the building side foundations of stone pillars to try and stop Tony's way, one by one that fell in front of him, Tony dodged as quick as he could. When that didn't faze Tony, Obsidian threw his extended weapon at him, a long tethered metal like rope that was attached to him flew right into Tony, hoping to catch him off balance and steer him away. And it steered him right through another building, several of them until he finally landed against a tree, landing sideways.

"Tony!" Zoe cried, as she and Bruce glanced at one another and ran over to him once they'd gotten out from underneath half of the taxi cab on top of them.

"Are you okay?" Bruce asked him.

"How are we doing? Good, man?" Bruce asked.

"Really, really good. Really good. Do you plan on helping out?" Tony asked.

"I'm trying! He won't come out!" Bruce cried.

"Find me a weapon," Zoe pleaded desperately with Tony, getting her second wind of an adrenaline rush. Being back on Earth was definitely helping her get back on track and back to her old self again. She missed home so much.

"Hang on-" Tony said, catching Obsidian's raging form as he hurtled into buildings and threw his weapon towards them. Tony flew into Bruce and Zoe, pushing them both out of the way, knocking them onto the ground, causing them both to cry out in alarm in sync. He pulled Tony up as Tony tried to beam him to pieces, but his beam had accidentally gone through the trees, cutting them down as leaves and branches flew everywhere like a rainstorm, cutting a major tree in the park that nearly fell on top of Bruce and Zoe if they didn't get out of the way.

"Ack!" Zoe cried as Bruce covered his body on top of hers, landing on the ground with the tree branches catching on top of them, cutting against her face. Zoe winced at the slight scratches she felt from the tree branches. Thank God it wasn't the entire tree.

"Ok! He needs to come out like now," Zoe turned to face Bruce,

"Come on Hulk!" Bruce cried, as he crawled off of Zoe and Zoe army crawled her way out of the tree branches. "What are you doing to me? Come on!" Bruce said, as he attempted to smack himself in the face. Zoe stood by Bruce, watching worriedly as she attempted to find a weapon to help Tony, but all she was really finding was a branch from a tree and that wasn't going to do shit.

"No!" The Hulk screamed out very loudly causing Zoe to jump as Bruce groaned and fell backwards into the tree bushes. Zoe grimaced and rushed over to help him.

"What do you mean, no?!" Bruce demanded.

"Not even for me, your favorite admirer?" Zoe asked, leaning beside Bruce.

"NO!" Hulk said and Zoe grimaced at the words out of his mouth.

Bruce groaned and Zoe frowned, glancing at him helplessly, wishing she could help in some way because Tony was fighting hard with him as he shot all of his energy beams at him until Obsidian finally caught Tony and tossed him in the grass. He stomped harshly, causing the ground to rumble beneath Zoe's feet against the ground. She couldn't take it anymore and ran over to him, blocking his attempt to kill Tony fearing for her life as she looked him in his cold eyes gazing down on her.

"Zoe..." Tony breathed out.

"Hey man," Spiderman said suddenly before Obsidian could do any harm to Zoe. He'd stepped in and snuck his way to protect them. "What's up Mr. Stark? And uh...Zoe right? Former shield agent lady? Didn't you die like two years ago?"

"Uh..." Zoe was in a bit of a daze, trying to refocus her surroundings. "Yeah...I'm back I guess." she glanced over at Tony worriedly as Spiderman held Black Dwarf's strength against his own. She was in awe.

"Kid," Tony turned around on his back in awe himself. "Where'd you come from?!"

"Field trip! You-" he started to reply but he was cut off and tossed to the side.

"Peter!" Zoe exclaimed. "Oh God, is he all right?" she asked, turning towards Tony to help him up off the ground rather clumsily with his clunky suit, although this time it wasn't that clunky. It seemed thinner than his last suit from what she remembered.

"He's used to it. He'll be fine," Tony replied to Zoe. "He'll walk it off." And just like that Peter used his web strings from his wrist to pull himself back up while Tony shot his energy pulsar beams at Obsidian.

"Tony, I swear...he's just a kid. He needs to be in school. He can't just ditch it every time something bad happens in the city! That's left to us!"

"You're reprimanding me? Now?" Tony asked.

"Yes!" Zoe exclaimed hotly, placing her hands over her hips. "Because that's my other weapon!"

"What's this guy's problem, Mr. Stark?" Peter asked, jumping right back into the firefight like he was a pro. Ok...guess Zoe did miss a really lot over the past two years she was gone.

"He's from Space. He came to steal a necklace from the Wizard," Tony replied.

"Time stone!" Zoe yelled out to him. "And be careful!"Back in the city as Strange continued to fight off of Maw, Maw waved his finger tips and forced red cinder blocks into the air, sandwiching him on either side of him and made the tiny cinder block rocks fly towards Strange. But Strange was too quick and was able to open a portal for the rocks to go through with his colleague's help, making them hurtle back towards Maw. But Maw used is own ability to counter them, picking up a car off the ground with his telekinetic powers, making the car as his shield until one of the rocks flew to the side of his face, making him grunt. With an angry growl, using his powers, Maw picked up a set of pipes from the ground beside him and tossed them at Wong, flinging him on the other side and away from Dr. Strange. Strange glanced at him worriedly for a brief moment, but acted quick. He twisted his wrist to make another orange spiral, a smaller spiral and lashed out a long fiery glow of orange like an energy rope towards Maw and caught him by the wrists, bringing him close towards him. That backfired. Maw used his powers to hug onto Strange and fly in the air, landing on top of a building upside down and captured him in a rock form so that he had him in his grasp, looking down at the wizard. He covered his body with rocks, tauntingly, "Your powers are quaint. You must be popular with children," he mocked, and made a move to reach for the green stone protected in his golden necklace. He covered his fingers around it, but a heavy orange glow prevented him from taking it off of his neck, burning the palm of his hand. "Ah!" he hissed, snatching his hand away from him at the slight burn within his palm.

"It's a simple spell, but it's quite unbreakable," Strange explained to him.

Angrily, Maw reached for his neck, "Then I'll take it off your corpse!"

He reached for Strange's neck and pulled him out of the rocks. Strange cried out in shock as he pulled him away from the building and dropped on top of a parked vehicle that slowed his fall and rolled onto the ground. He picked himself up again and this time tapped his wrists together powerfully. A green swirl of fiery light wrapped around his wrists that emitted from the necklace around his chest. Three wrings of green on each side of his arms tried to hold off of Maw's abilities as he wrapped slithering vine and cement around him to hold him down on the ground and bring him to his knees. But Strange fought with all of his might and power, but Maw was proving to be too strong as the cement vinery wrapped around his body and closed around his neck.

"You... did a deadman's spell..." he rasped as he glanced around him as he tried to struggle within his grasp. "Troublesome."

"You only wish you were dead," Maw added as he tightened the cemented vine around his struggling body until Strange couldn't hold off anymore and passed out, banging his head against the parked silver car and fell onto the ground. Maw took an entire block of cement road up off the ground, its vines hanging off of it with rocks dropping onto the ground and dust flying everywhere, the same block of road that Strange fell upon and took it with him. But as Maw tried to take Strange, his red levitation cloak slightly moved its corner and slipped away from the floating cement in the air. Maw glared at it as Strange flew backwards away from him. "NO!"

Strange flew back into the city and away from Maw's clutches all the way into central park, where the Black Dwarf lowered his weapon, blocking against Tony's blows.

"Kid, that's the wizard!" Tony said, catching Strange's flying ability as he tried to get away from Maw.

"I'm on it!" Peter cried, jumping up into the air to go after him. Peter webbed from building to building, following Maw who was hot on Strange's tail through ought Manhattan until Maw suddenly dropped a sign on Peter. Peter cried out, barely making it out of the way from the sign as it dropped to the streets below him causing Peter to cry out in alarm. "Not cool!" he webbed up another string or two, picking himself up again to follow Maw. Maw crossed his arms over his chest and brought in the street lights since he noticed that's how Peter was getting to him so fast and attempted to slow down Strange's levitation cloak from getting any further away. One of the lights caught onto the cloak, and stopped Strange. Strange slipped out of the cloak and was about to land on the ground until he caught caught into one of Peter's webs as Peter had managed to web against another side of the building.

But a sudden blue beam of light from the ship that hovered in the middle of the city cast down below right over Strange's body, stopping Peter from going any further as he caught onto one more street light. Peter tried with all his might to stop Strange from going up into the ship. The levitation cloak flew right into the beam of light to follow his master inside the ship. Maw used his powers and just casually lifted the light post up off the ground and out of its roots that caused Peter to go with him.

"Uh, Mr. Stark?!" Peter exclaimed through the earpiece that was attached to his suit. "I'm being beamed up!"

"Hang on kid!" Tony said, battling Obsidian in the park as he shot energy blast after energy blast until he finally caught Tony by the throat and tossed him to the side on the ground. An iron shackle had wrapped around Tony, causing him to spare out electricity as he shook within it. Obsidian ran towards him to finish Tony off, but he was suddenly finding himself in another portal that appeared over Tony before he could complete the job, landing in a snow bank on the other side of the world.

Wong, Bruce, and Zoe were looking inside the portal (Zoe and Bruce in awe, but Bruce had his fists in his face and Zoe was also prepared, waiting for the next attack) and he jumped up suddenly back into the portal. "Whoa!" Bruce jumped out of the way along with Zoe, "Ah!" and Wong cut the creature off from jumping back into the park, keeping him there, cutting his hand in the process.

"Ugh," Bruce wrinkled his nose in disgust and kicked the hand out of the way.

"Ditto," Zoe agreed with Bruce by his side. She sighed with relief that he was finished.

"Wong you're invited to my wedding!" Tony said after he managed to break free of the iron shackle around him. He jumped up in the air, "Glad to see you alive, Killer!"

Zoe looked up at him in awe as he flew into the air to go after Spiderman and Strange. She glanced over at Wong, "He's getting married?"

"Supposedly," Wong nodded. "Got the invite a couple days ago."

A fiery orange portal appeared within Zoe's eyes and she looked over at Wong. Zoe didn't want to leave, but the spaceship was already flying high, too high for them to follow after him and it broke her heart to see them go.

Bruce placed a hand on Zoe's shoulder, "Come on," he said, as the city of Manhattan that once was, now completely destroyed by Maw and Cull Obsidian appeared before them thanks to Wong's portal. She couldn't believe they just lost again. They stepped into the portal together, the three of them into the mess. This was not good at all.

"What now?" Zoe asked. No Tony. No Hulk. No Strange. No Peter. No Thor. No Loki. No Heimdall...they were loosing people fast.

"I'm not sure. Normally this'll be your department right?" Bruce asked.

Zoe nodded. "Shield would've been on it in a flash for sure. What do we do Bruce?"

He stepped onto something and looked down at the ground. It was Tony's phone from Steve. Bruce picked up the phone off the street. Zoe brushed her hair out of the way and looked at him curiously. Another portal swiped in front of them, Zoe caught the sound and the orange magic flowing beside her as Wong stepped inside. She frowned, watching him leave them. Just like that?

"Where are you going?" Bruce asked.

"The Sanctum remains unguarded. What will you do?" Wong asked.

Zoe flicked her eyes between the monk and Bruce. "I'm gunna make a call."

 **~*AIFW*~**


	123. Chapter 123: Catching Up

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 123: Catching Up**

Zoe had told Bruce about what happened to the Avengers in a more detailed way when she was with him on Asgard hiding from Hela, Thor's evil sister. She wasn't sure what to expect coming home. She'd been away from Earth for two years and now being back it was an odd feeling. Nothing felt the same though. Not like before. Something felt different. But she couldn't describe it. She hated it when she couldn't describe things anymore. What was wrong with her?She bit her lower lip worriedly. Maw really did do quite the extraction torture on her in the ship on her way to Earth. She tried to block out that painful bit being high up in the air with all of his energy spikes drilled into her head, her face, all parts of her with those silver needle like pins that he forced into her body and soul to extract the information from her. He said they were once used for micro-energy whatever that meant. She really needed to grasp her knowledge on science and its terminology. However she realized over time with this world and worlds that she'd gotten herself tangled up in that it was magic. She was right about that. But the pain was what she clearly remembered and she tried to push it away. She shuddered. She didn't need that. She needed something else. She needed her family back. It would be good to see everyone again. Ava. Steve. Her heart clenched at the memory of Steve that had helped her keep alive for she tried to get out of that arena and out of the clutches of the Grandmaster's hands. She hoped she was finally free of him, wherever he may be.

She started to wonder who she'd find at the Avengers facility. Bruce had called Steve to warn him about Vision's mind stone. He didn't tell him about Zoe being back yet because Zoe hadn't wanted to tell him and get flustered during a mission. Keeping Vision safe was important and she only hoped that maybe Wanda was with him.

The last person she expected to see at the facility was Rhody.

"Rhody! You're alive!" Zoe said, trying to feel elated at the sight of him, hesitantly as she leaned against Bruce for support. She fought through her pain to feel the happiness to see another familiar friend that she hadn't seen in a very long time. She missed him so. She needed her friends back, she needed Rhody to be on her side, her friend again. She needed normalcy. She needed her family back. And that was going to take a long time to pick up the pieces after what had just happened.

Rhody was in pure shock of her return as well as Bruce's.

"I don't…I don't believe…." He stammered.

She smiled softly, still trying to keep her emotions inside from coming up to spill all out at once again. "It's me. I promise. And um, I'm really sorry about….I… tried to save you….the best I could Rhody, I really did. Ava told me about Vision's accidental beam, and that was one way to get me to Asgard to find Thor and then we were going to try to find Bruce…and-"

Rhody cut her off in midsentence and wrapped his arms around her for a big hug.

"It's okay. Ross told me what you did and what he made you do," Rhody exclaimed in a whisper. "It's okay," he said when he felt her shudder against him. She'd been through hell but now she was home. "I'm just glad you're here and alive!"

"Me too," Zoe said.

"Hey man," Rhody motioned a nod at Bruce and he pulled Bruce into a hug as well, "You were missed."

Bruce gave him a tight smile finding it a little hard to believe he was missed. But he'll take that. He'd been gone way too long.

"You two look like hell's warmed over," Rhody said, glancing at the two of them.

"Thanks," Bruce said sarcastically.

Zoe grimaced a bit. She definitely didn't feel herself right now. "Where is everyone? Why is it so quiet?"

Rhody sighed. "Come on, guess you have a lot to learn." Rhody lead them into the Avengers' kitchen. Zoe looked at the lounge area beside it and smiled softly, thinking it seemed ages ago that she was sitting right there on that couch reading through the Accords that created some of the mess on Earth. And the facility felt cold to her. Too cold and too quiet. Rhody went to make some coffee in the kitchen for the three of them. Zoe wanted more than anything (aside from Steve) was a shower to wash away the dirt and grime off of space and the insides of that Asgardian ship that had once been tied to her. She wanted to wash away the memories that were so fresh in her mind about loosing Loki and Heimdall and half of the Asgardian race.

She sat down on the stool carefully, taking her seat next to Bruce, leaning her hands against the counter, showing her reddened wrists from the shackles she'd been under from the Black Order. Rhody pulled out three mugs, and handed two to Zoe and Bruce. Rhody didn't miss the red marks on Zoe's skin or the incisions against her chin marked left by Maw's doing or the tiny red zigzag line no thanks to Black Dwarf's weapon. Zoe needed a shower and she needed some rest. For the most part Bruce looked okay, but with his condition maybe emotionally he wasn't.

"Who did that number on you?" Rhody asked with a small chin nod of his head.

"Thanos's Order," Zoe whispered, shoving her suit of armor that Thor had lent her before hand down to try and cover it. It looked awful as much as it felt awful against her skin. "They tore half the Asgardian ship so fast, we barely had any time to…" she sniffed, trying not to think about Loki's death. It was painful enough to witness it and feel it alone. And Heimdall? Oh her poor Heimdall had also been killed and stabbed, Thanos's doing no less. He'd done so much damage already and Zoe wanted nothing more than sleep so she could be ready by the time she would once come face to face with him. But he was huge. Tall. A monster of Titan. And he was a plague. A goddamn plague. There was no way she could defeat him alone. He'd snap her like a twig for sure. This was one monster she could not beat. Bruce placed a hand over his shoulder and squeezed it gently, trying to give her a bit of comfort from the hell they went through.

"Must've been rough. I'm sorry," Rhody said sadly, watching her try to calm down from the adrenaline rush she'd felt this morning. She was helpless in this defense. She felt helpless right now. Rough was an understatement.

She wasn't sure if she should tell Rhody that Thanos was also the culprit who killed her mom. She wasn't ready to tell anyone else at the moment. She was still trying to process the newfound information in her head and trying to get over the fact she'd been tortured by Maw to get information about the stones and where they would be hidden on Earth. She shuddered at the mere memory pricking her mind.

"Well, Cap's on his way right now to find Vision and Wanda," Rhody said after a moment of silence, leaning his arms against the countertop as he waited for the coffee to brew. "If that makes you feel any better."

Zoe nodded. She was exhausted and teary-eyed, trying to sniffle in her emotions and keep it all bottled up. She was good at that. She tried to perfect it over the years. She'd once been the guardian of the mind stone after all. She'd hate for it to be in the wrong hands.

"Ava?" Zoe asked.

"She's fine, she's with him. Cap broke them all out of the Raft. They were in hiding for two years while you were…," Rhody explained to her and stalled slowly giving her a questionable glance with his hazel eyes towards her. He hadn't known what she'd been doing so far away from home. But he was glad to have her back. She slowed down his fall, hurtling herself into Vision's accidental beam that hit him to stop him from dying on impact.

"You don't want to know," Zoe whispered in reply, sharing a small look with Bruce.

"No I don't," Rhody responded till the coffee tinged, alerting that it was finished brewing. Zoe could smell the familiar scent of coffee that wafted through her nostrils. The smell filled her stomach with want and need and she craved it. Coffee. How she missed coffee. She missed coffee as much as she missed her bed. Her bed that would make her feel warm and not numb right now like she was feeling. She may have missed coffee, but she also missed sleep.

"I think I'm gunna go to bed," Zoe said finally after contemplating about staying up a bit more or just wanting to crash into oblivion of pillows and soft blankets that were calling her name.

"Zoe, you need a hospital," Rhody stated worriedly, looking at her a little bit astonished at how well Zoe was handling all of it but he could tell she was on the brink of dropping completely.

"I need sleep," she mumbled at the bitter reminder that one of the members of the Black Order had crushed her space helmet that was once given to her by Korg, who forgot he had found it on the Grandmaster's ship just in case she needed it. "Before anything else happens I really, _really_ need sleep."

Rhody frowned slightly at Zoe. "Uh…Ross isn't going to let you have your old room back, Zo. He's expecting a report. Minute you came back to Earth, which I tried to believe, said I had to arrest you since you were with Cap and the others."

"You're not serious…Rhody?" Bruce asked with uncertainty. "I mean I'm here. That should be enough for Ross to let her off the hook, right?"

He took the coffee pot off of its platform and poured some coffee for her in a cup. She took one sip of the scathing hot coffee, sending Rhody a dark look underneath her coffee mug as she took in the caffeine, and set back down on the countertop. With nothing else said between them, she marched her butt over to the nearby couch and pulled a pillow right over her head and closed her eyes, allowing herself some time of her own for just a brief minute.

Rhody sighed, looking from Zoe's tired form on the couch to Bruce's concerned face for Zoe. "We'll figure it out."

 **~*AIFW*~**


	124. Chapter 124: Welcome Home

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the series. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 124: Welcome Home**

Edinburgh, Scotland

While Zoe was sleeping in the Avenger's facilities in upstate New York, Vision and Wanda had gotten themselves caught up in a fight between the Black Order. They were just on their way to the train station when their very early in the morning outing got cut short.

Vision was in pain, fighting the stab wounds he'd received from Glaive's staff. Wanda leaned over him checking out his wounds as Vision pressed his warm fingers against her cheeks, holding her still, pleading her to get out of harm's way.

"You asked me to stay, I'm staying," she said finally out of breath from her recent fight with Proxima Midnight.

She jumped in, crashing into the glass that covered the train station and landed on her two feet with her staff right beside her. Glaive landed right beside her with his own weapon as he dragged it across the street creating a spark.

Wanda looked worriedly to Vision and then forced herself back up on her own two feet to face them. Even with the bruises on her forehead, she stood on her own ready to fight once more. Two red fiery magic swirls formed around her hands, as she wielded her power to strength.

A train flew behind her against the tracks and Proxima suddenly turned to the right, glancing behind Wanda, sensing someone else was with them and they weren't alone. Proxima tried to make out the tall figure in the shadows of the train going by. Wanda turned, noticing Proxima's weird stare behind her and turned to face who it was with her after the train disappeared onto another town. Proxima threw her staff at the new player with war grunt, but he easily caught it in his hands and stepped forward into the light to reveal who he was.

Wanda widened her eyes at the sight of her Captain, dressed in navy blue to face the Black Order in front of them. Vision was watching through the fenced bars and Wanda felt relieved to see him join in and help them because they desperately needed it. It was like Wanda could almost smile and hug Steve at this very moment for showing up at the right moment when she needed him most. Sam suddenly flew in, crashing into Proxima through a series of buildings and shot out three misle fires from his jet pack against his back causing an explosion. He touched down and threw his two feet into Proxima, knocking her back down.

"Ava? Just like we practiced?" Steve asked. Ava stepped out of the shadows at Cap's command and within her old suit, gold and black armor. She immediately stared into Glaive's mind, fighting his future death, trying to hold onto Glaive's core soul inside of him. She could see into his form now at how dark it was. It was like the color black, perfect to match his villainous soul he wore underneath his metal armor. A golden hue formed over Ava's fingertips as she fought within Glaive's soul to slow him down against Natasha's fight and try to yank it out of him so he'd be lifeless. He was to die in Nat's hands after all, while Ava tried to extract it out of him but he was fighting hard against both women.

Wanda looked over at Ava, her former box-mate from Strucker's lab, and Zoe's twin sister.

With her magic, Ava reached into Glaive's mind and soul, sending all of her powers and energy against him to slow him down and back from Natasha and Steve's fight as she attempted to free his spirit from the monster's shell. Its golden energies reaching upward into the sky, while Natasha stuck Proxima's weapon into his chest. He yelled in twisted pain.

Natasha flipped herself up off the ground, using the staff and kicked him on the ground, but Proxima stopped her and reached for her staff back with her own telekinetic abilities as it came back to her hands. She jumped up to attack her, but Steve jumped in front of her and blocked her view. Ava saw this and with her other hand gripped tight onto Proxima's chest, golden hues hovering over her neck to try and get started on her soul, and steal it away from the shell of a monster that she was in, using all of her might.

But as she fought Steve, Proxima caught on to loosing her essence out of her body and glanced over at Ava with a glare. Proxima knocked Steve on the ground and tossed her staff at Ava, knocking her off of her feet, catching her off-guard. Ava crash landed on the ground and Proxima retrieved her staff back to go against Steve once more as he charged after her. Steve and Natasha fought against Glaive and Proxima, until Sam flew around and back, knocking Glaive on the ground, stopping the fights all together. Proxima rushed over to Glaive's side as his chest heaved up in the air while Sam pulled out his guns, pointing at them, Steve and Natasha sandwiching him. Ava picked herself up off the ground to join them and she glared down at the Black Order, keeping her energy and powers high, golden hues surrounding the palms of her hands at the ready for another attack.

"Get up," Proxima rasped, placing her hands over his chest.

Glaive looked up at her and he shook his head. "I can't."

"We don't want to kill you, but we will," Natasha warned.

Proxima glared at the blonde, "You'll never get the chance again," she spat back and then the blue beam suddenly shined down on them and helped them beam up into their aircraft. Everyone looked up, watching them get away inside it and Steve watched Proxima's staff go with her up in the air.

"I think it's telekinetically attached to her somehow," Ava mused lightly out loud.

"You said it," Sam said, glancing at the sky. Steve motioned a quick nod over to Vision and Wanda back on the other side of the train station. Natasha placed her two weapons back in their respectable places against her back straps as they walked back to help Wanda and Vision.

Sam walked over and towards Vision as he struggled to get up with Wanda's help. "Can you stand?" Sam asked.

Vision slightly nodded. Now he could with Sam's help. He leant his weight against Sam, and he and Wanda helped move him forward to greet Steve, Natasha, and Ava, wincing as his body phased in and out.

"Thank you, Captain," Vision said. Wanda glanced between the two of them as Ava looked at Sam and Sam looked at her, as they tried to forget the ill vibes from two years ago between the airport battle that had happened between them and Vision.

Steve regarded his thank you and nodded. "Let's get you on the jet."

They marched quietly into the jet, no words spoken until Wanda helped Vision into a seat and she sat next to him. Ava settled next to Sam in the co-pilot and she strapped herself in, while he fired up the bird in the air.

"I thought we had a deal," Natasha said, pressing the button on the side of the quinjet to close up the ramp. "Stay close, check in," Natasha said as she turned around to face Vision and Wanda. "Don't take any chances."

"I'm sorry," Wanda said sincerely, glancing at her. "We just wanted time."

Natasha walked over to Ava's co-pilot seat and sat behind her.

"Where to Cap?" Sam asked.

Steve glanced behind him and thought for a brief moment of where they could possibly catch a moment of breath and figure things out.

"Home," he said simply. Ava smiled, sharing a small look with Sam as he typed in the coordinates. Home it was.

~*AIFW*~

Zoe had been sleeping this whole time into the wee hours of the next morning, a promise she kept and didn't mess with, while Rhody was debriefing Secretary Ross and his council members inside the Avengers' conference room. They hadn't appeared physically just as holograms even though they looked real. Bruce was also resting in the other room after the hellish ordeal they had to deal with in Manhattan.

"Still no word from Vision?" Ross asked.

Rhody listened to his question and shook his head with a shrug of his shoulders. "Satellite's lost visual somewhere over Edinburgh," he glanced over at the meeting surrounding Ross as the men were busy knee deep in paperwork.

"On a stolen quinjet with five of the world's most wanted criminals," Ross presumed.

Rhody scoffed, and stood up. "You know they're only criminals because you've chosen to call them that right sir?" he turned to face him with a pointed look.

"My God Rhodes, your talent for horseshit rivals my own," Ross stated coolly.

"If it weren't for those Accords Vision would've been right here," Rhody pointed out.

Ross stood up from his seat and walked around the conference table to face him, "I remember your signatures on those papers colonel, including that death sentence enhanced of yours."

Rhody's eyes hardened at the mention of Ava. Yes, he and Ava both had their signatures on those Accords, but now things were quite different and they could sorely use some of the Avenger's help right now to assess the situation at hand.

Rhody tightened his jaw before he replied, "That's right," he stepped forward to prove his point with his bended leg in a leg brace. "And I'm pretty sure we've paid for that. Ava lost her sister after all," he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Are you having second thoughts?" Ross asked.

"Not anymore," Rhody shook his head.

The sleek doors of the Avengers' facility opened up into the hallway letting Steve, Natasha, Sam, Vision, Wanda, and Ava walking into the room, all of them looked as though they'd had a rough go in Edinburgh and they certainly did with the Black Order. But it was good to be home.

Vision lent against Sam, while Wanda stood by his side protectively. Ava and Natasha sandwiched Steve in the front as they faced Rhody and Secretary Ross. Ava looked over across the hallway and saw a sleeping form on the couch, covered in a blanket, still as a rock. She twisted her mouth to the side and looked to Rhody, but she didn't have much time to question the mysterious form on the couch when Ross joined the "party".

"Mr. Secretary," Steve greeted formally.

"You got some nerve I'll give you that," Ross said, coming up close to them.

"You could use some of that right now," Natasha noted.

Ross tisked and walked towards Steve. "The world's on fire. And you think….all is forgiven?"

Steve looked to him coolly in the eye, "I'm not looking for forgiveness. And I'm way past asking permission. Earth just lost your best defender. So we're here to fight. And if you want to stand in our way? We'll fight you too."

Ross eyed the Captain's airy warning up and down before he turned to Rhody, "Arrest them."

"All over it," he said, and then he punched the hologram in front of him and made Ross and his meeting of other generals disappear and out of the room. Like Rhody was going to arrest them after the talk he just had with Ross? No way. Not with what was at stake here.

A couple of beeps could be heard behind him in the room. Rhody looked up at the ceiling and then at Steve. "That's a court martial."

Natasha smiled, elated that Rhody was with them.

"It's great to see ya Cap," Rhody said.

Ava was smiling as well when Steve and Rhody greeted one another into a tight handshake. "You too Rhody."

Natasha stepped down next and pulled him in for a pat hug. Ava practically ran to him and hugged him tight. Rhody chuckled as Ava hugged him. "Missed you so much!"

"We missed you too," Rhody said.

"We?" Ava pulled back curiously.

Rhody smiled. "Guess who's back?"

Steve's heart stopped beating for just a moment and he inhaled a quiet breath. He turned to glance at Ava's eyes as they looked at him and then at Rhody. "No," she said in disbelief.

"Yeah, she's here, she's…sleeping. She'd been through quite a lot while you guys were away," Rhody said. "Which by the way, you guys…really look like crap. Must've been a rough couple of years too."

"Yeah, well, the hotels weren't exactly five star," Sam replied, sending him a smirk.

"Uh…I think you look great," Bruce chimed in, joining the team. "Heh. Yeah, I'm back too."

Everyone looked at Bruce's return, Natasha especially with her short blonde hair was looking at him in shock. "Hi Bruce."

He twisted his hands with uncertainty and hugged his arms over his chest, trying to take it in. "Nat."

"This is awkward," Sam muttered to Vision, Wanda, and Ava, feeling the strange obstinate feeling swirling within the room. They turned around to face him, giving him a strange look.

"Hey Rhodes, is that…?" Steve glanced over at the clear doors leading into the lounge and office area across the room. Rhody glanced behind his shoulder at Zoe's sleeping form. Rhody turned to face Steve and gave him a curt nod to let him know it was his Zoe. Rhody smiled a bit and he patted Rhody on the shoulder, "Excuse me."

He marched over to Zoe's sleeping form and looked over at her form, so still, but breathing, a calm look appeared on her face, eyes closed as she faced the ceiling. Her arm draped casually across her chest and blanket that kept her warm. She had so many bruises that seemed to be slowly healing as she slept and wondered how much damage she'd been through from the moment she dropped out of the quinjet with the jet that Bucky gave her and allowed her to go on this daring mission that Ross had wanted her to perform.

For two long years, he'd prayed for her to come back, to come home and into his arms. He didn't go to her funeral. He couldn't do it. Tony thought some people might need closure. Maybe that was her old self dying so to speak and Steve had hoped it was. With a thoughtful look on his face, he leaned down gently, placing his hand on the armrest of the couch, and one over the cushion, he leant down and planted a warm kiss on her lips, waking her up from her deep slumber.

He leant back once she saw her head tilting to the side a bit, eyes fluttering open, almost struggling to wake as if she were in a deep dream. He hoped it was a dream, not a nightmare. She had too many of those already. They both did. They didn't need anymore. He was past that. He was past all of it. He just wanted her.

Her hazel eyes finally opened and her heart nearly fell out of shock in seeing Steve's face. His blue eyes gazing upon hers, holding her still in which she could loose herself forever in if she weren't careful, but then she blinked in confusion, hoping it wasn't a dream, or hoping a million other things that were running her mind at the moment from all the shit she'd been through in the past two years in space and on the stupid Grandmaster's planet.

"Steve?" Zoe's lips trembled at the sight of him, as though as she were going to break like a China doll.

"Up top, hidden behind the ketchup and the A1 sauce," Steve said, sending her a small smile, the corners of his lips within his beard lifting a slight smirk at her in hopes she was real and that Bucky was right all along at what he told him that fateful day before she jumped out of the quinjet.

Zoe closed her eyes in relief. It was him. Only he could know that and no one else. She leaned forward and pulled him in for another deep and desperate kiss that she just melted into not wanting to stop, wrapping her hand around his head and bringing him in close. She sat up and leaned against the armrest savoring the Captain's kiss she desperately needed. She saw some movement at the corner of her eyes, her team. Her team was back and safe, and she was about to go say hi to them, but Steve gently pulled her towards him, keeping her close. He leaned against her forehead, breathing together in sync. He just needed her right now.

"You're not mad at me for jumping out of the quinjet in attempts to find Thor in Asgard and save Rhody's life?" Zoe asked in a small whisper, trying to find her voice again. She'd left him and thought everything between them had been broken. She knew she had to get back home to fix things again.

Steve gave her a lopsided smile. "Thank Bucky."

Zoe nodded and brought her fingers against his cheek and ran them through his scruffy beard against her soft fingers. "This is new."

"This is new too," Steve said, running his gloved fingers through her shortened hair, which brought tingles up and down her arms and legs as they'd once felt numb. Steve's warmth was making her feel ten times better already. "Is there a short hair trend going around I missed?"

Zoe blushed slightly, "That's what happens when you become a gladiator. Get your hair cut off and you go fight."

"A gladiator?" Steve asked with raised eyebrows, wondering what on Earth Zoe had been talking about. Or maybe this time it wasn't what on Earth, rather what on whatever planet she'd been on. He'd thought she was in Asgard with Thor. _Just what the hell happened to you, Zoe?_ Steve thought curiously but he was sure she'd tell him sometime later for now he was just happy to see her.

"Uh, it's more epic than it sounds," she said with a wince.

"Or all the more terrifying?" Steve asked her, noticing her eyes go back to the memory of the Grandmaster's arena in Sakaar. Zoe sniffled in her sniffles, and tears that just started to fall against her cheeks. Tears of relief, happiness, sadness, every emotion in her as she held them came up, as the painful memories came up in her mind again. She'd lost way too much it was nice to finally see Steve, her Steve. She'd tried to get back to him, she tried so much. She was never doing that again.

Steve pushed her soft brown tendrils of hair behind her ear of what little strands he could pull back and she nodded in reply and hugged him once more, leaning her chin against his shoulder. Definitely more terrifying.

 **~*AIFW*~**

 **A/n: Reviews, follows, and favorites are always loved, appreciated! Thank you so much! :)**


	125. Chapter 125: High Price

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the MCU. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 125: High Price**

They'd wanted a bit more time, but for Captain America that didn't seem possible with the threat of Thanos and his army coming down to Earth. This is what Tony had been preparing his life for. What he'd been trying to warn them about. He'd warned them that they were coming and that they had to be ready. They'd cut them a bit off-guard in New York, but Zoe knew her teammates. She was in denial for the longest time about her team being split, her family. The ones she had to watch over and try to protect. The infinity stones had been on her mind for the better half of her youth ever since Thor gave her the assignment to look them up in her information database since she was all about categorizing things. It'd be a lot easier if she was in her office back at the Triskelion Headquarters but that was all gone now as far as she was concerned. After all she'd been on the run ever since her STRIKE team had turned on her and Steve and Natasha making them go on the run and then leading her all the way to a different planet. Not Asgard, like she'd hoped.

But all of that was done and said and here she was now, home, finally, and she was starting to feel like her normal self within Steve's presence, though she still couldn't help but feel a bit guilty for spilling everything she knew about the Avengers to Maw with his micro-surgery torture device he had in his ship. It was painful, like twisting bones and flesh, tightening a tight thread on her heart until she caved. It was raw pain, unlike anything she ever felt before. And she thought the collars in the arena were terrible back on Sakaar.

Subconsciously she felt her neck with her cool fingertips. She was still getting used to being back at the Avenger's facility in Upstate New York. It'd been way too long. Two years had felt like a lifetime. Now they had Thanos to face. Thanos hadn't come to Earth yet. Zoe could only figure he was searching for the other stones. She knew he had the Power stone and the Space stone that much was clear and he was damn powerful. She wasn't sure if the Avengers Initiative was enough to handle him. He took out the Hulk and two Gods in seconds, desecrating thousands of Asgardians in the process. They were going to need help.

She hadn't seen Clint or Scott anywhere near the facility like she hoped she would, but maybe some explanations were in order as to where half of her team was. Tony, Strange, and Peter had gone missing up in space. That much she knew. Maybe, and she could only hope that Strange was okay and they weren't doing anything stupid.

And on top of that? Thanos had killed her mother. Did Coulson know? Did Fury know? Anyone of them? And why didn't they tell her? And how was she going to tell Ava of all people that Thanos was the one who did the terrible deed? How could have her mom had gotten caught up in all of this? Sometimes Zoe wished she could just turn back time and fix it, fix every little screw up she ever made in life, fix her parents' mess and her old family history and turn it around. But maybe if she did that perhaps she wouldn't have met Steve of whom she loved with all of her heart. And they were finally reunited.

Zoe sighed, blinking back to the first days as a shield agent, when Fury had deleted her files from the media coverage of her in Soho, claiming she was a thief, a killer, all sorts of things all because she helped her old friends stage some drastic nonsense to make it look like the Purge swept through the city and destroyed everything in one swoop. That wasn't her anymore. She vaguely remembered using her acting talent as a deadbeat punk as Fury had once called her, manipulating the masses as a delinquent.

She'd come from a good working class family only to rise as that in her high school years, painful years she wished not to remember. But could who could blame her? Her father had been a bit nuts after he'd come home from work and she couldn't really explain it other than the fact it was a lot like being bi-polar. So in result of that, you could say, she acted out in her teen years, more than just being an actress, pretending she had a hand in killing the rich one percent and taking the fall for her friends when they were the ones with the pitchforks and the guns that shouldn't be in their hands.

She didn't smoke. Not really. But on TV, she could be seen smoking with her dark black dyed hair and dark makeup. It was the works. She never told anyone how dark it really went for her. Steve. He might've known. He'd seen her Soho files before when they first met, and together they discovered her family history, part of HYDRA all along. It was no wonder she carried manipulation traits from that side of the family. She wasn't sure if she told him how dark her past had been or if she really needed to tell him. They'd all had dark pasts didn't they? He knew what had been at stake. They both had things to prove together. She wanted to be more like him and more heroic and not the other way around. Fury and Coulson helped encouraging her and motivated her to continue forward with her training and to be the best. A motivational way for her was to tell her that they knew about her past. But she was starting to wonder if they really did know and maybe they didn't after all. Maybe they only suspected or only had the files that Hydra's Winter Soldier was involved instead of Thanos. After all, he'd hidden long enough in the shadows, collecting the stones, sending down his armies to attack. Zoe sighed, never forgetting the deal Loki had made with that and how Clint had been under his control killing his agents and innocent people. And her past had brought her to this moment.

Zoe supposed every kid went through that right? But when she came home one night, her father was totally off his rocker, finding his wife dead, her mother had crossed him and he acted out towards Zoe claiming that she was this girl named Ava and had killed her with her ability when in return it had been Thanos all along. Tony had found the stolen encrypted files and given them to her to find out why Hydra wanted to clean up that mess with her father's lab and everything that Bucky had a hand in destroying while he was under mind control of Hydra. The media had made it look like Bucky had a hand in killing her parents, but he didn't. Once Shield cleared everything up and they left the apartment, Hydra put Bucky back out to make sure all evidence was destroyed in a fire, all including killing Zoe, who would be a liability to their plans or an asset as Pierce had once regarded her as but she hadn't been an asset then, only playing the field to help Fury and the rest of her shield agents get out of that mess.

Shield helped clear her past for her so long as she was loyal to the company and remaining Fury's eyes and ears, scoping out all information on all fronts, something she was good at. Fury would help clear her name of all charges that included a long list of accessory to murder and posing as an imposter of a murder suspect, taking the fall, etc. even when she didn't commit the crime herself except killing her father in self-defense when he tried to choke her and tried to say that she killed her mom. But she didn't. She only saw the fate of her mother's death mangled on the floor. She thought the position and the angle looked rather odd to her, like not all the organs were there. She hadn't wanted to really look at all the details, even though she was good that that, this was her mom.

She was good at the details and finding things that people missed sometimes. She was good at lying. Never been good at keeping friends much to her dismay, and when the team broke up? She almost lost it. But now, things were coming back together, at least she hoped. They had to. They had to stick together on this one. They couldn't be apart. Neither of them could be apart.

Had her whole life been prepping for this moment?

There was a knock at the door and Zoe tore her eyes away from the mirror in her old room. She'd given Steve some time to asses the facility and get everything in order so he could figure out his next move. She glanced over her shoulder. It was the last person she expected to see to come by her door. Natasha Romanoff. She was also a former shield agent on the run from the government. A lot has changed and Zoe was trying to keep up with it and not feel so overwhelmed.

Natasha leaned against the door, arms crossed over her chest. She looked so warrior-like, Zoe was almost jealous. Almost. The blonde look was growing on her.

"I see you copied my hair-cut," Natasha said.

"Yeah, well, getting thrown into the arena pit on another planet will do that do ya, fighting monsters, you know the usual," Zoe gave her a small smile.

"So much for your endgame," Natasha said, bearing her eyes into Zoe's.

Zoe blushed. "Endgame had a family. I didn't want to ruin that. And uh, well...I...love Steve. I love him Nat. More than anything in the world."

Natasha nodded at her choice. "We're about to start the debriefing," Natasha said. "Thought you'd want in?"

Zoe blinked at the Widow. "Yeah, of course. Thanks."

Natasha nodded at her, eyeing her old trainee. It seemed like yesterday she was training her to become a better shield agent, to be a higher level to work her way up in the company so she could handle things like this and get her own office because Zoe had a lot of secrets in that tiny little noggin of hers that contained every bit of piece of information on herself and the others as well as places like Wakanda and she was sure Zoe was piling more up that had included Asgard.

She was a walking encyclopedia, much like Ava who had grown into her new role as information specialist since that's what Ross had assigned her to before Ava was thrown into the Raft no thanks to Tony himself. When Steve broke out the others, Ava joined him without question and that was the end of that.

Natasha pushed herself off of the door and walked over to pull Zoe into a hug, catching her even more off-guard, but Zoe returned the favor, all saltiness gone? Zoe had to wonder. Natasha had to know what she went through and she would definitely tell her. Would she be impressed? Scared? She wasn't sure, but there wasn't much time to talk about what they'd done over the past two years because of the ever-growing threat that was Thanos who was out there…Zoe pulled back and smiled.

"I'm-'

Natasha cut her off with a look. "Hey. It's water under the bridge okay? I'm just…glad you're not dead."

"Me too," Zoe tightened her smile. "Um, speaking of Endgame where _is_ Clint?"

Zoe frowned at the mention of her old partner and threw an arm around her shoulders, "Come on, we'll explain everything in a moment."

Zoe nodded and walked with Natasha through the hallways from her room to the main office where everyone had gathered. Ava looked up from her tablet in her hands, researching the members of the Black Order and their traits and properties while her sister came in the room. All eyes looked to the two women as they entered the room, Steve looking up from the ground as he was in deep thought. There seemed to have been a discussion going on by the time they got there.

"Wanda!" Zoe exclaimed lovingly as she walked over to the woman who'd grown so much since she'd seen the Scarlet Witch. Wanda lifted a small smile and hugged her too. She nodded at Vision as he smiled softly at her return as well. Sam also came up to her and pulled her in for a hug.

"I'm so glad to see you Sam," Zoe said.

"Hasn't been the same without you, spacewalker," Sam muttered in her ear.

She chuckled and by the time they pulled apart, Ava placed her tablet down and ran to her sister, pulling her in for a deep hug. Zoe hugged her tight.

"Thank God," Ava whispered.

Zoe smiled.

Once the two settled back into their rightful places, Zoe took her spot and leaned against the desk resting across from the small kitchen in the room where Wanda was staying, while Ava sat cross-legged going over the information she had on her screen.

"We were just discussing the Black Order," Ava informed Zoe.

Zoe frowned at the mention of the Black Order, trying not to remember their awful treachery on the Asgardian ship.

Rhody sighed, "So we gotta assume their coming back right?"

"And they can clearly find us," Wanda added.

"And they kill," Zoe said, blinking back at them. They looked at her and she looked over at Bruce who had also been with her when the Black Order attacked them. "They're trained to kill. They don't hold back."

Steve flicked his eyes towards those cool words of warning out of her once sweet lips, taking everyone's notion in mind as he thought this through.

Bruce nodded, as Zoe glanced at him, sharing a worried look. "We need all hands on deck. Where's Clint?" he looked to Natasha and Zoe did too.

"After the whole Accords situation, he and Scott took a deal. It was too tough on their families on house arrest," she replied.

Bruce turned around, "Who's Scott?"

"Ant-Man," Steve replied.

"There's an Ant-Man and a Spiderman?" Bruce asked curiously.

The corner of Zoe's lips turned up a bit and she looked over at Rhody who was nodding his head, arms crossed in the corner of the room by the lamp.

"Ok look," Bruce continued. "Thanos has the biggest army in the universe. And he is not going to stop until he…he get's Vision's stone."

Natasha leaned off her foot, "Well then we have to protect it," she said, eyeing Zoe. Zoe nodded. She would protect it. She'd protected it before when it was in Loki's staff.

"With my life," Zoe said.

"No we have to destroy it," Vision said suddenly, cutting them off from going much further.

Zoe frowned, and looked at him curiously. All eyes were on Vision.

"I've been given a good deal of thought," Vision said, pressing his fingers against the golden stone etched into his forehead. "About it's nature," he explained and Zoe pressed her lips to the side with a frown as she listened to him. "But also it's composition," he turned towards Wanda and walked over to her. "I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source, something very similar to its own signature perhaps. It's molecular integrity could fail."

Wanda glared up at him at the very suggestion. "Yeah, and you with it. We're not having this conversation." She shook her head.

Zoe couldn't help but notice that Steve was watching the two battle it out in their own words, trying to fight to stay alive. It broke her heart. She chewed her bottom lip worriedly as she listened to Vision defend his reasoning's and Wanda defend hers.

"In protecting the stone, it's the only way to be certain that Thanos can't get it," Vision whispered as he closed the gap between them.

"That's too high a price," Wanda shook her head.

Vision placed a hand on either side of her head in a loving manner and shook his head. "Only you have the power to pay it."

Wanda stared into his eyes, holding his gaze for a brief moment before she walked away from him, having lost too much herself already.

"Thanos threatens half the life in the universe," Vision said to the team. "One life cannot stand in the way of defeating him."

Steve inhaled gently, "But it should. We don't trade lives Vision."

Vision turned to face him. "Captain seventy years ago, you laid down your life to save how many millions of people today. Tell me, why is this any different?"

Steve gave him a look as they stood close to one another. Zoe looked over, watching worriedly from afar. Unfortunately, Vision was right. From her amount of research of what she could remember about the stones is that the only way to destroy them was to blow them to oblivion, unless they took them into the deep pockets of the universe and hid them. Unfortunately that hadn't done the trick. Thanos still found them and he was coming for Vision's.

"Because you might have a choice," Bruce intervened. "Your mind is made up of a complex construct of overlays. Jarvis. Ultron. Tony. Zoe. Me. The stone."

Steve glanced at Zoe, catching her look, remembering she'd been there too, as she listened to Bruce's science vomit out of his lips.

"All of them mixed together. All of them learning from one another," Bruce continued.

"You're saying Vision isn't just the stone?" Wanda asked.

"I'm saying that if we take out the stone, there's still a whole lot of Vision left. Perhaps the best parts," Bruce explained.

"Can we do that?" Natasha asked.

Bruce glanced at her, and shook his head. "Not me. Not here."

Zoe looked over at Steve as he turned, lost in his thoughts, and then at Rhody as he stood forward towards them. "Well, you better find someone and somewhere fast. Ross isn't just going to have your old rooms back."

He glanced at Rhody and then at Zoe. "I know somewhere."

A small smile appeared on Zoe's lips. Wakanda. "I'll make arrangements," she said. Steve nodded at her and she was already on it.

 **~*AIFW*~**

 **A/n: Hope you guys liked the new update! Don't forget to leave a review, follow, favorite, etc. I love and read them all! :)**


	126. Chapter 126: Semi-stable

**A/n: I love you all! :) Here's a new update. Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Avengers or anything related to the series. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 126: Semi-Stable**

The sleek quinjet flew over the Atlantic Ocean all the way over to the morning overcast forests and beautiful mountains that laid upon its untouched land from the outside world that encompassed Wakanda.

It felt so good to be sitting in the quinjet surrounded by familiar faces and the people she loved and not panicking on another planet. She was home. The quinjet was comforting, like she was her old self again. She'd changed from the armor that Thor had lent her and back into normal civilian clothes before they got into the quinjet and headed on over to Wakanda.

Bruce and Zoe started to tell them about their time on Sakaar since Ava had asked what it was like to get hit by Vision's beam and did she ever get to Asgard? Zoe had told her no of course she didn't get to Asgard. That would have been way too easy for a Sawyer. Easy was not a Sawyer's friend. Instead, she found herself stuck on Sakaar for over a year. At first the Grandmaster wasn't going to keep her.

But he was the first human he'd met in a very long time and he thought she'd be great in the arena since Zoe had some sort of fighting skill that she'd learned over time and the Grandmaster could only hope to achieve perfection from her with the obedient collar, which she soon realized was a cheat against her when she fought any type of alien, creature, big, short, tall, wide, skinny.

It didn't matter what he put out there, she would fight against him thinking she was the winner each and every time and the crowd would go nuts because she was the only human in the arena. Zoe felt pretty terrible after that, thinking that she'd gotten stronger at her fighting skills when knives and spears were her forte, even swords.

"And then Thor tried to win my freedom for me once we discovered one another few months later. I was owned by the Grandmaster because he resurrected me and had the power to resurrect beings. I guess he saw something in my nobleism and liked it, wanting to showcase it for credits," she sighed, shaking her head.

"He doesn't own you now though right?" Steve asked.

Zoe looked over at him regarding the concern she heard laced in his deep voice and she shook her head. He was so different. But Zoe actually liked it. She liked this new side of Steve. The beard and the facial hair around his once high boyishly cheekbones suited him. "I don't think so."

"We're not really sure what happened to him after we left with Ragnorak destroying Asgard," Bruce explained to the questionable looks on everyone's faces.

"Sakaar sounds like a trashcan," Sam commented.

"It was," Zoe and Bruce said in sync. They smiled. "It was a dumping ground. That's how we met up with Loki two weeks later after Thor's sudden capture. He was trying to put Ragnorak to rest, but then got caught up in a mess when a Valkyrie brought him to the arena. Once we got out of there we tried to fight Hela off, but by the time we got there she practically destroyed everything in her path only leaving dust and blood." Zoe shook her head and then looked over at Bruce. "I'm gunna say it and say it again. She was a bitch."

Bruce couldn't have agreed more.

"So you gunna keep Thor's armor?" Bruce asked.

Zoe glanced at the armor stashed away in the corner and shrugged. "I don't know, I'm kinda getting used to it."

Natasha glanced over at it, observing the layout of the armor that was fit for an Asgardian woman, downsized as much as it could to Zoe's short height. "It has a few dents in it," she mused lightly out loud.

Steve squeezed Zoe's knee gently with his gloved hand and got up from his seat that was next to hers and walked over to Sam who was piloting the jet now, once he saw outside the window of the jet they were nearing closer.

"Drop to 2600 heading 0 3 0," Steve placed his hand on the handle above Sam's head.

"I hope your right about this, or we're going to land a lot faster than we want to," Sam said, lowering the controls on the dashboard in front of him.

"Really, Sam, I'm surprised at you," Zoe chided lightly. "Has Steve ever steered us wrong?"

Steve nodded at her gratefully. "Thank you."

"Anytime Captain," she grinned.

"Just shoot me now…" Sam let out a long sigh. It was going to be a long landing to the airstrip at the palace if they could get there in one piece.

Zoe chuckled and looked over thoughtfully at Vision and Wanda as she covered her hand on top of his as they tried to keep his wound steady, while Sam steered them towards the trees that acted as a barrier around Wakanda.

And just like Steve said, the holographic wall that appeared to be the tree cover opened for Sam's jet. Its blue light disappeared, letting Sam fly in and through over the waters down below as Sam kept the jet level in the air.

"Hey Nat, do they have a Starbucks here?" Zoe asked hopefully. The blonde assassin turned to look at her curiously.

"Unfortunately not," Ava said, handing her tablet back to Zoe. Zoe frowned as her sister handed her the tablet on Wakanda as a tiny photo of the picturesque country appeared on screen. A black drop with white and purple words littered the page describing Wakanda's special sites that included the palace and its grand city, where most Wakandans lived and worked. This was a different side of Wakanda that Zoe didn't get to see and it was beautiful. She really could live here. "Not even an Olympics."

"Well, it just opened up…so…" Rhody said.

"It'd just be nice to have a Starbucks," Zoe muttered under her breath, scrolling down the info about Wakanda that was currently run by King T'Challa himself.

Ava laughed, "You haven't had coffee in two years. You must be really deprived."

"So deprived," Zoe sighed. "But that's ok. Rhody made me some and I was forever grateful. This would be a great destination place for a vacation."

"Or a honeymoon," Ava added with a slight cough.

Zoe's face turned crimson and she smacked her shoulder, "Ava," she scolded her sister crossly, giving her the look. That was way too far ahead. She'd just got back to him and they hadn't even begun to think that far. Unless Ava was talking about her and Sam? She wondered how'd that relationship was going. Zoe's two years off Earth was throwing her off balance a bit, but she was trying to get there, trying to keep her head in the game and stay balanced. She'd tried to stay balanced between Shield and Hydra and with Steve's help, she finally chose the right side. No more double agent for Zoe. She was done with that side of her unless she desperately needed it, but she hadn't felt the need to. Even when she was captured by Ebony Maw and his Black Order on her way to Earth, she fought against Maw's contraption till she couldn't take the pain anymore.

"What it is? They have spas, and hotsprings…waterfalls…" she listed off of what she remembered from the online brochure.

"Vibranium," everyone else added in the jet in unison, including Steve.

"Well Tony can just seal that part off, I mean no one would even notice," Ava said. "Other than that perfect vacation spot."

"Yeah, too bad we don't have time for a little r&r, cause we're here," Sam announced.

Ava bit her lower lip hearing Sam's underlined tone, and swiped the page off of her screen as soon as Zoe handed it back to her.

Sam lowered the jet and parked it on the airstrip. Natasha got up from her seat and walked over to open up the ramp. Sam unbuckled his seatbelt, and turned off all controls. Everyone was busy climbing out of their seats, turning off the tablet and placing it inside the messenger bag that crossed Ava's body and went along with her. Bruce grabbed his jacket, and Zoe contemplated on whether or not to take her armor with her. It had served her well with her fight and Hela's minions for the most part.

Right now she was in her normal civilian clothes, her old white leather jacket from which she first met Steve in and dressed in all black, including her black boots. She also had her hair pulled back into a short ponytail. If Zoe was going to survive this…she was going to need one of the strongest metal in Asgard as Thor had once put it. But she was neither Asgardian nor a Goddess. She was merely human. Ava was dressed in all black and gold, a similar suit that matched the curves to Natasha's old shield uniform, just had specs of gold within the seams of her well suited pants.

It'd been necessary to wear this suit of armor against what Zoe had to do in order to survive the outside world of Earth. And that same outside world of Earth was coming here, to her home. And she had to protect it.

"Hey," Steve came up to her, nearly startling her out of her thoughts. She turned slightly when he came up behind her, shoulder leaning over hers, looking down at the suit.

"It does look a little indented," he observed.

"You gonna put on the suit?"

"Thor gave it to me. It was a gift. I feel like I have to," she said.

"You're so nice," Steve teased lightly.

"It would be a disservice," she said, thinking about honoring Thor in the future conflict they were about to face.

"But that thing's going to crush you when these things come you know," Steve said. She noted the voice of reason in his tone.

Zoe let out a small 'ha out of her lips, but then made a face, thinking Steve probably had a point there. She nearly bought it on rainbow bridge if it hadn't been for...Loki.

"You got something better for me hidden behind those walls scruffy?" Zoe asked, turning around to face him, sending him a small smile as she tilted her head to the side, motioning over to the Wakandan palace that was right outside their quinjet.

"Who ya callin' scruffy?" Steve asked. Zoe responded with a smile. He eyed her up and down and nodded softly. Then with a tilt motion chin nod of his head for her to follow him, she let him pull her hand against his warm one out of the jet to lead the team down the ramp and meet up with King T'Challa.

Steve and Natasha walked up to T'Challa and his guards that stood around him. Zoe was in awe at how everything seemed so sleek and clean and beautiful. Honestly she could live here and be happy.

As Bruce put on his jacket, he asked Rhody, "Should we bow?"

Ava snickered beside him and Zoe scrunched her nose up with a small shake of her head as Rhody replied, "Yeah, he's a king."

"Seems I'm always thanking you for something," Steve said, shaking T'Challa's hand, and he shook back.

Bruce cleared his throat to get his attention so he could properly greet him and started to bow. Rhody gave him a look. "What are you doing?"

Bruce widened his eyes, a bit embarrassed as T'Challa shook his head, stopping him, "Please. We don't do that here."

Rhody grinned at Bruce and Bruce shook his head at him. Zoe stifled a light laugh. A real good light belly laugh of which she hadn't had in a very long time and it felt so good.

T'Challa started to lead them back to the palace's entrance. "So how big of an assault should we expect…?"

Bruce weaved in between the Sawyer sisters that were right behind Steve and T'Challa. "Uh, sir, sir, I think we should expect quite a big assault," he said. Steve glanced at him and then Zoe. She nodded indefinitely.

Steve glanced over at T'Challa and Natasha as she asked, "How are we looking?"

"You will have my king's guard. The Border tribe. Dora Milaje," he motioned a hand geusture to point out the men and women in red and gold tresses of armor and carrying spears as protection.

"And a semi-stable, one hundred year old man," Bucky greeted, walking towards him, ready for the fight. Zoe watched Wanda take Vision to the palace with the other set of guards that walked with them, flanking them in a protective sandwich.

The corner of Zoe's lips smiled and watched the two super soldiers engage in a best friend handshake and hug.

"How ya been Buck?" Steve asked.

"Uh, not bad," Bucky said, stepping back slightly as he glanced down at the ground then up at Steve. "For the end of the world."

"Bucky!"

"In coming," Steve warned as a near-flying Zoe came crashing into Bucky's arms, nearly knocking him over. He chuckled and hugged her once he was able to manage a hold of himself with Steve's help as he reached for his friend's shoulder, steadying him back on his feet.

"Hey Zoe," he chuckled, hugging her back. She could literally fall into the bear hug if she weren't careful herself.

"Thank you," Zoe whispered in his ear. Bucky glanced down at her for a brief minute, listening to those words. Steve must've told her what happened after she jumped down on the quinjet and he nodded. He wouldn't have it any other way.

"Nice to see you topside again," Bucky smiled at her as they pulled back at arm's length. Zoe grinned. Yes it was.

 **~*AIFW*~**

 **A/n: Bucky! :) Thank you guys so much for reading! More updates soon! Reviews, follows, and favorites are of course always loved and welcomed!**


	127. Chapter 127: Polymorphic Stone

**Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 127: Polymorphic Stone**

Inside the palace, Shuri was hard at work, working on configuring Vision's stone. Zoe felt the room intensify as everyone was on edge, but also trying to keep their cool during the situation at hand. Steve had sent the flyers, Ava, and Bucky outside the palace to keep an eye on things. She tightened her white leather jacket over her arms at the coolness of the room subconsciously, feeling a bit out of place since everyone around her was so regal and royal. She admired the Dora Milaje and the spears in their hands, reminded her of her old spear that was taken from her. She admired their strength and courage and loyalty they had for Wakanda and its king. Everything just seemed to be smoother and calm here. She could understand why Bucky would stay.

Even the tech was gorgeous. Zoe witnessed some beautiful tech like Shuri's interesting beads she wore on her wrist that seemed to emit some kind of blue light over Vision's stone. She was in awe. She could remember her first days at SHIELD, falling in love with the technology, and everything else around her that she was able to get her hands on. She had loved her tablet and missed it.

Shuri turned the palm of her hand around to reveal Vision's stone enraptured by blue light.

"Whoa," Bruce said, voicing everyone's thoughts in the room.

Steve raised an eyebrow at the newest tech provided by the princess and looked to Zoe, who herself was mesmerized by it. She looked up at Steve, sharing a small look and she tried not to smile at the look on his face. He'd been in the world long enough now to know their normal technology. Learning Wakanda's was going to be a new ballgame even for her.

"The structure of the stone is polymorphic," she said.

"Right, we, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially," Bruce explained with Wanda right by him.

"Why didn't you just reprogram the synopsis to work collectively?" Shuri asked as if it should have been obvious to a fellow scientist.

Bruce blinked for a brief moment as if the words went right over his head. Vision turned from Shuri to Bruce.

He tightened his smile, "Because we didn't think of it?"

Shuri smiled. "I'm sure you did your best."

"Can you do it?" Wanda asked.

Shuri nodded. "Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here. One miss alignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures," she looked at her brother across the room as he observed the situation at hand. "It'll take time brother," she said.

"How long?" Steve asked.

"As long as you can give me."

Just then the warning signals of the room started to go off, alerting everyone that something was coming. Everyone had looked up and then at each other. Okoye turned to her beaded bracelet and pressed a button. An image popped up over the palm of her hand, showing the sphere of Earth.

"Something's entered the atmosphere," Okoye announced.

Zoe flicked her eyes over to Nat, standing right by her, on alert. Room intensified times ten.

Outside the palace's walls, the ships started to drop down into the skies, making the flyers, Ava, and Bucky alert.

" _Hey Cap, we got a situation here_ ," Sam said, pressing onto his ear-comm as he looked up at the blue skies over the city. Bucky, Rhodey, and Ava all looked up to see the Black Order's spaceships heading down straight for them. Ava's fingertips started to glow fiery gold like sparklers.

Bucky glanced down at the fiery fingertips beside him and Ava smirked at his confused look on his face. But she didn't have to do anything yet because the dome appeared to protect the city and stopped the spaceship, causing it to explode.

"Huh," Ava mused lightly then she glanced at Sam. "Yep, we're definitely moving here."

Sam raised an eyebrow at her and she grinned.

"God, I love this place," Bucky said, glancing up at the skies with a smile on his face.

"Don't start celebrating yet guys," Rhodey observed from across the sky as more ships sped down towards them, heading straight for the forests. "We got more incoming outside the dome!"

The ships landed in the soil and grass, shaking the ground beneath, creating havoc in the forests as fire and explosions engulfed the landed ships.

Back inside the palace, they watched from afar, hidden behind the tall glass windows. Steve glanced at T'Challa, sharing a small look with one another. Zoe didn't like this invasion at all, and she was worried just as they were.

"It's too late," Vision said shakily as he started to get up off the table. "We need to destroy the stone now."

Natasha spun her head around to face him. "Vision get your ass back on that table," she said, walking over to help him.

"We will hold them off," T'Challa said, and started to prepare. Okoye and some of the Dora followed him across the room.

"Wanda," Steve said. Wanda looked at her captain. "As soon as that stone is out of his head, you blow it to hell."

"I will," Wanda agreed and walked over to Vision's side.

"Evacuate the city, engage all defenses, and get this man his shield," T'Challa announced his crew, pointing to Steve. Steve nodded gratefully for him.

Zoe was about to walk with the Dora, following Natasha, but Steve reached for her, holding her hand tight, and pulled her close to him.

"Steve…I'm a defense," she said with a small frown on her face noticing the concerned look on his hardened features on his face. "I've fought aliens before."

"This isn't like New York," he said solemnly.

"Or Sakaar?" she asked, glancing up at him. "Or Asgard?"

"I want you on protection detail, here," Steve insisted, nodding his head gently.

"These people are more than capable of protecting themselves, I mean have you seen their tech?" she asked. "It's amazing. I kinda wish they had a gift shop."

Steve gave her a small smile. "Yeah. I saw a gist of it. Please, just do as I ask this time."

"Then promise me you'll come back in one piece," she said, looking up into his eyes. She stepped forward and reached up to hold him, wrapping her hands, cradling his head lovingly, running her fingers over the curved shell of his ear. "Please. I came back to you. It's only fair you do the same."

He looked outside the window and then down at her thoughtfully before he leaned down and kissed her, feeling his warm gloved hands within hers, sending her shivers and tingles down her spine and arms. She kissed him back, relishing in the tender and fierce kiss upon her lips before he quickly left her, standing by the windows of the room, left with Wanda, Vision, and Shuri. Bruce must've slipped out with Natasha and the others, making Zoe worry even more. She sighed, and looked down at the ear-comm placed in the palm of her hands, one he'd given her so she could communicate with them on the field of war.

 **~*Infinity War*~**

 **A/n: Aye. Follows, favorites, and reviews are always welcomed. Thank you for reading!**


	128. Chapter 128: Spared Blood

**A/n: Hey guys! Another update. Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the series. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 128: Spared Blood**

Just like T'Challa said, everyone in the king's guard had had joined the team on pods that hovered and flew across the great plains of Wakanda. It really was a breathtaking sight in Ava's eyes as she stood opposite side Steve.

"How we looking Bruce?" Natasha asked through ear-comm. She glanced back behind her to see where Bruce was. He'd gotten inside a newly redesigned Hulkbuster that was waiting for him in Shuri's lab and was currently running in the machine just to catch up with the others. Sam and Rhodey flew above the dark and cloudy skies above them.

"Yeah, I think I'm getting the hang of this," Bruce replied, glancing around his surroundings as he attempted to try it out for the first time in a long time. Last time he was in one, didn't go so well. "Whoa! Ho!" he cried out as he'd suddenly used his pulsar energies on his palms and feet, jumping up as if he was on the moon. "Wow! This is amazing guys! This is like actually being the Hulk without-" but he got caught off when he landed head forward into the grass, and dirt flying up all around him after tripping over a large rock. "Owe…"

Okoye passed him in one of the pods and gave him a peculiar look, curious at his mannerisms and antics.

"I'm okay," Bruce stated, hoping everyone wasn't too worried. "I'm okay." He got up and removed the dirt from his face, shaking his head as Sam flew above him, glancing down at him. He shook his head and continued to march forward to join the others as they formed their armies into formation.

"I've got two heat signatures breaking through the tree line," Rhodey announced in the air with his careful observations through his helmet and his readings ahead of him.

And Ava looked forward, noting that Rhodey wasn't wrong. In front of her she could see the drop ships destroying the beautiful trees that surrounded the plains. Fiery embers and smoke littered the air and brightened the forest green foliage.

Then she saw two figures marching out onto the plains of Wakanda with angry looks on their faces. One very tall monster was with the woman standing beside him. Proxima Midnight and Cull Obsidian.

Ava bit her bottom lip as T'Challa's army formed and everyone got onto the ground. She noticed the Outriders were also gathering to prepare for a fight.

"Outriders," Ava muttered under her breath to Steve. Steve stared at what was in front of him, calculating, taking everything in as he observed the scene.

"How many?" Steve asked.

She didn't want to say, but from her research it could be infinite. It could be anything at this point. But to keep it all together, she just replied with, "Thousands."

The Golden tribe, and the Dora Milaje was joined by the Jabari tribe lead by M'Baku.

Ava couldn't help but smile at the mountain tribe as they joined them, while she followed Steve and Natasha to the front lines. She wanted to know more about Wakanda, especially when it decided to open up to the world. Life just seemed so simple here. Nothing complicated. She didn't have to think about her past. Since being in Wakanda, she'd felt more and more like her own self, and not just her father's experiment. Of course, she hadn't felt like that in a long time, but hiding in hotels for two years wasn't exactly living. Having Steve, Natasha, and Sam with her though was more than helpful. They helped her get through the loss of her sister. She helped them, _especially_ Steve. He hadn't gone to her funeral. She didn't blame him. It wasn't real. Thaddeus Ross had given her an assignment to find Thor and Banner. She chose to find Thor, but got Banner back instead somehow. After Scott and Clint took the deals, which ultimately brought their families a lot closer surprisingly, everything just seemed split for a while. She was grateful to be in the company of Steve Rogers and she wouldn't have it any other way. Ross's idea of her cure wasn't what she had in mind. So she learned to cope with it. She had to. She had to fix her mindset, and try to figure it out on how she could control it. They'd helped her develop a way to use her powers for good and not kill any innocent people anymore. And she was forever grateful for being under Steve's care.

These two years haven't been easy by any means for any of them, but they learned to cope. And while it seemed like a century, Ava refused to believe Zoe was lost forever. She didn't understand her warned vision of Zoe's sudden departure from her, but now she did. It was a way for her to get to Asgard. It was a weird way but a way to try and get everyone back together because it was Zoe's team after all.

And now here Ava was ready to fight those of whom Zoe had come in contact with, unfortunately, to get Vision's mind stone, joined with M'Baku. She heard them chanting beside her and smiled.

Bucky lowered his weapon against his hands, and Ava took her spot beside Steve, close to T'challa who was greeting his fellow tribe members.

Steve, Natasha, and T'Challa walked forward to greet the remaining Black Order that consisted of Cull Obsidian and Proxima Midnight. She was trying to test out the dome that protected them with her sharp blade.

Ava and Bucky looked at one another as they stood beside the army behind them, waiting for orders.

"So. Zoe has a twin," Bucky said softly to her.

Ava smiled. "Fraternal."

"You the only one with enhanced abilities in your family?" he asked.

"As far as I know," she shrugged. Bucky had a look of confusion on his face. Ava smiled lightly at him.

"What's your deal?" Bucky asked.

"My dad tried to find a cure for me my entire life. I was hidden from the world, locked in a confined box," she said.

Bucky nodded. "I know a bit of what that's like."

"Thing is, I'm not really sure how I obtained my abilities. I'd had them for as long as I can remember. My dad brought me over to Strucker's lab as last resort when he found out he'd had one of the infinity stones that could help me. I guess Dad always thought I'd been infected with one of the infinity stones. Sadly, the mind stone did more than just cure me and Strucker said the only way to get the powers out of me was to kill me. He was having none of that. But there was one way that the powers could get out of me was to transfer them into another person. My dad went back to get Zoe, his other daughter, but she killed him out of self-defense when he tried to come at her. Strucker did something to him to make him like that. Normally dad's okay. Not sure what he did to make him crazy, just...he was. He always talked about another daughter, another family he had attended to. Talked about the circus to make me feel like I wasn't alone or indifferent from the world. Anyway, he'd left me in the box ever since, then Zoe found me and now I'm here."

Bucky eyed her up and down curiously, taking all of what she said in.

Meanwhile, Steve, Natasha, and T'Challa reached the border of the plain, making their way to Proxima and Obsidian.

"Where's your other friend?" Natasha asked, noticing that he wasn't with them.

Proxima glared at the Widow. "He will pay for his life with yours," she said. "Thanos will have that stone."

"That's not gonna happen," Steve said confidently.

"You are in Wakanda now. Thanos will have nothing but dust and blood," T'Challa warned.

"We…have blood to spare," she promised and then with a war cry grunt out of her lips she raised her blade in the air, beckoning the Outriders to come forth through the trees from the drop ships behind her and Obsidian.

The drop ships started to move, smoke billowing all around them. Ava swallowed hard, glancing down at her fingertips. It was going to be fine. She could do this. She's trained with Steve before. Hell, she's trained with Steve, Natasha, _and_ Sam. She could handle a couple of aliens…right? She was in uniform thanks to Natasha, so she should be good. And Zoe believed in her. She risked her life to find her and bring her home. She could make her sister proud by doing this.

"They surrender?" Bucky asked, in hopes for a diplomatic solution.

"Not exactly," Steve replied.

"Not _exactly_? Why not exactly?" Zoe repeated questionably from inside the palace, pressing her fingers over her ear-comm that sat within the curved shell of her ear.

"Take a look out the window," Steve replied to her.

Inside the drop ships, the Outriders grew restless ready to fight as they fought and tore each other apart even inside the drop ships.

T'Challa got his men ready in a war cry chant in honor.

Zoe chewed her bottom lip, already staring out at the window and peering through the trees that rustled within the mess that was creating before her. She swallowed hard and felt everything become heavy around her.

"What the hell?" Bucky voiced in shock as they watched the Outriders come out of the drop ship and run on top of one another at Proxima's command.

"Looks like we pissed her off," Natasha said, witnessing the same aliens rushing forward and heading straight for the dome.

"Most definitely," Ava said, blinking at how many.

"Thousands, huh?" Steve asked, giving Ava a sly smirk. Ava shrugged her shoulders at his questionable glance and then he stared back at the front lines.

The six-legged armed Outriders attacked the dome, trying to get inside as they all climbed over on top of each other at a rapid rate. It seemed from what Okoye could observe beside her king was that they were attacking one another just to get to them. They were particularly obedient creatures of Thanos.

"They are killing themselves," Okoye said quite in shock.

Steve listened to everyone's observations, not letting it deter him, as he stared right through Proxima. The corner of her lip curled upward and she smirked at him, trying to freak them out.

Dead. The Outriders were dead, littered on the ground for the ones that could go forward with the attack as they'd managed to break through the dome.

All the tribes got ready with their protective shields and spears. At T'Challa's commands, everyone started firing, including Bucky and Bruce with hulkbuster's firing pulsars at the creatures that were rushing towards them.

Sam and Rhodey were flying high in the sky and already shooting down at them to try and stop them from coming forward. Sam sent out his tiny bird winged missiles at the creatures to keep them down on the ground. The winged missiles struck inside of them, burning a fiery hole inside of them, knocking them out cold.

"Do you see the teeth on those things?!" Sam asked as he'd flown a little too close for his liking. He flew up and around and started shooting them with his guns.

"All right, back up Sam, or you're gunna get your wings singed," Rhodey warned as he started to fire his own, dropping his tiny bombs down at the creatures to make them explode in the air.

"Cap, these things circle the perimeter and they'll get behind us, there's nothing between them and Vision," Bruce warned.

"Then we better keep them in front of us," Steve said.

"How do we do that?" Okoye asked.

T'Challa looked over at Okoye thoughtfully, "We open the barrier," he placed two fingers over his ear. "On my signal open section 17."

"Requesting confirmation my king, you said open the barrier?" the woman asked on the other end of the ear-comm that made Steve look at him.

"On my signal," T'Challa confirmed.

"This will be the end of Wakanda," M'Baku observed worriedly.

"Then it will be the noblest ending in history," Okoye declared.

Steve gripped his arm shield tight at the ready by his side.

Ava realized that now this was it. She inhaled sharply and gathered her energies within her and looked down at her fingertips that started to glow golden embers.

"Ava, I love you," Zoe said suddenly within her ear-com, unable to help it.

"I love you too, little sister," Ava said.

Zoe swallowed hard and tried to smile that her sister was going to battle. She'd been afraid of this moment, but maybe it was time to grow up. "By a mere minute and a half…." She paused and looked down, staring at the plains and the battle that was just beginning. "Thanos killed Mom."

Ava inhaled sharply, and stood her ground, listening to those words in her ears. It'd been Thanos this entire time. Somehow mom had gotten involved. She could only blame her dad of course. Her dad who'd done this to her family. A million things were running inside Ava's mind right now but now wasn't the time. She had to prepare and kill these things.

With T'challa's war cries, barriers of the Wakandan tribe's shields had disappeared, getting them ready for war.

T'Challa crossed his arms over his chest and cried out, "Wakanda forever!"

Everyone repeated and shouted at the same time before they broke into a run. That was Ava's cue to run beside Natasha, Steve, and Bucky, trying to keep up. She was as fast as the hulk if not as fast as the Wakandans running beside her without the super soldiers and the vibranium technology.

"Go!" T'Challa alerted within his wrist bracelet as he was running along side his people. The barriers of the dome released the Outriders and they flew against the plains and headed to face their enemy.

Steve and T'Challa ran ahead and slammed into the Outrider's head first, well shield first in Steve's case.

Ava ran and jumped onto one of the Outrider's that suddenly exploded within the touch of her hand, making her fall onto the plain in a gooey mess.

"Ewe…" she groaned within the mucky mess. "Guess I should have thought of that one."

Steve used his shields, punching an Outrider down. He looked up behind him to see Ava get up and stand her ground, using her golden abilities towards the Outriders. She was using the tips of her fingers as a way to deflect them like a pulse, searing into their minds and trying to make them explode whenever they came in contact her at a rapid pace. When they'd come in contact with her fingers, they would explode all around her, dying off, just with the touch of their shoulder or hand.

"How much longer Shuri?" T'Challa asked finishing his own Outrider.

"I've barely begun, brother," Shuri replied as she was just in the beginning stages of trying to extract the stone from Vision's forehead.

"You might want to pick up the pace," T'Challa said and then whacked another Outrider down on the ground that had tried to attack him.

 **~*AIFW*~**

 **A/n: XD. Another tweak to Ava's abilities. More on her story as well! Hope you guys liked. Thank you for reading! Follows, favorites, and reviews are always welcomed and appreciated!**


	129. Chapter 129: Vision Situation

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the series. I am just writing for fun.**

 **Chapter 129: Vision Situation**

Back on the field, Hulkbuster jumped up and smashed a few more Outriders next to Bucky who was firing away at the enemies that were swarming all over the plains. The Wakandan's fought with integrity and courage, dismantling the creatures the more they appeared.

One Outrider threw a punch across Bucky's face, causing him to knock his gun out of his arms and knocked him over on the ground. The Outrider scrambled over Bucky, trying to tear the super solider apart as Bucky fought hard against the heavy creature on top of him. He could see the sharp razor teeth and smell its breath against him, though he wished not to as he struggled to hold its jaw away from becoming its next meal.

Ava ran over to help him and kicked the creature off of him. The Outrider scurried on the ground and then jumped up towards her, flying over Bucky and onto her. They crash-landed on the ground, but with one golden touch it exploded in her face. She sighed and looked over at Bucky as he got up on his own and picked up his machine gun off the ground. He was about to go to her until another Outrider ran for them. He raised his machine gun and shot at it, knocking it backwards in a heavy heap. Ava smiled.

Meanwhile, Steve and T'Challa were fighting back to back against the Outriders, and Rhodey shot each one that he could see from the air with his own machine guns, trying to keep them from coming in and attacking those fighting on the ground until Obsidian threw his heavy weapon at Rhodey, knocking him on the ground beside one of the Wakandan's.

Proxima and Obsidian have joined the war scene, watching as one of the Outriders grabbed a hold of T'Challa and dragged him down, throwing him across the ground. Ava ran forward and tried to help him. She kicked one of them down, as it came at her, she held out her hand, golden fiery sparks grew more intense as it neared her. She touched its arm and threw him into the other ones, making him explode in a gooey mess. But more kept coming. And Steve was getting trampled with the Outriders as more swept over the plains, covering every inch, as Ava tried to help her fellow teammembers out by trying to fight against them, until one of them saw her run for Steve to help him, and knocked her on the ground. It dragged her and dug its nails into her skin.

"Ah! There's too many of them!" Bruce cried as he got clobbered that seemed like millions of Outriders climbing over him.

Ava clamped her hands around the Outrider that was on top of her and it exploded dead, but more kept coming and trampled onto her as well, keeping her trapped as if she were under a heavy rock. She tried to protect herself, shielding her arms in front of her and just keep her hands in front of her as more of them attacked her. None were surviving but it seemed never ending that they were coming after her and her team mates until something big, bright, and rainbow-y struck down the middle, burning a hole through the skies and touching ground beneath her.

That hot burning light burned every single Outrider that came in contact with, including the Outriders that were attacking the Avengers. And Ava swore she thought she saw an axe at the corner of her eyes with lightning swing around the plains, knocking out more Outriders, ones that were attacking Steve, Hulkbuster, and herself.

Ava blinked within her gooey awful mess as she looked at who'd just appeared in front of them. Holy…. She couldn't believe it but here he was. Thor. God of Thunder. He was here and he wasn't alone. He had a couple of creatures that were with him. Allies perhaps? She'd hoped.

"Aha! You guys are so screwed now!" Bruce cried with happiness. T'Challa, Natasha, and Steve all looked at him with disbelief and mixtures of hope within them.

"Bring me Thanos!" Thor cried as he ran forward with his new axe and two allies that followed him. He jumped up with his axe raised in the air, the skies around him changed, and the blue lightning encased all around him, killing the Outriders out straight, knocking them over to pieces.

Once that side was done, Thor looked over at the fallen Sawyer and jogged over to help her up off the ground, as she seemed to still have a look of shock plastered on her face.

Thor walked over to help Ava up. "You're the enhanced one right?" he asked.

Ava smiled at him. "How'd you guess?"

Thor looked her up and down, realizing she was a mess from the exploding Outriders. She jumped up and hugged him unable to help it. He chuckled, hugging her back. "It's good to see you too Daughter of Saw."

~*IFW*~

Shuri was still working on trying to get the stone free from Vision's mind. The room was still intense, but Zoe was by Wanda's side, watching her and hoping that this would work. She saw the look on Wanda's face, and placed a comforting hand over her arm, giving it a gentle squeeze. Wanda nodded and closed her eyes, wanting to believe that it was going to be okay, especially since Thor was back.

~*IFW*~

Obsidian's long retractable arms with his weapons on each shot out to the ground and caused dirt and soil to fly up in the air, knocking over some Wakandan warriors as they fought like hell and attempted to fight back. T'Challa was already on it as he jumped up and flew towards him with a heavy punch that he'd hoped would stop knocking down his warriors with a power punch. T'Challa managed to knock Obsidian down.

Racoon used his own machine gun and shot at the Outriders at every angle that came at him with a war cry of his own, "Ahh! Come and get some space dogs!"

With Bucky right next to him, he saw that they were speeding up towards the little guy, and so he picked up Raccoon and twirled them both around while they shot at each Outrider coming towards them at a dangerous speed.

"Come on! Get some! Get some!" Raccoon shouted in mid-fire until they were all dead.

Bucky dropped him on his feet. Racoon looked up at the super soldier, kind of impressed by his style. "How much for the gun?"

Bucky went back to shooting at the oncoming Outriders, "Not for sale," he replied.

"How much for the arm?"

Bucky flicked his eyes down at him and gave him a dry look as if to say 'yeah right' and just walked away.

"Oh, I'll get that arm," Racoon promised.

Across the plains, Thor whacked his own set of Outriders away with his axe, Storm breaker. Ava fought beside him along with Steve as she held her hands out in front of her, this time twirling her hands around and holding the Outrider's still in their trek so she could steal their souls and send them down below. They dropped dead once the soul was free from its shell.

"New haircut?" Steve asked.

Thor smirked at the Captain. "Notice you've copied my beard," he ran his fingers over his own.

Steve nodded and waved his arm-shield at him. Then he noticed what Ava was looking at. Thor's tree friend had struck his roots into several Outriders and raised them up in the air.

"Oh, by the way," Thor turned around to see tree doing his thing as if that was a normal every day thing to him. "This is a friend of mine, Tree."

"I am Groot!" Tree growled in greeting.

Ava raised an eyebrow and her mouth dropped completely. And here she thought she'd seen everything.

"I am Steve Rogers," Steve greeted, pointing to himself.

Ava couldn't help but laugh, even among the circumstances they were in. Tree was definitely something.

 **~*IFW*~**

In the midst of work, Shuri looked up from the holographic design with Vision's stone that was attached to him, hearing something from the distance that seemed to rattle the building. Zoe felt it too. She looked up and saw Wanda walk over to the windows. Zoe walked over and joined Wanda's side, watching the green foliage of the forest shake and start to fall. Even the ground shook until something popped up from underneath it. More heavy machine ships sped through the dome causing everyone including T'Challa to fall back. Wanda looked at Zoe with wide eyes and Zoe swallowed hard. She knew the look that Wanda had and she wasn't sure if she should let her go, but if she didn't….lives could be lost.

"Go, I'll keep an eye on Vision," Zoe promised.

"Thank you. I'll be right back, Vis," Wanda said sincerely as the Scarlet Witch left the palace.

Zoe looked down worriedly as her people started to run back.

~*IFW*~

"Focus on firing the left flank, Sam!" Rhodey insisted, racing towards the bigger drop ships that looked like wheels and spikes that were coming towards them.

"I'm doing it!" Sam replied back as he flew towards one of them, aiming his guns at the wheels digging into the soil.

Natasha and Okoye were fighting an Outrider on the other side of the field side by side as fierce as they could until the wheels suddenly headed straight for them. They ducked, crouching down, and thought they were going to get trampled but Scarlet Witch had jumped down in full power mode, using her red fiery magic and powers to hold them down and tear them apart. Using her full powers and energies she raised them up and looked behind her noticing the Outriders running, and then brought them down on the creatures that ended those wheels from hurting anyone else.

Natasha smiled thankfully at Wanda's appearance.

Okoye twirled her spear around and looked at Natasha, "Why was she up there all this time?"

Watching the scene from afar, Proxima turned to her wrist, "She's on the field, take it."

~*IFW*~

Hidden within the dark corners of the room, Corvius Glaive emerged at Proxima's orders and struck one of the guards that had been guarding the room. Shuri looked behind her suddenly as she was tapping into the holographic mind stone, alerting her that they were not alone.

Hearing a sudden commotion, Zoe looked up from Vision's table in the other room, moved forward, "Shuri? Everything okay?" she called for her.

"Stay there," Shuri insisted as she continued working on the stone. She wasn't finished yet.

Zoe grimaced and looked down at Vision as he winced at how fast Shuri was going, trying to finish her work.

Nope. Zoe was never good at following orders. She wasn't going to stay right there.

"Stay here," she told Vision. She patted Vision's shoulder before she left him and headed into the adjacent room only to find Glaive attack Shuri. Shuri was fighting back. "Shuri!" Zoe yelled in horror as Glaive pushed her over the platform, breaking the glass. Glaive was about to attack Shuri but Zoe stood in front of him with a spear she'd picked up from the Dora.

"You want to get to her, you're gunna have to go through me, Glaive," she hissed at him. Glaive narrowed his eyes at her pressuring his strength with his weapon against hers.

Suddenly Vision ran towards them, knocking Zoe right into Glaive's chest, and knocking the spear out of her hands. Vision didn't mean to get Zoe involved but to get Glaive away from Shuri, he flew them both out of the window. Zoe nearly fell off of Vision, but she scrambled, holding onto Vision's legs for dear life.

"Guys! We got a Vision situation here!" Sam said, noticing the mess that was happening inside the palace till he was suddenly hit.

"Somebody get to Vision!" Steve called into the ear-comm.

"I'm already on it, Steve!" Zoe cried out as she held onto Vision in the air.

"Zoe?" Steve asked, punching down another Outrider hard.

Zoe replied by a slight grunt as she tried to reach for Glaive's weapon while falling fifty feet towards the ground. "Sort of," she added, trying to grab the weapon but nearly fell. She panicked and screamed, but clung onto Vision.

"I got him!" Bruce said as he raced to rush after him inside the Hulkbuster.

"Right behind ya!" Ava said, breaking into a run, pushing her way through the Outriders that exploded each time she touched them with her fingers.

"I'm on my way," Wanda said. And she was about to go after him until Proxima whacked her with the edge of her blade, causing her to fly down the hill.

Proxima stormed down towards her and hover over her as she was about to kill her, rolling her over to stare down at the Scarlet Witch once and for all. "He'll die alone. As will you."

"She's not alone," Natasha said.

Proxima narrowed her eyes at the irritating voice and turned around to face the Widow. She turned to see Okoye twirl her spear and point it directly at her. Proxima glared, and raised her own weapon ready to fight them both.

Natasha nodded towards Okoye, plan infused and ran after her, weapons clashed as they fought one another. Okoye ran on the other side of the hill and jumped up with her spear to attack.

~*IFW*~

Zoe breathed in and out as she picked herself up off the ground and looked up at Glaive's advances on Vision. Vision was crawling backwards away from him. Zoe picked herself up and ran after Glaive. She jumped up and attempted to attack him from behind to slow him down. She sneered down in his ear, "I said, you're going to have to get through me."

Glaive smirked and peeled her off of her as if she were a bug and flipped her over on her back, landing right next to Vision, causing her to cry out in alarm at the harsh drop. At the corner of her eyes, she spotted Obsidian's weapon head straight for Vision. She gasped and turned to cover herself to protect Vision from the blast, though he turned around to protect her instead as they both landed against the tree no thanks to Obsidian's weapon. Vision looked down at her as she breathed heavily from the hit. She looked up at him. She grimaced and attempted to get up, using Vision's help. She stood on her feet, trying to keep steady. She pulled out a tiny knife from the inside pocket of her boot. She looked down at it and then at the two tall monsters in front of her. She grimaced. She was no match for them at all. Maybe Steve was right this time.

Bruce jumped in front of them, protecting them, holding out the palms of his hands towards them. "Oh no, oh no you don't. This isn't gunna be like New York pal, this suit's already kicked the crap out of the Hulk!"

"Bruce!" Zoe cried out as Obsidian had locked onto the Hulkbuster and flew over to a waterfall cove.

Zoe rushed forward towards Glaive when he advanced on them, but he held onto his weapon in front of him, protecting himself. She stabbed him in the side, but it wasn't enough. Only a drop of blood dropped to the ground that seemed to anger him. Glaive picked at her knife and tossed it over to the bushes. He shoved his weapon forward towards her until she reached for it and gripped onto it tight. She kept digging her heels into the ground to keep him from getting to Vision, trying to use all what strength she had, which wasn't much, to keep Glaive at bay. He pressed down onto her effectively, causing Zoe to cry out when her left leg caught against a rock. She winced. Shit. Not that one. Noticing the not so stable leg she had, Glaive pushed harder, hoping to break her, but she was trying to hold on. Finally he raised the weapon in the air including Zoe with it and tossed her across the clearing of leaves, making her land hard on the ground, knocking her out.

"Guys! Zoe and Vision need back up now! Hulk, Hulk, I know you like making your entrances at the last second, but this is it man, this is the last last second!" he said while he fought Obsidian.

"NO!" Hulk cried out after Hulkbuster's arm got torn off.

"Oh screw you, you big green asshole, I'll do it myself!" Hulkbuster ran forward at Obsidian, jumped up and smashed him in the head. Hit him a couple of times till they were at a stalemate and Obsidian threw him down in the water. Hulkbuster reached for the arm to deflect his blow and smirked, pressing the button. "See ya!" he said, sending Obsidian up in the air high towards the dome that ultimately ended his life, stripping him away to oblivion.

Bruce sighed, "Hulk, we got a lot to figure out, pal."

~*IFW*~

Proxima and Natasha fought against one another until one of the wheels flew around them. She looked up and then kicked Natasha down on the ground, effectively knocking Okoye as well.

~*IFW*~

"I thought you were a formidable machine," Glaive said, holding Vision in his grasp. Vision tried to get out of his tight grip, but it was too late. His weapon had struck his side, causing him to phase. "But you'll die like any man."

Zoe looked up from the ground at the cry out of Vision's lips. Her eyes fluttering open as her vision of the forest came to. She saw Glaive hovering over Vision and she coughed, pressing her shaking hand to her ear-comm, "Steve," she called out, wincing as everything hurt from the beating she took. She tried to get up but then she stumbled back down again.

"Steve!" she shouted again.

When everything seemed lost, Steve came running through the trees. Zoe turned to see him run forward and knock Glaive down and away from Vision, knocking his weapon on the ground. "Get out of here!" Steve called to Vision. "Zoe, take him out of here!"

Zoe blinked and grimaced, trying to pick herself up at Steve's orders. But she'd noticed Glaive's weapon on the ground. She looked over at Vision, steadying himself on the log, barely moving.

"Go!" Steve called back to them after knocking Glaive to the ground. Zoe glanced worriedly at Vision. She winced, and picked herself up off the ground, placing her hand to her head. She attempted to walk over to Vision and help him up, stumbling forward over her own self-injuries. She had to keep going. She couldn't give up now. It wasn't in her nature to.

"You heard the man, come on," she said, attempting to help Vision but he was hesitating, eyeing the fight between Glaive and Steve.

"Are you even all right? You can barely walk," Vision said to Zoe. Zoe frowned.

She shook her head. It wasn't that bad. "So can you. But, it's not about me, it's about you. And when the man says go, we go."

~*IFW*~

Natasha held her weapons back in her hands, glaring at Proxima as they faced one another. Proxima raised her blade attempting to slice Natasha's face but she flung back, and blocked her blows. Proxima was leading the upper hand even though Natasha had broken one of her blades, Proxima knocked her down and hovered over her with one last blade and attempted to nick her neck. Instead, Natasha used her sticks to block her. Proxima pushed forward until Wanda stopped her with her magic, holding the woman in place from destroying Natasha all together. She picked Proxima in the air and flung her into the wheel that flew over them, causing her to explode in a gooey mess, as some of it had gotten on Natasha's forehead.

She leaned down and looked at Wanada as she sat back down in a heavy heap, looking over at her shoulder to see if Okoye was okay.

"That was really gross," Natasha said.

"Welcome to my world, ladies," Ava said over ear-comm, making Natasha smirk at her dry comment.

~*IFW*~

Zoe leaned against Vision, as the two stayed by the log. Steve was engaged with Glaive, who had gotten his weapon back. Steve was trying to keep Glaive away from Vision. Zoe never felt more helpless in her life than just now. But Steve was right, they had to get out of here regardless.

She looked over at Steve advancing on Glaive. He whacked him with one of his arm-shield's in the head. Glaive swung his weapon at Steve's head, but Steve ducked and caught against Glaive's weapon with his shield as it flew to the ground.

Vision and Zoe looked at one another and then at the weapon. Glaive grabbed onto Steve's neck tightly and flew him to the ground in the same fashion he'd thrown Zoe before.

"Oh no you don't," Zoe said, watching Glaive advance on her boyfriend. Knowing Vision was going to get the weapon, since he was closest to it, she inhaled sharply, trying to gain some more momentum. She scrambled back onto her feet and ran as fast as she could, fighting every pressure point she faced to stop Glaive from attacking Steve even further. She slid in between them and right as Glaive was going to reach for Steve's neck, he grabbed Zoe's instead. Glaive snarled at her, glaring as she'd interrupted his kill. "You have to go through me." And crush her neck, he will. He tightened her vocal chords, in which Zoe fought to breathe. She cried out.

Steve reached out and held onto Glaive's wrists, trying to stop his hold from choking Zoe. Steve dug his fingers into Glaive's skin, trying to make him loose his grip on her. Glaive pressed down onto her and into Steve's chest, but Steve gripped tight onto Glaive's wrists, trying to crush his bones and tear his hands away before he could choke Zoe to death.

She could feel herself turning blue. She let out a cry as she almost felt like she was going to loose until she saw the blade strike into Glaive's chest, blood splattering on Zoe's face that caused her to open her eyes. She looked up in awe as Vision pulled Glaive off of them.

Zoe coughed out and rolled off of Steve.

Vision held Glaive in the air, killing him effectively. Vision sighed out of breath and fell to the ground. Zoe reached over towards Vision and leaned onto Steve for support as he helped her up off the ground.

Then they moved to help Vision.

"I thought I told you to go," Steve said, as he picked up Vision off of the ground.

"We don't trade lives Captain," Vision said.

Steve glanced at Zoe pointedly.

Zoe widened her eyes as if it were her fault. "In my defense I told him to stay there."

Vision nodded curtly at Steve. Yes she did.

Steve sighed at her.

"You really are something aren't you?" Steve asked Zoe.

"Well, I couldn't just let him kill either of you," she coughed in between, "I had to improvise." she said and then looked up at the trees with a groan. "Ugh. I think I'm gunna invest in a jet pack," she said. Sam seemed to have the right idea.

Steve raised an eyebrow at her.

"A vibranium _powered_ jet pack," she corrected.

The corners of his lips curl into a small smile. "That's my girl," Steve said.

 **~*IFW*~**

 **A/n: So that was probably one of the toughest chapters yet? I tried to keep it going as best as I can. I do apologize if it seemed choppy as often action sequences go. I did my best! Follows, favorites, and reviews are always welcomed and loved. Thank you so much for reading! More updates soon!  
**


	130. Chapter 130: Thanos Wins

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the saga. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 130: Thanos Wins**

Out on the battlefield, Thor was taking out the drop ships with Stormbreaker, while Wanda had joined Steve, Zoe, and Vision in the forest.

Zoe leant on Steve for support while Wanda rushed over to her Vision leaning against the log.

"Are you okay?" she asked, gently kneeling down beside him. She cradled his cheek within the palm of her hand.

But in return, she was met with a cry of agony, as his stone buzzed against his forehead, probably like a mean old headache. Zoe winced at the sound, wishing he didn't have to feel that.

"What? What is it?" Wanda asked.

Vision attempted to breath out, while he phased. He looked over at his shoulder as if Thanos should pop out any moment. "He's here."

Zoe widened her eyes at Vision's warning signal, and pressed her hand onto Steve's chest worriedly. His gloved hand covered hers in a protective move, but it was time to be the Captain again.

Zoe looked up at the sky, all of a sudden feeling a chill slide down her spine, making her shiver. Leaves fell off the trees as if wind was starting to pick up around them. An eerie feeling swept over them. Steve reluctantly pulled apart, and stepped in front of Zoe in a protective manner. He pressed his finger against his ear-comm,

"Everyone on my position. We have in-coming," Steve warned. Everyone stood at the ready at Steve's command as though they were waiting for flies of locusts to wrap them all up and swallow them whole.

"What the hell?" Natasha asked, standing beside Sam and Ava, looking up at the skies.

Ava stayed closed to Sam, feeling extremely awkward. She didn't like this at all.

T'Challa and Okoye were together, waiting, worrying as they looked up wondering where this eerie feeling was entering Wakanda's atmosphere.

It was way too quiet for Zoe's tastes that was for sure, but it didn't stay quiet for long. A cluster of cloud and lightning formed and broke through the fabric of their reality and entered the forest, revealing nothing more than a big and purple Titan dressed in golden armor and had the gauntlet as a glove. Same one who killed her mother. Same one who practically caused havoc for the entire world and the entire universe…same one who only seemed to care about his self.

Zoe swallowed hard and looked behind her, sharing a look with Wanda, seeing the fear in the poor girl's eyes as she steadied her magic in her hands.

"Cap?" Bruce asked. "That's him."

Zoe looked over at Steve, waiting to see what he'd do next.

"Eyes up," Steve said, getting his shield ready. He reached for a weapon in one of boot pockets and handed it to Zoe. "Stay sharp," he said, giving one last look at her before he took off running for Thanos.

"Bout time," Zoe said to herself as she pressed the button on her weapon and it extracted out on both ends. She twirled it in the air, watching the electric blue sizzle against the wand, ready to fight. It was reminiscent of her old spear. Good. She wanted to hurt Thanos where it hurt the most.

First Bruce in Hulkbuster attempted to fight him, but with the space stone he didn't even touch him and tossed him to the side like a ragdoll, crushing the machine, rendering useless.

Then he used the power stone against Zoe and Steve and tossed them slowly as purple electricity covered over them and tossed to them on the side, landing in a pile of dirt with Steve on top of Zoe.

Then it was T'Challa who ran after him, trying his best to get a whack at Thanos, and as he jumped high in the sky, charging at him, Thanos reached up and grabbed his neck, choking him nearly to death. He threw a big punch at him on the ground instead effectively.

Sam came flying in with his machine guns, firing at Thanos with a cry of his own, while Ava ran underneath Sam's wings, fingers glowing gold and ready to end him once and for all, but somehow one of Sam's machine guns had turned on him and his wing got hit, causing him to fly down, stalling Ava in her trek. Thanos grinned at her and used one of the stones to brush her away into one of the near by bushes and have the branches wrap around her tight, using them like rope.

"Wanda?" Vision asked.

Wanda turned behind her and looked at him worriedly.

"It's time," he said.

"No," Wanda gritted her teeth together, trying to fight what she had to do to stop Thanos.

"They can't stop him Wanda, but we can," Vision said, reaching for her. "Look at me," he said, making her turn around. Wanda shook within his arms and looked at him sadly. "You have the power to destroy the stone. You must do it. Wanda please," he said, pleading with her as she struggled to fight it. She didn't want to give up on him. Not now. Not when they were so close. Her lips were trembling as she faced him and placed the palm of her hand over his cheek. He covered his hand with hers.

"We are out of time," he said.

She shook her head. "I can't," she whispered painfully.

"Yes you can," Vision insisted and held her hand in front of him. "If he gets the stone, half the universe dies. It's not fair. It shouldn't be you, but it is." She stood back, trying to hold back her tears that were threatening to fall as her lips trembled. "It's all right. You can never hurt me. I just feel you."

Wanda stood back, holding onto her emotions, but when he said those words that warmed her heart, she swallowed hard, and prepared her magic that flowed through her. She let her magic flow out of the palm of her hand as it beamed towards his stone. Vision felt the power reach him.

Rhodey was trying his best against Thanos, but he crushed his machine and tossed him toward the ground while Wanda attempted to destroy Vision's stone.

Bucky came running in, crying out as he shot his machine gun at Thanos, trying to kill him with Natasha and Okoye running behind him.

Thanos turned toward the super soldier and used the power stone against him, knocking him over. Okoye threw her spear at Thanos but he held it in the air with the powers of the stone and he used it to toss her away from him. Natasha slid in from the side after Okoye but was soon lifted up and then covered by soil and tree trunks, keeping her still on the ground like a cage.

Groot dropped his branches to the ground, making them longer and shot them out towards Thanos to cover him up, but he broke the branch chains and dismantled Groot.

Watching worriedly, Wanda used more power to hurry up and destroy the stone while everyone bought her some time against Thanos.

Steve jumped in and slid in front of Thanos, knocking him off course, while Zoe cut Ava free from the branches. Steve used his shields against Thanos, knocking his sides and then his chin until Thanos knocked one of his shields out of his wrists. Steve then raised his fists up to hit him but with Thanos's gauntlet he was able to powerfully use his strength and stop Steve from using his. Steve fought with all of his might against Thanos, holding his gauntlet in place. Zoe looked over at them as she disentangled Ava from the branches.

Steve flew down on the ground from a heavy punch received by Thanos's fist.

Once free from the bushes, the two Sawyer women ran at him. Thanos saw the girls come at him and Ava was about to attack him with her hand till he whacked her in the face hard with the gauntlet, knocking her out on the ground. He picked up Zoe off the ground and looked into her eyes, chocking her neck. She stared right back at him. With a small smirk, he let her go, and dropped her on the ground. Zoe gasped out for air. She watched him walk over to Wanda. Wanda turned around at Zoe's cry of warning and she used her other hand to stop Thanos, as her magic beam shot out from the palm of her hand and towards him as he pushed against her powers.

Zoe picked her self up and ran after Thanos again. She knew Wanda could hold her own and was powerful enough to starve him off but she still needed time and Thanos wasn't getting away with it. Thanos turned around and stopped Zoe with the power stone holding her in place until he tossed her all the way back towards Steve.

"It's all right, it's all right," Vision was saying to Wanda the more power she used against the stone and Thanos. "I love you."

And with that said, the power of the mind stone blew to pieces, causing both Wanda and Thanos to fly down from the power, blowing out of the trees.

Thanos sighed, breathing heavily at the ordeal he just had to endure in, while Wanda mourned over the loss of Vision.

"Hmm," Thanos said, walking closer towards her. "I understand my child, better than anyone."

Wanda shook within her tears as she glared up at him. "You could never."

Thanos placed a hand on top of her head as though it were a comfort while she broke out in tears. "Today I lost more than you can know. But now is no time to mourn. Now there's no time at all," he said and turned toward the gauntlet to wield the power of time. Green sparks of energy curled around the gauntlet like a bracelet and turned time just enough so that Vision was back alive.

"NO!" she screamed and went to go after him, but Thanos smacked her back down on the ground. He reached for Vision and picked him up, choking him until he reached into his forehead and picked out the mind stone with his two fingers. Thanos then tossed a dead Vision on the ground.

No sooner than did Thanos place the mind stone inside the gauntlet and felt its power surge through him, making him whole again did Thor toss his axe, aiming for his heart, and come flying down with bolts of lightning around him. Thor touched down on the ground and clutched onto the axe's handle. The axe effectively flung through the power of the gauntlet that was shined at him and stopped Thanos.

Thor walked closer toward him and held the back of Thanos's head. "I told you, you'd die for that." He shoved Stormbreaker in his chest causing Thanos to cry out in agony.

Thanos barely breathed as he slowly turned upward to face his attacker. "You shoulda…you should have gone for the head," he said, reaching for Thor's tunic and then snapped his fingers with the gauntlet.

"NO!" Thor cried.

Everything went blank for a brief minute and then Thor looked down at the crushed gauntlet in his hands with smoke coming out of it.

"What did you do?" Thor demanded. "What did you do?!"

Thanos didn't respond. Instead he used what power the gauntlet had left and disappeared into a cloud of black and purple smoke again, letting Stormbreaker drop to the ground.

Clutching his side, and Zoe's, Steve and Zoe sauntered over to Thor. Ava wasn't too far behind them, looking down at Stormbreaker with Thanos's blood on it.

"Where'd he go?" Steve asked. He turned around and then looked back at the God of Thunder with a million questions in his mind. "Thor?"

Zoe pressed her lips together worriedly as she too stared at the God of Thunder for answers.

"Where'd he go?" Steve asked again.

"Steve?" Bucky suddenly said, causing Steve and Zoe to look at Bucky as he started to loose his metal arm and then the rest of his body crumble into dust except for the machine gun that dropped on the ground.

Zoe's lips dropped open at Bucky's disappearance. Steve disentangled himself from Zoe and walked over towards the dust, wondering where'd Bucky had gone. He knelt down on his knees and Zoe looked over at her sister with a frown before she walked over to investigate with him.

Steve looked up at her worriedly and she shook her head, indicating that she wasn't going anywhere. He reached for her with his gloved hand as though she might disappear, and held onto her. "I can't do this again, Zo, I can't, I can't," Steve said, his own lips trembling, and she tried to assure him that she was staying and wasn't going to disappear like Bucky did.

"I'm not…" Zoe began to say.

"Zoe?" Ava asked. The color on Zoe's face turned milk white. Her heart nearly stopped. She was frozen, but she made herself pull away from her fear and turned only to see that Ava was also disappearing from this world.

Zoe moved away from Steve and rushed over to Ava as Ava tried to hold onto Thor's fingers to keep from disappearing herself.

"Ava!" she cried, watching her own sister disappear and turn into dust just like Bucky had. She tried to hold onto her down to Ava's last hair strand, getting some of the gooey mess onto her fingers.

"I'm sorry I disappointed you," Ava said, feeling herself dissapear from the world. Zoe looked into her sister's eyes and shook her head as she turned to dust. Zoe looked down at her fingers and then at the disappearance of her sister

Zoe covered her mouth in shock, looking at the God of Thunder for answers, but he didn't seem to have any either.

Across the fields, half of the Wakandan warriors began to disappear even as T'Challa tried to warn his fellow warriors and his best in command, Okoye, "This is no place to die," he tried to get to her, but it was too late. He too, disappeared right in front of her that shocked the holy hell out of her.

"I am Groot," Groot said as he disappeared in front of Racoon inside the forest. He turned to leaves and dust.

"No, no, no!" Racoon cried as he rushed after Groot. "Groot!"

Wanda disappeared, leaving Vision behind.

Sam disappeared, crouched on the ground.

"Sam!" Rhodey cried out as he tried to find his friend. He'd just missed him. "Sam, where you at?"

Okoye stood alone in the forest, face in knots as she tried to hold in her fears of where her king had gone. Rhodey wasn't too far away from her.

By the time Natasha came running back to join the remaining members of her team, she noticed they were few and far in between, Steve pulled Vision's body over. Zoe stood beside Thor, looking at him worriedly. Racoon, Rhodey, and Bruce were the only ones on their team that had survived, as far as she knew. She could only pray and hope that Tony made it out alive as well. But she knew deep down, something had gone wrong in the universe.

Steve sat back down on the ground as Rhodey came forward. "What is this? What the hell is happening?"

Zoe bit her lower lip and looked at Thor, eyeing him quietly as she listened to Rhodey's questions that were on everyone's minds. Did their plan just go south? Zoe swallowed hard at her own questions in mind. Deep, _deep_ south.

"Oh God," Steve breathed out, looking over at Zoe and she looked back at him, not wanting to meet his eyes.

~*IFW*~

 **New York City**

"Still no word from Stark?" Fury asked hill.

"No not yet," Hill replied. "We're watching every satellite on both hemispheres. Still nothing."

"Not even from our girl?" Fury asked.

"No. She went offline a few months ago," Hill replied.

"Damn it, how many times do I gotta I tell her not to go rogue," Fury cursed in the driver's seat of the SUV.

"You know that's how she likes it," Hill said. "I taught her well."

"Yeah, I don't like it. I taught her to act in a team," Fury recalled.

"Well, at least we know who she's with," Hill reminded him. Fury tightened his jaw.

A beeping noise went off in the car.

"What is it?" Fury asked.

"Multiple boogies," Hill said, getting the reading. "Over Wakanda," she said looking over at him with a look.

"Same energy signature as New York?" Fury asked.

"Ten times bigger," she replied.

"Tell Klein we'll meet him at-"

A car came screeching in front of them, causing Hill to stop him in mid-sentence. "Nick!" she reached for him and Fury swerved the car over, zooming right into the other one. He looked at Hill before he got out of the car. Hill walked over to the front of the vehicle only to find it empty.

"They okay?" Fury asked.

"There's no one here," she said. Fury turned at the sound of a helicopter behind him. Hill spun around and watched the helicopter swerve and fly into a building as dust seemed to be flying out of the windows, causing an explosion to wreck havoc on the city. People started running.

"Call control. Code Red. And get me Zoe Sawyer on the damn phone," Fury said.

"Nick," Hill said, as she was unable to do her job. Fury turned around only to see half of her gone, turning into dust.

"Hill?" he asked, but she completely disappeared.

Fury's eye widened and he marched right back over to the car and pulled out a bag from the backseat. He pulled out a beeper from the bag and ran behind the vehicle to type in an SOS.

He got it just in time because he too… "Oh no...mother…fu…" disappeared into dust, along with half of New York.

 **~*IFW*~**

 **Zoe will Return to kick Thanos's ass**

 **A/n:** **((cries)) I want chocolate now. I'll give you all some chocolate. I'm sorry. And I couldn't write the scene with Peter, it was just too painful to write. I mean after Wanda and Vision?! ((sniffle)) Ugh. This ending gets me every time. I hope you liked it lovelies. I can't believe we're at the end already! Thank you all for reading. I applaud those who have stuck it out and read through this long multiple-chapter story. Thank you so much. It means a lot and I may do some clean up editing and grammar in the future, maybe. I'll let you guys know but anyway hope I did okay. Thank you!**


	131. Chapter 131: After Snap

**A/n: So…a tiny prelude. I felt like I had to write a Zoe & Steve moment in there for you guys! I was waiting until the trailer dropped so I could tie it in, but maybe I'll add a little something before that while we're all waiting. It's the holidays after all. :) Enjoy guys! Btw, thank you ALL for following, favoriting, and reviewing. It means the world to me! Also, spoilers for Antman & the Wasp. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the series. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 131: After Snap**

The energy in the palace was quite somber. Half of Wakanda disappeared. Half of the entire world just disappeared. Thanos went into hiding. No one knew where he was. Bucky disappeared. Wanda disappeared. Sam disappeared. King T'Challa was gone. Vision was dead. Tony is nowhere to be found. Scott isn't answering his phone calls. Did he disappear too?

Something was wrong. Something was...different about the world. About the situation and Zoe Sawyer was worried.

The feeling of worrisome was starting to kick in. Starting to? It didn't leave. It's always been there at least for Zoe Sawyer. Ever since she could remember. It hasn't left. Was there a single moment in her life when she didn't worry about something?

She thought back for a brief moment in her mind.

" _Oh, damn I'm out," Clint said. "Want to go inside and get a drink with me?"_

 _Zoe rolled her eyes, "But I like it out here, it's the only place in A-tower where I feel normal."_

 _Clint scoffed and grabbed her elbow within his arm and dragged her away from the friendly balcony, "You're not going to mingle like that, come on."_

A small smile appeared on her lips. Yeah, Clint had been partially drunk that night, maybe a little bit more than partially, and the night was still young. Very young. Little did they know that Ultron would be making his appearance soon to try and extinct her avengers.

Well…Thanos has managed to extinct half of them.

Maybe Tony's Raft wasn't such a bad idea…. Zoe thought but then shook her head and scolded herself. No, Zoe, don't be ridiculous.

She strolled down the hall, and stalled at an office, where she heard the sound of a newscaster blasting through the walls. Pursing her lips together, she backtracked her steps and poked her head through the cracked door, looking at who was inside. It was Steve. His dark eyes were drawn to the TV with the words scrolling across the screen, typically titled, "WHERE ARE THE AVENGERS?"

Zoe looked around the typical office for a remote. She picked up the silver remote that looked like it came from the future and pointed it to the TV, shutting the damn thing off.

"You'll drown in it, you know," Zoe said lightly and placed the remote back down on the smooth wooden desk that took up half the space of the room. She sat herself upon the edge of the desk and crossed her legs, dressed in a black pencil skirt, with a black scooped neck top and wore a big fashionable belt in the front. After the snap, after the battle, after the devastating loss, she cleaned up. It took her awhile, it took everyone awhile to get their bearings straight, to get everything straight…

Steve inhaled a short breath and looked up at her before he flicked his eyes back to the black screen TV.

"They're right," he let out a tired sigh from his lips. In Steve typical fashion, he closed his fist and leaned his chin against it, eyes glossy as if he hadn't slept a week. "I'm sure Coulson's rolling in his grave right now. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think of that man."

"Me too," Zoe agreed.

Silence.

Silence. Tension. Steve felt heavy guilt in his heart and the weight of the world on his shoulders. Zoe felt it too. He wasn't alone. And all she could do right now was to just be there for him. And that's exactly what she was going to do. She wasn't going to run away. She wasn't going to turn her back. She was going to be the real Zoe Sawyer and just be her. And now, the only place where she ever felt normal was right here with Steve Rogers.

She placed her hand on top of his and gave it a gentle squeeze. He looked up at her and tightened her hand just a bit, not enough to break it, but enough to absorb her warmth that he desperately craved after a loss…he never lost a battle. _Never_.

 **~*Avengers*~**

 **A/n: So, just a little something. :) Kinda needed a Zoe and Steve moment! Thank you all for reading! Follows, favorites, and reviews are always welcomed!**


	132. Chapter 132: Preluding Endgame

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the MCU. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **A/n: Hey guys. So I watched the new Avengers 4 trailer and I've seen it at least 15 times already in counting, spoilers for this chapter if you all are ready! I want to see if I can do like short one-shot bits in between, like monthly updates, and also depending on how many trailers we get set for April. So if you're ready, let's go and enjoy! Also, thank you so much for the recent follows, favorites, & reviews. I love you all. :) Trailer tribute!**

 **Chapter 131: Prelude to Endgame**

Zoe thought it'd be a good idea to head back to the facilities in New York. It may be the only safest place right now for them without General Ross knowing, or if he was even around. The Wakandan palace was practically a tomb. With Shuri gone, and half of Wakanda gone, they didn't have any resources left there and the guilt continued to weigh on them for that heavily like an anvil weighing on their shoulders. So, they took the trip back to the facility where they could be a little bit more resourceful. At least that's where Zoe's old information stuff would be, and maybe just maybe she could find out what she missed.

Natasha was already putting out a hit for how many of their people survived the snap.

Zoe couldn't bring herself to tell Pepper about Tony, so Bruce was going to inform her. Zoe was reeling in from the loss of her sister.

That list was going to take awhile, so Zoe sat in her bed, looking at her phone, staring at the empty calls she had. She kept going back and forth between two of her favorite people in the world: Clint and Scott. She already lost one brother, Tony, and she didn't want to loose anymore.

She lost her mom, her dad, her sister, Tony, Bucky… just thinking about the list made her choke up. If anyone could give her a good pep talk it would be Clint. If he was still around...God, she hoped he was still around...

She lost everyone.

And she didn't know how to deal.

How to cope.

The loss made her dizzy and feel disconnected.

She couldn't loose anyone else.

She didn't know how'd she feel if she did.

It was a nightmare, a terrible nightmare, and she had nightmares before where her mother and her sister had an argument right after nearly loosing her mother to a brain tumor, and then having her mom storm out with Zoe trapped and helpless trying to diffuse the situation, but then loosing to everything crumbling around her, making her feel so small because she got yelled at only for wanting to try and be peaceful. In the dream, Zoe's mom then realized what she did and wanted to apologize to her sister, but her sister said you needed to apologize to Dad because it was his birthday and that was the nightmare.

But they weren't her nightmares. They had to be Ava's or something like that. Either way, the nightmare was terrible, stuck like that for what it seemed like eons and she didn't know how to piece it back together because Ava apparently refused to talk to her mom without realizing the side effects and what her mom was probably dealing with. Maybe it'd been a memory inject or something like that to help with Ava's daily experiments between her father and Strucker. Sometimes she'd get them, twin telepathy? They scared her at times, and this started after the snap. She hadn't told Steve because honestly he had a enough on his plate and she didn't want him to worry about her especially when it was just a weird twin connection thing that she never experienced before.

Zoe didn't remember having a family when Ava dreamed about that particular recurring nightmare. She remembered her father's PTSD and his outbursta from his own broken psyche no thanks to HYDRA. Zoe wondered, always wondered why he went dark. Of course the story goes from what Fury had told her was that Richard was his eyes and ears, like father, like daughter. But was there something more to that? Ava's cure, possibly...but in the end, neither HYDRA nor SHIELD had the answers. They were just pieces of a puzzle.

The most she ever remembered was going to Coney Island with her parents and her parents leaving her there for another showing of none other than Hawkeye. She admired the great Hawkeye, Master Swordsman. She looked up to him and his fierceness. He made her feel not so small inside. Like she could do anything she put her mind to it. Her mom always worked, painted her murals, and was always off doing God only knows what, same with her father who apparently wasn't so much of a world class salesman as he said he was. And Ava was locked in a box, hidden from the world because of her strange abilities.

It just always seemed that Ava was connected to Hydra and or S.H.I.E.L.D (but mostly SHIELD since Fury knew about her from the getgo) somehow, like they did something to her. Not Thanos. Not her mom. Not her dad. But for some reason, the files say that Thanos was involved with her family somehow. Her mom did paint a couple of exotic space paintings of different moons and they looked extremely real. But they were sold off to the science facility for money to get a roof and food over their heads.

Zoe still wasn't clear on what happened because something wasn't adding up right. Something was missing. Something was always missing from the Sawyer clan.

Would she ever figure it out?

A frown creased within her lips. Zoe was tired. And anxious. And sad. And her emotions were astray. All her life, all she ever wanted was the truth. Something she and Steve had a lot in common with. Right now, common wasn't really a concern…

It was getting the people back they loved that was the real concern. Still…the look on Thanos's face when she was close to him chilled her to the core.

 _Fortunately my order got to her first, and killed her without a sound…._

She teared up at the words out of his mouth.

Denial. It was the third or second stage with dealing with grief right? Her heart squeezed and tightened breaking into a million pieces that made it just so much worse.

Maybe she was in denial.

But still, she HAD to be involved with SHIELD in order to gain those abilities right? It was the only thing that makes sense, like…like they did with Steve and made him…stronger, and better, maybe her mother was a secret weapon too? So much like Ava could've been…they could've trained her straight from birth hadn't her dad try to find a cure…

Zoe inhaled sharply at the running thoughts in her mind, trying to piece everything together. Her mind was at such a state of unrest it was crazy. And here she thought she'd put that all behind her.

PTSD was a disease, she frowned. Anxiety was a disease. And she had a lot of it. But there were two people who were always able to bring her back to reality…and Steve, but like she thought earlier she didn't want to worry him. He and Natasha were trying to figure out what to do, while Thor, and Bruce recuperated from Thanos with Rhody's help. They needed healing. Everyone needed healing. _And we needed a form, no a plan of an attack._

Zoe highlighted from Scott to Clint and she let her thumb linger over the send button on her old phone. Her thumb shook with anticipation, as she wanted so desperately to hear some familiarity.

Inhaling, she took a deep breath, and clicked the send button, letting it ring a few times expecting it to go to voicemail.

Breathing on the other end of her cell phone was heard, and she froze, every muscle and bone rigid.

"Hello?" Came the gruff questionable reply.

Blinking really fast, she placed her cell phone a way from her ear and started a trace on Clint's cell.

"Clint?" Zoe's strangled voice asked.

"Who is this?" He demanded.

"It's…me, Zoe, Zoe Sawyer, you're favorite trainee?" She asked half-heartedly, or at least trying to put all of her heart into it, but it felt…wrong, so she just turned to serious mode.

"That's funny. You call again, and I'll kill you," he said, and hung up.

Zoe frowned, furrowing her brows at her phone, but within seconds the tracer beeped, alerting his location.

She watched the tiny map of the world zero in onto one place in particular…. _Tokyo, Japan_.

She looked over at her dresser and then at the city highlighted on her phone and traced the number back to a name through the database, running through all the names till it landed on one in particular…

 _Ronin_

~*A*~


	133. Chapter 133: Not Us

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Just my OC.**

 **A/n: As promised, another little one shot prelude for 'Endgame'. It's a bit dark, but so was super bowl spot trailer, but it's all good. We're going to get through this! Enjoy the update!**

 **Chapter 133: Not US**

The pain hurt too much inside. It was like a darkness that sucked you in and didn't let you come out. You tried to come out of it, but yet, it still grabbed hold of you by its claws, sharp, black claws, clawing at your stomach, back, wherever it could grab you.

Rawness. Been there since day one. Her parents were not who they said they were and that was the veil lifting off of her eyes for the first time in her young years. But she plowed through it as much as she could. Being apart of a team had helped for the most part. It really did, and she was even thankful and forgave any little thing that needed to be forgiven.

Sadness. Heavy. It sat there and made her cry more often than she'd care to admit. Though, having her friends did help, sometimes she didn't believe them for the job that she was in. Then again she was warned. And then again. Sadness.

Denial. Oh, boy was she stuck in denial for the longest time until she finally realized the truth of it all. And that hurt even more.

Truth. That hurt too. But at least it was out in the open. And healing can start, but it feels like she's been trying to heal forever. And in retrospect, she probably has. Instead of going to college, she became a shadow agent in a game of chess and look how that turned out?

In a happy dream, Zoe has always wanted a family. A mother, a father who cared about her and a sister. She got her sister but now that sister was taken from her by a simple goddamn snap.

A SNAP.

A stupid goblet with gemstones, and Zoe was supposed to try and get the properties right and try to prevent it, but it was too late. Thanos had been hot on the move for his stones and he got them…

Pain. Now the pain kicked in a little bit harder at the thought of her sister and her other friends gone. She'd been thinking about this for a long time now, and stuck in a dark rut. She hadn't gotten out of bed. Didn't want to do much of anything. Why? How could she? When she didn't even know how to fix it? How the hell was she supposed to fix a goddamn…now the shaking of her body was coming to, and she didn't like it, but she kept crying anyway, fresh hot tears fell down her cheeks. Didn't she loose enough already? Can't she catch a break? Why does she have to be so broken right now? All she wants to do is to save the world, help people. Is that too much to ask?! Christ. Phil Coulson was more than likely rolling in his grave right now because she couldn't do anything right.

She thought she'd cried enough already. Why was she still crying?

And the sounds she made when she cry did not spare _his_ heart at all.

As Steve watched from afar at the crying woman on her bed. He could hear them from down the hall of his room, the whimpers out of her lips and the apologies that came out of her lips like, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm stupid, I'm horrible, I yell at everyone I care about and I just need to take care of my own responsibilities…but I don't know how… I have to… I have to…but I can't…I can't do it…I can't do this anymore…"

"Can't do what?" Steve asked.

Zoe sniffed, and turned around to look over her shoulder. She brushed her teary cheek with the palm of her hand, and she blinked. She looked down at the stains of tears on her pillow and cleared her throat. She pushed herself up, and turned the pillow on the other side to the cleaner side, and sat up cross-legged, placing her hands over her ankles.

"Loosing the people we love," Zoe said softly. That was partially right, but she was also partially scared about doing her job as well because she failed.

"Have you tried talking to Banner?" Steve asked, arms crossed over his chest, looking concernedly at her.

Zoe shrugged. "What do we do, Steve? I…I don't know how to fix anything anymore. I told you I was a mess…and, well…" she shrugged, looking down at the pillow she was just crying on.

Steve walked into her room and sat down beside her. Zoe watched him cross the gray carpet flooring and sat down on the mattress that sagged a bit, making her dip toward him a bit. She smiled, blushing, and Steve ultimately blushed too.

"Heh, um," he cleared his throat. "Sorry, I-"

"It's okay," she smiled, patting the bed gently beside them. She scooted back a bit so that they had a bit of space together.

"We're all going through a lot," Steve declared, nodding in agreement. "But we all have each other. Have you thought about who was left on the team?"

Zoe frowned. "Yeah…Rhodes, Bruce, Thor, and Natasha. And, Tony's still…lost in space…and the first Avenger."

He drew in a deep breath and nodded, continuing. "Some people move on," he said, bringing in her hand for a tight squeeze and brought her in for a kiss on the forehead. As he kissed her, pressing his warm lips on her forehead, a smile broke out on her face. "But not us. You should talk to Nat about PTSD, and getting those training exercises if you're up to it. She's a...she's quite the pistol."

"Nat?" Zoe asked.

Steve nodded at her. "Yup. Just...be careful. And don't...say...anything," he warned. "Do you want some breakfast?"

"Sure," Zoe said. "Breakfast sounds great."

"Okay. Zoe?" Steve asked her.

She looked up at him expectantly. "I'll find us away out of this," Steve promised.

"Steve," Zoe called after him as he stood at the threshold of her room. He turned toward her. "You're not alone."

"Neither are you."

 **~*AVENGERS: ENDGAME*~**

 **A/n: Oh, Thanos has it coming for him XD! Hope you guys liked! I know it was a bit depressing, I'm sorry, hopefully the next one will be a bit better. :) Thank you all so much for reading, following, favoriting, and reviewing! Reviews and favorites and follows are always welcomed and loved! More updates soon!**


	134. Chapter 134: Code Red

**A/n: Hey guys! I know it's been forever. So, I just saw Avengers: Endgame.** **I have very mixed feelings about the ending, but I feel like I need to watch it a couple times more when it comes out to buy. I feel like it was bittersweet. But ugh, so much. I wish they told us so much more and not cram it into three hours, you know? I feel like it could have been an EPIC novel, actually, lol. Anyway, I just wanted more lol. Well, I have ideas for this story. I got inspired. Let's start Endgame, folks! Enjoy! I'm going to try my best with the current time line. And, I may have a surprise ending for you. Zoe's endgame's been changing lol. Poor Zoe. :(**

 **Heads up, spoilers beyond this point for Captain Marvel & Endgame. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything related to the series.**

 **Chapter 134: Code Red**

Zoe sat at her desk, staring at Thanos's ugly head and his dark eyes after a quiet breakfast with just her and Steve. No one else had felt like eating.

She'd found all the information she could about this monster, and all she could do was stare at the high-tech screen. She was still trying to figure out how she felt after the snap. She still couldn't make sense of what happened and she tried. Lord knows she tried her best and every time she couldn't figure out why. It was annoying.

And she couldn't help but think it was her fault.

That's just the type of person of who she was though. She liked to help people and wanted to help the world. She was driven to save it. If she didn't, she'd feel guilty. She never knew why she felt this way either. Her mom never told her to save the world. Her father certainly never told her to save it. Not even Ava. But maybe that's the thing. Maybe she was born to save it. Maybe she really wasn't all that different from Thanos.

There was a knock at her door. She looked up and saw Steve's kind and warm gentle eyes staring back at her. She tried to give him a half smile but she couldn't even do that. She had to stiff through the list of those that were lost and she had to go through the names and the faces in the database. She volunteered to make note of who was lost. She spent the whole twenty-four hours. It was an on going process. Nat got it started, though Zoe took it upon herself to finish it, to save everyone in the Avengers the grief of their own losses. It'd been tough, but she was working on the task, going through the list. It was a very long list.

When she passed on the name of her old superiors, Agent Hill, and Director Fury, her heart nearly shattered. The only hope she had out there was that Clint was at least alive. Scott was gone, presumed dead.

She wanted to go to Clint, to go see him, but Nat said he probably didn't want to be found for a good reason. It was true. He'd lost his family during the snap as well.

Maybe she couldn't blame him for that either.

"Zoe," Steve said. She closed her eyes at his soothing voice that was like a warm hug around her she so desperately needed and probably didn't realize how much she needed it.

She swallowed hard. "What?" She clipped. She closed her eyes, noticing the harsh tone in her voice. She sighed, shaking her head. "I'm sorry." She looked down, ashamed for the tone of her voice. "I didn't mean to snap…" she winced again. "Poor choice of words…"

"It's okay," Steve said gently.

"No," she said. "It's not."

"Didn't I tell you to take a break?"

"And didn't I tell you that I can't? I need to see it done, Steve."

"But you don't have to do this alone. We want to help you, Zo," he said.

"Well, I don't want help," she said, shifting in her seat to look up at him, pointedly. "This is my job, Steve. For my whole life, I've been an information specialist. Everything in here," she tapped the side of her temple with her index finger. Steve flicked his eyes to the side of her temple and then into her hazel ones. "I have knowledge of the past, and the present. I wish I had the knowledge of the future, but I don't. I try to prevent things from happening, but sometimes it doesn't happen that way. I don't like a lot about myself, Steve. Found out my family was working for HYDRA, who was largely responsible for this whole damn thing!" She buried her face within the palms of her hands, trying not to let the tears fall out from her eyes. "There was a reason that I wanted to be an actress so damn much. I wouldn't have to be me all the time."

"You were falling apart, Zoe. When Director Fury found you, you'd just found your parents murdered. You were going to be living on the streets, struggling, starving, homeless, if Director Fury hadn't found you when he did. I didn't ever believe that he wanted a bad life for you. You were right to join SHIELD. SHIELD was your family. Thanos and HYRDA took that away from you, but you know what else? The Avengers are your family too. We care about you too, Zo. A lot. _I_ care about you."

"No, you don't," she said.

"What?"

"You don't. I can see something deep within you that's still there, still hiding underneath that tough exterior of yours, and that's okay." she said. "Besides, if I don't like me, how can anyone like me, right?"

Steve rolled his eyes and scoffed, shaking his head. "God, Zoe, I never realized how much alike you are with Bucky. I swear. You're more like him every day. It's frustrating that I have to tell you every day I do care about you. You won't listen to me when I say it, hell, even give you the slightest affection for it."

Zoe licked her lips, and took everything in that Steve said to heart. He was right. But there was still one burning question on her mind that she had to ask.

"Well, sorry I'm such a hard shell, Steve. You know what background I came from. Caring for me doesn't come easy. But knowing that you do care for me is great, but do you _love_ me?" Zoe asked. "I mean, really love me?"

Steve narrowed his eyebrows at her. "Of course I do."

Zoe closed her eyes. "I've seen you look at your photo of Peggy, Steve. You still love her, and still miss her. I get it. I really do. You had a life prior to this. You forget that I know every single detail about you. I had to come recruit you and give you the low down of what happened when Loki first arrived in our world. You weren't expecting to wake up seventy years later into a whole new world. "

"But I can't get her back," Steve said. "And I didn't forget. I remember our first meeting we had. You were dressed in red, white, and blue. You were using my laundry machine because you'd gotten a stain on your white leather jacket. You were happy back then, and I felt comfortable around you even though you raided my fridge for food because you wanted to make me lunch, feeling bad for breaking into my apartment. You were making up for that. Though, you were a terrible cook. It was almost lunchtime anyway, so why not make a sandwich? You told me what happened, and why you needed to recruit me. You were my debriefing package and I could already tell that you were falling head over heals for me."

Zoe gulped and Zoe felt her cheeks burn bright red. "Was I that obvious?"

Steve laughed quietly, which had hurt because he hadn't laughed at all. "Just a little bit obvious. But you were so animated and lively. You loved your job. You loved meeting new people. You loved working at SHIELD. It was your home. Clint and Natasha were training you to be a level seven agent so you had clearance to help the Avengers' Initiative. We lost Coulson, but I suspect you were hired to help us through this mess that we've created. You got us to open up when none of us wanted to. And then you had your own responsibility of taking care of different artifacts that'd found their way towards us. Keep it safe, protected, and out of the wrong hands."

"Like my father, Fury wanted me to be his eyes and ears when he thought I could handle many tasks at once. I could. I was young and brave enough to be on both sides, fighting my dual personalities I had. I had to keep it straight. Nat taught me a lot about being a double agent. Clint taught me how to defend myself, and how to always be detail oriented, look around my surroundings. And you taught me how to fight and help me with my emotions that were starting to boil up and almost explode because I felt like my heart was going to crack at times, especially when all seemed lost, especially when I learned about my family and what horrible things they did. And I really appreciate each and every one of you, I really do. Especially you, Steve. I appreciated you the most."

She inhaled her breath, and opened her eyes. "If you could get her back, if there was the slightest chance, would you? Please be honest. I can take it."

Steve blinked at that, and looked down, then at her. "Yes," he said, and then paused for a brief moment. "Zoe. Why are you talking like this? Why are we walking down memory lane?"

"I don't think we should see each other anymore," Zoe whispered. She swallowed hard and closed her eyes, feeling guilty as hell.

Steve's face hardened. "What?"

Zoe looked back at her screen, her own heart hardening at the Galactic Titan in front of her.

"Is it because I failed?"

Zoe's eyes shot up quickly at him and she shook her head. "No. God, Steve no! Is that how I come across? That's not what I mean at all. No, not at all. Don't be silly, Steve. That's not why," she sighed in a huff. She didn't want to sound cliché, but she couldn't help it because it was utterly true. So true. She needed to work on herself again and as much as she loved Steve, she didn't want to drag him down with her. It wouldn't be fair and it wouldn't be right. "No. It's…just…it's me. I'm no good for anyone right now. And I think we should break up. I'm sorry."

Steve scoffed and Zoe winced, feeling the sting that she knew was coming.

"I am too," he said with a nod of his head. He was about to leave but then he turned back to face her. "Just so you remember, we're stronger together. You've always believed that."

He walked away from Zoe and she just broke down, crying, shoulders shaking. She buried her face within her hands and she crumbled.

((Avengers))

Zoe walked inside the tech room. Zoe walked in, she stalled, noticing that Steve was there along with Natasha. Zoe fought an eye roll. Figures. Just her luck. She walked inside. Steve's arms were hunched over as he watched the Global numbers of those that they lost on the screen. It had been Zoe's duty, but Steve took over for the day, watching the body count.

"This is a nightmare," Steve commented as he waited.

"I've had better nightmares," Natasha added.

"You and me both," Zoe said, walking in, making their heads turn to see her. Natasha gave her a small twitch of a smile. Steve looked her up and down, studying her. She was dressed in all black. Her hair was up in a loose ponytail with her wisps loose over her small ears.

"Zoe," Steve acknowledged.

"Steve," she eyed him, guardedly.

"Any luck on what the device we found belongs to?"

"Well, Fury obviously had it."

"Not what I meant," Steve clipped at her.

"Fury signaled a Code Red," Zoe said.

"We know that, and?" Steve asked, staring at her questionably.

Zoe inhaled sharply and then exhaled. A small smile appeared on her face. "It's a plan of action."

"What kind of plan?" Natasha asked.

"Fury never told you?" Zoe asked her.

Natasha pressed her lips together in a frown and shook her had. "No. He didn't."

Zoe looked down at the ground, realizing Fury had only told her about it. One more secret from the rest of the Avengers. She gulped. And winced. Steve wasn't going to like it, not coming out of her lips. But she had no choice. Fury had entrusted her with this information because she could hold secrets and not breathe a word of it, not unless she had to.

"When I started digging about what the device could mean, I slowly started to remember something very important of what Fury told me," she flicked her eyes to Steve. "You're not gonna like this."

"Well, you've kept many secrets from us, Zo, what's one more?" Steve asked.

Zoe cringed.

"Hey," Rhodey came into the room. Steve turned around to see Rhodey beside Zoe and where she stood. She looked at him and looked at him curiously. _Impeccable timing Rhodes_ , she thought to herself. "So, that thing just stopped doing whatever the hell it was doing. Did you find out anything, Zo?" Rhodey asked her.

Zoe chewed her bottom lip, wanting to tell them, but she remained quiet.

Natasha glanced at Steve as they shared a knowing look. Zoe followed Rhodey out the door and into the adjacent lab where Bruce was calculating the blue vials behind glass.

"Whenever the signal was sent it finally crapped out," Bruce said as Natasha, Steve, and Zoe took a look.

"I thought it bypassed the battery," Steve said.

"We did," Rhodey said. "It's still plugged in, it just stopped."

Steve glanced at Zoe slightly as she stared at the blue vials in front of her.

"Reboot it," Steve said. "Send the signal again."

"Well, we don't even know what this is," Bruce said, waving his hand at it.

Zoe closed her eyes.

"Fury did. And Fury apparently told Zoe too," Natasha glanced at her former trainee. Bruce raised his eyebrows at Zoe, though he probably shouldn't be that surprised anymore. Her head was full of secrets and information. Zoe swallowed hard; even feeling the eyes of Rhodey too had hurt.

"Just do it please," Natasha said. "You tell me the second you get a signal, I want to know who's on the other end of that thing," she turned around and stopped dead in her tracks. Captain Marvel was right there.

Zoe turned to face her.

"Where's Fury?" Captain Marvel asked.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Zoe announced. "Meet Captain Marvel."

Captain Marvel glanced over at the information specialist. "Are you Zoe?" She asked.

"Yup," she replied. "What's up, home skillet?"

She narrowed her eyes at her. "Fury told me you'd be like this."

"What? Home Skillet is 90's slang. I was born in the 80's and grew up in the 90's. You dropped down in a Blockbuster," Zoe said. "They don't exist anymore. Sadly. I loved getting a VHS, popcorn, and candy too, so it was just like the movies, but I'm in the comfort of my own home. I liked ring pops the best."

"Yeah, that. So, where is he?" Captain Marvel asked.

"Well, unfortunately-" Zoe began.

"Dead," Natasha said, not even sugarcoating it for her.

"Gone," Zoe corrected, sending Natasha a scolding look, but she didn't seem to care. "He's gone. But I'm here. He told me about you. And not to sound all Princess Leia, or anything, but you're kind of our last hope. We need your help."

"With what?" Captain Marvel asked.

"Well, it's a long story," Zoe said. "But, cliff notes version? Our friends are stuck in space. Our friends may be dying in space, fighting this evil Titan named Thanos."

Captain Marvel narrowed her eyes. "I'm sorry, did you just say Thanos?"

Zoe nodded her head. "Yes I did, why?"

Without a word, she jumped up in the air and light spiraled around her, her powers activating.

"Hey!" Zoe cried as she tried to follow after her, but Steve grabbed her arm pulling her back so she didn't get hit with the ceiling debris falling on top of her and onto the floor. "Make sure you come in contact with Tony Stark! He's a big metal head. He's Iron Man for crying out loud! You can't miss him! Please bring him back to us!"

She flew up and out of the ceiling, creating a big hole in the Avenger's facility lab. Concrete pieces of the wall crumbled to the ground.

"That went well," Zoe said, glancing up at the small hole in the ceiling. She looked over at Steve and he dropped his hand on her arm. "Thank goodness we still have insurance, am I right?" She gave everyone in the room a toothy smile but no one smiled back. She sighed and looked down as they all left the room.

 **((Avengers: Endgame))**

 **A/n: So, literally working with what they gave us! It's unclear of what happened after the post-credit scene and...yeah. Hope you guys liked. Follows, favorites, and reviews are welcome! Thank you for following, favoriting, and reviewing! I think Steve's ending was sad. :( So, I have a plan for Zoe in Endgame, and I hope you guys don't mind the little changes, as I like to try and keep things canon. Idk, we'll see lol. My three favorite men in the MCU have always been Steve, Bucky, and Clint, followed by Tony, Thor, Bruce, and Scott, and of course Loki. :D**


	135. Chapter 135: Stark Deliverance

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. I am just writing for fun and not for profit.**

 **Chapter 135: Stark Deliverance**

 _"Mmm, Bucky…"_ Zoe murmured in her sleep, loosing herself in one of her wildest dreams, but then she realized what name she said out loud, and she jolted right up out of bed. She blinked. "Bucky?" She asked in disbelief. Sure he saved her from the river, helped her with her undercover mission, and rode on the back of a motorcycle with him, but seriously? Bucky? Ugh, not again Zoe.

And after Steve and Zoe just had makeup sex too. Her face felt flushed. She shook her head, trying to detangle the thoughts of Steve's best friend out of her head. She twisted her lips to the side, and listened to the sound of water running out of the faucet sink of the Avenger's compound bathroom. She looked down beside her and saw that Steve's side was empty, nothing but a wrinkle in the sheets. Thinking about Bucky may have been her fault due to her breaking up with Steve in the first place. That's when the dreams of his best friend started. It was just overlapping that's all. Nothing more. She loved Steve with all of her heart.

A smile spread across her lips. She had to explain what makeup sex was it was really cute to see his pale cheeks grow pink in the middle when she attempted to explain it to him, eventually Nat came in and helped. Zoe'd been mortified by the Black Widow's appearance but also grateful for the advice on trying not to make it awkward like the conversation already was.

She pulled the covers off of her, and then picked up her black silk robe that would cover her black tank-top slash matching night outfit. She walked across the floor and into the adjacent bathroom, stopping midway through the threshold. Her heart pounded against her chest. God, he was sexy. Strong, tall, handsome. He really was an amazing guy. She was so lucky that he agreed to have her back and try things out again.

She was miserable without him. The strawberry jam and bread came out every morning and the rest of the avengers in the kitchen weren't used to her morning messes or her glasses perched on her nose. And she was reading the Wallstreet Journal newspaper. Zoe never did that. It's only when life for her had just fallen completely apart that she too fell completely apart.

She walked into the bathroom once Steve was finished with his shaving. He gripped onto the razor blade and leaned against the sink, looking down. She felt his tense shoulders square up. Zoe knew that Steve blamed himself for everything that happened. Zoe also knew that that wasn't true.

She wrapped her arms around his warm torso and hugged him, standing on her tippy-toes, she leaned her chin against his shoulder and looked at whatever he was staring at.

"Hey," she greeted lightly, and kissed the side of his neck. It made him smile and she felt him shiver.

She caught his small smile. "You know 22 days ago, we broke up," Steve said.

"Uh-huh," she nodded.

"Yesterday we got back together," Steve said. She closed her eyes, in heaven again, loving the sound of his soothing voice. "Is this what'd you call a…on-off again relationship?"

Zoe's lips curled into a grin and her heart warmed. "I think so. I've never been in one. Unless you count me and Rumlow, which I _so_ don't. Yuck…"

Steve chuckled.

He'd laughed. Well, at least she got a small chuckle out of him. No one had laughed in 22 days. Thor locked himself in a chamber, blaming himself even though Zoe had tried to talk to him. He just wouldn't listen.

"I just realized that you make me a better person. You make everyone a better person, but me especially," Zoe said.

"Why you especially?" Steve asked, giving her a sideways glance.

"Because if something were to ever happen to you, I couldn't live with myself. I would take that knife you stole from me and finish the job because with you gone…there's nothing," Zoe said. And that was a promise.

Silence from Steve's end.

Zoe bit her bottom lip worriedly. Had she gone too far? It was true though. Steve had been her whole life. If she lost him, she wouldn't know what to do anymore. Nat would take care of the avengers. She was good at that. Zoe would be nothing. Because she had nothing else.

Steve let out a sigh. It seemed like he was about to shift and say something, but all of a sudden the mirror started to shake. Zoe let go of Steve and he turned around, looking at her knowingly before they both took off to go see what was happening to the compound. Zoe quickly put on her boots and grabbed her old tablet off the dresser turning it and followed Natasha, Bruce, and Rhodey out the door onto the field to see what was arriving for them.

Zoe quickly tapped into her database and scanned the ship for information. Her tablet blinked several times to reveal its name and its occupants.

The Benatar.

Captain Marvel. Tony Stark. Nebula.

Zoe sighed with relief. Tony. She didn't know Nebula, but she knew Tony.

The hatch opened up and lowered to the ground. Nebula helped Tony out of the ship, staggering out, tired, nearly out of air and oxygen. Steve ran to Tony's side to help Nebula. Zoe wanted to run too, but Natasha stopped her. Tony was not in good condition at all. He was half dead.

They were halfway back to the compound when Tony gripped onto Steve's arm, making him look at him.

"I couldn't stop him," Tony said with deep regret.

"Neither could I," Steve said with a nod of his head.

"I lost the kid," Tony added.

Zoe tried not to tear up, but she could feel the sting behind her eyes wanting to cry, but she stayed strong, holding in her emotions.

"Is ummm…." Tony began.

"Oh my God…" Pepper exclaimed suddenly.

Zoe looked over at the strawberry-blonde haired woman and she bit her bottom lip worriedly.

"It's okay," Tony tried to assure her as she ran to his side.

Zoe followed them into the compound, giving Captain Marvel a look as if to say what took you so long, but she kept her mouth shut and just headed to the compound, ready to help Tony get him healthy again.

~*A*~

Zoe had changed into normal jeans and a gray t-v-neck shirt. They were seated in the living room, while Tony sat at a table getting more blood into his system.

"It's been twenty-three days since Thanos came to Earth," Natasha said. "World governments are in pieces. The parts that are still working are trying to take a census. And it looks like he did…exactly what he said he was going to do. Thanos wiped out fifty percent of all living creatures."

Zoe looked from Natasha to the friendly floor.

"Where is he now? Where?" Tony asked. "Zo?"

Zoe looked up from her tablet and she stared at him, so lost at what to say. She couldn't say anything because nothing had come up on her screen. It was literally searching for a needle in a haystack.

" _Zo_?" Tony pressed.

Zoe swallowed hard. Her mouth suddenly went dry. She wasn't sure what to say. All coherent thought of intelligence left her brain.

"We don't know," Steve responded.

Zoe let out a deep breath.

"He just opened a portal and walked through," Rocket said.

"What's wrong with him?" Tony motioned a chin nod over to Thor sitting down on a bench, who hadn't breathed a word since the conversation began.

"He's pissed. He thinks he failed. Which of course he did, but there's a lot of that's goin' on around ain't there?" Rocket asked.

"Honestly, until this exact second I thought you were a Build-A-Bear," Tony said.

Zoe cringed. "Tony," she scolded at him, giving him a dark look. Tony shrugged at her.

"Maybe I am," Rocket challenged.

"Rocket, you're not a Build-A-Bear, you're fine the way you are," Zoe said.

Rocket smirked smugly at her. "And the voice of reason is back."

"We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now," Natasha said. "Deep space scans and satellites, and we've got nothing."

"Tony, you fought him," Steve said finally, looking up at the billionaire.

"Who told you that? I didn't fight him. No, he wiped my face with a planet while the Bleeker Street Magician gave him the stone," Tony said bitingly, making Zoe wince at his tone of voice. "That's what happened. There was no fight."

"Tony, you did the-"

"Save it, killer," Tony silenced her. "There was no fight this time."

"Did he give you any clues, any coordinates, anything?" Steve asked desperately.

"Pfft! I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision. I didn't want to believe it. Thought I was dreaming," Tony said.

"Tony, I'm gonna need you to focus," Steve said urgently.

"And I needed you, as in past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late buddy, sorry. You know what I need," Tony stood from his seat and shoved everything off of the table. Everything clattered to the floor and Zoe watched helplessly at the angry Tony she was not used to seeing in her lifetime.

"I need to shave. And I believe I remember telling you, _Cap_."

Tony struggled to walk over to Steve. Zoe tensed, feeling her insides tighten, and she watched worriedly as he started for Steve, but Rhodey got in the way. Tony stopped.

"Tony, Tony, Tony, stop!" Rhodey pleaded with him.

"Otherwise what we needed was a suit of armor around the world! Remember that? Weather it impacted our precious freedom or not that's what we needed!" Tony exclaimed as though he couldn't stress it enough. "Hell, even your girlfriend knew how much we needed it! She signed on without your approval!"

Steve looked at Zoe and Zoe looked at her captain before Steve turned to Tony, "Well, that didn't work out did it?"

"I said, "We'll loose". You said, "We'll do that together too.". And guess what, Cap? We lost. You weren't there. But that's what we do, right? Our best work after the fact? We're the Avengers, we're the _A_ vengers. Not the _Pre_ Avengers, right?"

"Okay, you made your point. Just sit down, okay?" Rhodey said, chiming in and Zoe was forever grateful because she was going to open her own mouth and retort back to him, give him a piece of her own mind after everything they've been through together, but she stilled. Maybe it was a good thing Rhodey chimed in, otherwise she might regret it. You can't take back words that have already been said, unfortunately. Once they're out there, they're out there. Zoe learned the hard way.

"Nah, nah, nah," Tony pushed Rhodey away. Rhodey stumbled to the side and Zoe frowned. "Here's my point."

"Sit down!" Rhodey said again, voice a notch higher than before. Zoe had never seen War Machine like this either.

Tony pointed over to Carol. "She's great by the way. We need you. You're new blood."

Zoe looked over at Carol.

"Tony!" Rhodey tried to get him to listen again.

"Bunch of tired old mills! I got nothin' for you, Cap! I got no coordinates, no clues, no plan, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust. _Liar_ ," Tony continued.

Zoe looked over at Steve's fallen features on his face. He was staring at his old friend, and the heat between them could definitely be felt around the quiet room. The avengers were here, but the avengers were not. It was a weird feeling. And she knew that if Coulson were here….

She bit her bottom lip. But Coulson is not here. _"He gave you the task for this. He knew how much you cared about the Avengers. He knew that you would take good care of them, keep them safe, keep a watchful eye on them, and they will aid in you too. You were put into this position because I trust you, Zoe Sawyer. You're the only Sawyer I trust, which is saying something because-"_

" _You don't trust anyone, I know," Zoe said with a smile because she'd heard him say it like a billion times over during her training with him and Agent Hill._

" _Thus I am giving you Code Red… "_ Fury's words echoed in her head when she remembered their conversation last. It'd been a long time ago, sometime before she went onto her mission to find her sister she'd expected if that made sense.

Then all of a sudden, Tony ripped into his arc rector and took it out of his chest, making Zoe come back to the present. Her jaw dropped.

"Tony! No!" She exclaimed, dropping onto her feet from the table.

"Here. Take this," he said, shoving it into Steve's chest. Steve looked at the glowing blue arc rector in shock. "You find him, and you put that on. You hide."

Tony collapsed to the ground. Zoe was already rushing to his side, along with Steve to help the old guy up. Everyone else also looked panicked and alarmed that Tony was falling apart, literally.

"Tony!" Steve cried.

"I'm fine! I…"

He dropped again, and finally stayed sprawled out on the ground. Zoe knelt beside him and looked up at Steve as Steve checked Tony over, clutching the arc reactor in his hand.

"The morphine must've worn down," Zoe said in a small whisper realizing Tony was not himself.

~*A*~

Pepper was with Tony now in the adjacent hospital room, watching over him. Zoe could only imagine what that poor woman was going through and Zoe really wanted Tony to pull through again. Zoe missed the old Tony.

"Bruce gave him a sedative," Rhodey explained. "He's gonna be out for the rest of the day."

"Yeah, he needed a time out," Zoe said with a nod of her head in agreement that that was a good call.

"You guys take care of him. And I'll bring Bezurian Elixir when I come back," Carol said and started to walk out of the room. Zoe gawked at her. Where the hell did she think she was going?

Rhodey also turned his head to look after her retreating form away from the group. "Where are you going?"

"To kill Thanos," Carol said. Zoe heard the determination out of her voice and she sighed.

"You know, we usual work as a team around here," Natasha began. "And, between you and I, we're a little fragile. We realize this is more your territory, but it's our fight too."

"She's right, Carol," Zoe said, looking from Natasha to Carol. "I'm not loosing another avenger too. I've lost too many to count. I won't loose you too, no matter how strong you think you are. Coulson, wouldn't, want that," Zoe stressed out each word and glared at her. Carol stared right back, though realizing she was probably right.

"Do you even know where he is?" Rocket asked Carol.

"I know people who might," Carol replied.

"Don't bother," Nebula said suddenly. All eyes went on her. "I can tell you where Thanos is. Thanos spent a long time trying to perfect me. Then he worked, he talked about his great plan. Even disassembled, I wanted to please him. I'd ask, "where would we go once his plan was complete?" His answer was always the same. To the Garden."

"That's cute," Rhodey commented. "Thanos has a retirement plan."

"Would've been so much easier to find him if she'd just told me earlier," Zoe whispered to Rhodey,

"I've got a lot on my mind," Nebula said, glancing at the information specialist. Zoe narrowed her eyes at her curiously.

"So where is he then?" Steve asked. He hadn't spoken since Tony was put to rest.

"When Thanos snapped his fingers Earth became ground zero for a power surge of ridiculously cosmic proportions. No one's ever seen anything like it," Rocket explained. "Until two days ago."

Rocket pulled up a hologram. Everyone turned to look at the planet as a shockwave ran through the planet's surface. Zoe had never seen anything like it. She was in awe.

"On this planet," Nebula said. "Thanos is there."

"He used the stones again," Natasha said.

"Hey, hey we'd be going in short-handed, you know," Bruce added tentatively.

"Look, he's still got the stones…so…" Rhodey began.

"So let's get him," Carol said. "We'll use them to bring everyone back."

"Just like that?" Rhodey asked skeptically.

"Yeah, just like that," Steve said and looked over at Carol as they shared a look with one another.

"Even if there's a small chance that we can undo this…I mean we owe it to everyone who's not in this room to try," Natasha said, trying to sound like herself again.

"If we do this, how do we know it's gonna end any differently than before?" Bruce asked.

"Because before you didn't have me, isn't that right Zo?" Carol asked and Zoe inhaled sharply, giving Carol a look as if not to bring her into another messy subject. She'd had enough of them. She cringed slightly.

"Hey, hey new girl, everyone here is about that superhero life. And if you don't mind me asking, where in the hell have you been all this time?" Rhodey asked glancing between Zoe and Carol. Zoe puckered her lips together and shyly turned her head to face Carol for her explanation.

"There are a lot of other planets in the universe. And, unfortunately, they didn't have you guys," Carol said as a matter of fact.

Zoe shrugged. "Sounds like a solid answer to me."

Thor got up from his seat and brought his bucket of chiken with him, munching on a chicken leg, hugging it against him. He walked over to face Carol. The room was silent, watching Thor curiously at what the God of Thunder might do.

He held his arm out for a brief moment until Stormbreaker finally came to him in his hand. He gripped on the handle tight, smirking as Carol seemed unfazed by the mysterious ax that nearly sliced a part of her face off. She was as still as stone.

Thor smirked a bit. "I like this one."

"Let's go get this son of a bitch," Steve said.

Once it was decided that they go out to space, Steve pulled Zoe to the side before take off, while Rocket got the ship ready and everyone piled on.

"Let me guess, I'm staying here," Zoe said with her lips twisted to the side.

"Well, yeah, Coulson would have my head if anything happened to you," Steve said, planting a kiss on top of hers, making her close her eyes.

She sighed, "Being a regular human sucks."

"Yet it's one of the qualities I like most about you," Steve smirked at her and he leaned down to kiss her, gripping her tight against him. "I'll see you soon."

"Promise?" Zoe asked, looking up into his blue eyes.

"I promise," Steve said, and he left with the group to defeat Thanos once and for all.

~*A*~

When the spaceship returned to the compound, Pepper and Zoe stood outside to greet the group. A tired and gloomy group that piled out of the ship. Zoe furrowed her brows, quite puzzled at why everyone had long faces.

"Steve?" Zoe asked. He walked right past her. "Did we win? Guys?" She looked over at Bruce, Rhodey, Rocket, Natasha, and Nebula trudging behind one by one.

"Steve!" Zoe cried after him. He didn't stop. He just kept walking toward the compound. She swallowed hard, and tight.

She looked over at Thor when he didn't stop. She stopped the God of Thunder. "Thor…please, my favorite God of all, please tell me what happened." Zoe cried desperately.

Thor looked into her desperate eyes and a dark shadow loomed over his face. "I went for the head."

 **~*A*~**

 **A/n: First real chapter of Endgame you guys! :D So, I think what I meant by Steve's ending was that it was just bittersweet. I'm glad he got to have his dance finally. I think that was awesome how they fit that in and he got to live out his dream. Still mourning for my Tony. Tear! But anyway, thank you guys so so much for the follows, favorites, and the reviews! I love you all. :) Thanks for reading! Let me know what ya think!**


	136. Chapter 136: 5 Years Later

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. Just my OC. Just writing for fun.**

 **Chapter 136: 5 Years Later**

It'd been five years later since Thor killed Thanos. A lot happened in that time frame. Most of the world had been abandoned. New York City especially…

Zoe looked out her window, the sunrays hot on her face. Not even a single bird chirped out her window. She laid back down in her warm comfy bed and closed her eyes.

"Five more minutes," she said to herself. Just five more minutes of shut eye so she could-

"MOM! Natasha used up all the mustard again!"

Zoe winced at her son's loud cry. Then she heard tiny feet scurry against the wooden floors and heard her door creak open. "Mommy, are you awake yet? The Chitari aliens didn't get you did they? Clinton told me they might've come and kidnapped you. He was worried we might have to get daddy to rescue you."

Zoe's lips curled into a small smile. "Daddy's…at ther…with a group of friends right now. But that's okay because I can tell you that there are no Chitari present. We're safe."

Zoe yawned and looked at the alarm clock resting on the bedside table. The red digital numbers blared in her eyes. 11:45 AM.

She narrowed her eyes at the time and then looked at her daughter who'd come up to her mother. "It's 11:45 AM and you're brother's making a sandwich?"

"Yes," Natasha stressed. "A sandwich with mustard, ketchup, mayo, turkey, tomato, lettuce, pickles, potato chips…m&m's…."

"M&M's?" Zoe asked her, nearly bolting out of bed, comforter covers falling off of her.

Natasha nodded. "It's not even a sandwich."

Zoe sighed, cringing at the idea that the kitchen might be a disaster. She ran a hand over her forehead.

"The m&m's. Did he get them from the Halloween cupboards?" Zoe asked.

"Yup."

"Great. Ok. I'll be right there. He better not eat it or I swear…" Zoe began shaking her head.

"I know those are five years old, just like me."

Zoe climbed out of the bed, wearing pajama bottom pants and a t-shirt. She reached for her hair-tie by the alarm clock and threw her hair in a messy bun.

"I thought you were five-years-old and a half?" She asked, picking up her little one into her arms. Natasha giggled.

"Yes. Clint and I are five years old and a half. And frater…n…eal twins."

"Fraternal twins," Zoe corrected her with a small smile on her face.

Zoe walked into the kitchen where she saw her five year old son standing on the chair, squeezing out all the mustard onto the sandwich with his tongue hanging out the side. She saw the big family bag of m&m's pouring out onto the counter and three soda pops on the counter.

"Clinton Samuel," Zoe scolded him. Clint looked up at her with wide eyes.

"You're…out of mustard," Clint said.

"Actually, we're not. There's always two in the apartment. It's up in the cupboard on your left, up top with the other condiments, which is why you couldn't find it," Zoe said. "So...what do you call this catastrophe?"

"It's called Hulk Mountain," Clint said. "Hence why I only took out the green m&m's and put them in the sandwich. They went good with the relish."

"What is he thinking?" Natasha whispered to Zoe. Zoe smiled at her daughter and she shook her head.

"Clint, sweetie, I love that you want to have your own sandwich shop when you get older, but _that_ is going to be a disaster waiting to happen. Those m&m's are five years old. Let's clean this area up before dad gets home, and I'll make you my infamous sandwich that'll taste even better okay, bud?" Zoe asked.

Clint sighed at his mountain of masterpiece that was nearly falling apart, along with the relish inside his sandwich oozing out onto his paper plate.

"OK," he said, reluctantly placing the mustard down. Zoe looked at his mustard, ketchup, and mayo covered fingers and licked them off. Zoe wrinkled her nose a bit.

"Go clean up. I'll clean this up, okay?" Zoe asked.

"When is daddy coming home?" Clint asked.

"Is daddy gonna bring home Aunti Nat again?" Natasha asked Zoe and Zoe smiled warmly at her daughter.

"Well, my lovelies, we've talked about this, about what's going on between daddy and I, and I-"

"Why don't we all head over to go see her? I'm sure she'd love a visit," Steve's voice said, making Zoe turn around. She was thankful he was home. She smiled at him and Clint climbed off his chair, running over to greet his father.

"Dad!" Clint exclaimed. Steve scooped him up into his arms and hugged his son deeply.

"Hey son. Looks like you made quite a mess today," Steve noted around the kitchen counter.

"I was gonna clean it up," Clint said.

"Uh-huh. Only about like the other thousand times you said that," Steve said.

"I was trying to make the Hulk Mountain," Clint said.

"With five year old m&m's?" Steve asked.

"That's what mom said," Clint pouted.

"She's right," Steve said. "Now would you rather have the Hulk Mountain, and get sick afterwards, or would you rather have…the Cap? I hear your mom makes a mean Cap sandwich."

"The Cap!" Clint exclaimed excitedly.

Steve chuckled at his son's bright smile warming up his heart. "Ok. The Cap it is. Go clean up. I'll come check on you in a bit. We'll eat lunch and then go see Aunt Nat."

"Yay!"

"Why don't you help your brother, okay?" Zoe asked Natasha who sighed testily with a shake of her head.

"Okay," Natasha said and Zoe put her down. Once Clint and Natasha were on the floor, they ran into the backroom, leaving Zoe and Steve alone in the kitchen.

"Where does that kid get these ideas?" Steve asked.

Zoe let out a small chuckle with a shrug of her shoulders. "I think he's skyping Morgan again."

"Oh," Steve smirked. "Well, that explains it."

"How was the meeting?" Zoe asked after she walked around the counter and grabbed the garbage out of the sink counter so she could start cleaning up Clint's mess.

Steve pushed off the threshold and started to help her clean up. "It was all right."

"You say that all the time," Zoe said.

Steve shrugged. "It's the truth."

"Well, is anybody….I mean, I know you don't like to bring work home with you, but is anyone getting better? Are they moving on?"

"One couple is," Steve said. "I think. I mean…I don't know. I keep telling people to move on. I said that if we can do it, you can do it too, you know? But…."

Zoe chewed her bottom lip, dumping the Hulk Mountain into the garbage. Steve shoved the m&m's into the garbage next, and he brushed his hands together. He turned to lean against the counter and cross his arms over his chest.

"Not us," Zoe whispered. "Yeah I know. I keep trying to put on a brave face, keep trying to smile and pretend like everything is going fine especially, _especially_ for the twins…but I just…I think I've pretended way too long, but I'm scared to fall again."

"You won't fall again, Zoe," Steve said.

Zoe gave Steve a pointed look. "I've fallen out of buildings, in glass cylinders, I've…tried to…" she stopped herself, a fleeting memory of her came to her when she thought back on trying to save Vision and her heart cracked. She looked at the empty mustard on the counter and saw that it was close to the edge. With her finger she just tipped it over and it fell into the garbage just like that.

"You can't keep blaming yourself for Vision's death, Zoe," Steve said strongly as though he couldn't stress it enough. "That's on me."

"It's on both of us," Zoe said. "I lost an avenger. I lost many avengers. I just…I don't want to fall anymore. No more surprises. I just want to raise my kids, and try to move on."

"I want to help raise them too, you know. They're my kids too. You're not in this alone, Zoe."

"You keep saying that Steve, but there's a good reason I told Natasha about my pregnancy and not you first," Zoe said. "I mean we weren't even married yet, and we'd just gotten back together, and half of the world was gone. I was scared to death to bring children into this world, even though I wanted them so badly. I wanted to be a mom. I wanted a family. I wanted that picket fence. I always have. And you? You were still in love with the mission."

Heavy silence filtered in between them.

Zoe swallowed hard and she looked at him. "Look, we weren't a family then, and we're not a family now. It's kind of hard to love someone when you're in the same room together, and that someone is on another wavelength."

"Zo…" Steve protested, then he stopped. "You know I think we just pulled a 180, didn't we?" He said, remembering on how many different wavelengths that Zoe was on during her missions.

"Maybe this is what being stuck in a time loop feels like..." Zoe whispered, lost in her own thoughts of the past rolling in her head. She sighed. "I'm going to shower," Zoe said softly. "Make the kids whatever they want." She said, and walked away from Steve, heading back into her room, closing the door behind her. She leaned back against it and closed her eyes, letting the tears roll down her cheeks.

~*A*~

 **Avenger's Compound**

"You know I'd offer to cook you dinner, but you seem pretty miserable already," Steve said, leaning against the bookshelf.

"You here to do your laundry?" Nat asked.

"And see a friend," Steve smiled.

"Clearly you're friend is fine," Natasha said, holding back her own tears and putting on a brave face for him.

"You know I saw a pod of whales when I was coming up the bridge," Steve noted, trying to sound light.

"In the Hudson?" Nat asked.

"There's fewer ships, cleaner water," Steve added.

"You know, if you're about to pull a Zoe and tell me to look on the bright side…um, I'm about to hit you in the head with this peanut butter sandwich," she said, sending Steve a light smile. He smiled too.

"Sorry," he said, walking over to her. "Force of habit," he put on his jacket and sat on the chair in front of her. "You know I keep telling everyone that they should move on and grow. Some do, but not us."

"If I move on, who does this?" Nat asked.

"Maybe it doesn't need to be done," Steve said.

"I used to have nothing. Then I got this. This job…this family. And I was…was better because of it. And even though…they're gone… I'm still trying to be better," she said slowly, trying to break out of her transit thoughts.

"We both need to get a life," Steve said.

Nat smiled up at him. "You first."

"Aunti Nat!" Natasha exclaimed and ran over to see her favorite person in the entire world.

Steve cringed and smirked at her. "Well…I've got half a life."

"Half a life is better than no life," Nat said.

Zoe ran after her two little ones and leaned against the bookshelf out of breath.

"Wanna trade places?" Zoe asked jokingly, looking at Nat. Nat chuckled slightly at her.

"How's mama doin'?" Natasha asked.

"She..." Zoe began and stopped herself. "Is great. She's great. You?"

"Been better," Natasha said. Zoe nodded. Typical Nat. But Zoe didn't blame her.

Clint ran inside and hopped onto his father's lap. Steve wrapped his arms around him and sat him down.

"My favorite little niece, Natasha," Nat smiled warmly at the little one who wrapped her tiny arms around her to hug her.

"I bet you say that to _all_ you're nieces and nephews,"

"Just the ones I like," she said, hugging her. "But more especially to you, we both share the same name."

"Laundry's free here anyway," Zoe said with a shrug. "I miss the old apartment," she said with a frown on her face, looking at Steve.

"Yeah, that did have its perks," Steve said.

"Can you teach me how to fight?" Natasha asked suddenly at her aunt.

Nat was about to reply, but Zoe sighed. "You don't need fighting skills, Natasha Ava."

"But Clinton told me about the Chitari, and Thanos's minions and I don't want them to come after me in my sleep!"

Steve gave Clint a look. "Clinton…" he warned him.

"What?" Clint asked. "She was asking."

"And you shouldn't be telling her. No wonder she can't get to sleep," Steve said.

"Well, you know, you've got the best dad in the entire world who would do anything to protect you, you know that right?" Nat asked and Zoe smiled, crossing her arms over her chest, leaning against the bookshelf.

"Yeah, I know. And I know he'd come get me if anything were to ever happen, but… I just like to be prepared," Natasha said.

"You know, having a plan's not bad," Steve said.

"But, there hasn't been anything going on in the world. Just...minor tremors under the ocean," Nat assured the twins. "I can promise you that nothing bad is ever going to happen to you."

Suddenly a camera popped up on Natasha's feed of cameras showing Scott standing by his van.

"Uh, hi. Hi, is anyone home? This is Scott Lang. We met a few years ago, at the airport? In Germany? I got really big, and I had my mask on. You wouldn't recognize me unless…is Zoe there?"

"Scott?" Zoe asked in a small whisper riling through her.

"Who's Scott? Is he a Chitari alien in disguise?" Natasha asked her brother.

" _Ant-Man_ ," Clint whispered excitedly. Natasha's eyes went wide.

Steve placed Clint down on the floor. Zoe took him by her side and he stood up to check out the message. "Is this an old message?" Steve asked.

"It's the front gate," Nat said.

"Ant-man? Ant-man. I know you know that. I need to talk to you guys. Zoe are you listening?"

Zoe nodded. "Yes. Scott, I'm here. Sorry," she said, shaking her head. "Let him in, I'll take the kids to Wanda's old room," Zoe said softly. "They can hang out there."

 **~*A*~**

 **A/n: Eek…a dicy kind of relationship between them! But I figured I would name the kids after Natasha and Clint. :D Nat deserves it! Lol. Ugh, my heart. I'm not ready for this you guys. Maybe. Lol. Anyway, hope you guys liked. Follows, favorites, and reviews are always welcomed, loved, and appreciated! Let me know what ya'll think!**


	137. Chapter 137: Quantum Physics

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. Just my Oc. Just writing for fun.**

 **Chapter 137: Quantum Physics**

By the time Zoe came back to the office, Scott was pacing back and forth, lost in thought. It was quiet, eerily quiet. Scott was definitely up to something and Zoe wondered what.

"Are you okay?" Steve asked him.

"Yeah," Scott nodded. "I'm fine."

Scott looked like he was ready to burst if he didn't say what he was thinking out loud and Zoe narrowed her eyes at him.

He paused and pivoted slightly. "Have either of you ever studied Quantum Physics?" He glanced back and forth between all three of them questionably.

"Only in mid-conversation," Nat said.

Quantum physics was not Zoe's forte, so she couldn't say she did. It was possible someone had mentioned it in the past, but Zoe was never really good at the scientific stuff. She left that to the experts.

"All right. So…five years ago, right before Thanos, I was in a place called the Quantum Realm. The Quantum Realm is like its own microscopic universe. To get in there, you have to be incredibly small. Hope, she's my…she was my…" Scott stuttered in mid thought about Hope. Zoe frowned, remembering Hope too. She gave him a sympathetic smile and let him move on. "She was supposed to pull me out. And then Thanos happened, and I got stuck in there."

"I'm sorry. That must've been a very long five years," Nat said.

"Yeah, but that's just it. For me it was five hours,"

Steve and Nat shared a confused look, and Zoe tilted her head to the side, scratching her left temple.

"Five hours?" Zoe repeated questionably. Scott nodded.

"See, the rules of the Quantum Realm aren't like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable," Scott looked at Nat's half eaten sandwich. "Is that anybody's sandwich? I'm starving," he said and walked over to grab it and bite into it.

"Huh. I dated a nerd in high school," Zoe mused out loud.

"Barely dated, you mean," Scott corrected her in mid-chew. "It was one date. Who just goes on one date and then call it quits?"

"Well, to be fair, I thought I was dating a thief. I was going to recruit you for my crew," Zoe smirked at Scott. "Besides, you left me to pay for the bill, remember?"

Scott wrinkled his nose. "Yeah, I did that, didn't I? When I was going to apologize to you, you weren't even at school. Your father got a big job in New York City, so he packed you and your mom up to head to the Big Apple," Scott said, taking another bite of Nat's sandwich.

Zoe sighed at the bitter memory. "Yeah. Moved there at the start of my senior year. Had to leave all my friends, find new ones. He found himself a really nice penthouse. It was a better penthouse than the townhome in San Francisco."

"I saw the burglary act in Soho on the news, Zoe," Scott said. "Recognized it was you right away. Luis said you helped him or something like that?"

Zoe shrugged. "Yeah. That's a long story. Luis was trying to get back home to San Francisco. He saw my friends and me at a bar. He needed a plane ticket home and in order to get a plane ticket, he needed some cash. So, thus, the Soho incident. He was just visiting. Anyway, I got good at a lot of stuff like that because my parents were never around. Mom worked in her art studio, and my dad…well…he was off doing SHIELD work, didn't know it at the time, but he was working for both HYDRA and SHIELD before HYDRA took a great toll on him, and brainwashed him to death. I wanted to get away from April, so I started working on some _off-off_ Broadway stuff. It was never supposed to be a real robbery, just a front. We were reenacting, trying to create our own characters for school. But since Luis needed some cash, and we needed a payday anyway, I was like let's do it for real. All I ever wanted to be was an actress. And then, after my dad bailed me out, we had a long talk. My dad took me to see the circus to make it up to me for how he's neglected me and mom on his "business" trips". I fell in love with the great Hawkeye, the greatest swordsmen and archer ever, and continued to see the circus every time it came to Cony Island. Once, Hawkeye offered me a place in his traveling circus, but I couldn't. At twenty-two years old, I still had to stay home and help my parents take care of the penthouse when they were off at their jobs. They told me that I needed to go to university like any other normal teenager my age, and get a degree. My father wanted me to get a degree in Biology. Mom saw my artistic side, and wanted me to get a degree in arts. I could only now suspect my father was hoping I could find a cure for my twin sister that was half-way across the world in Sokovia, being experimented on. So, you can kind of understand my rebellious side at that age, especially when my dad would come home and not be himself at times," Zoe shuddered at the mere memory of him coming after her.

She had killed him in self-defense. She'd come home in her parent's penthouse and found her mother dead. At first she thought her father had done it, but that wasn't the case at all. It was HYDRA. HYDRA had her mom and when her mom saw what was really happening on their side, she tried to deliver the news to Richard who was SHIELD's double agent, but somehow Thanos had gotten to her first. Zoe realized she could easily make friends, but she also realized that she could easily loose them, much like she lost the ones in San Francisco and New York City. Her friends had abandoned her in Soho, leaving her to deal with the repercussions on how dangerous Soho had been. Staging a crime scene...that story was best tabled for another time.

"Fury recruited me to SHIELD. He told me he could help me find my past, find out who I was, and what my family was really like behind their facade. My whole family had been working for HYDRA under the guise of SHIELD. So, layers upon layers of lies seemed to be the Sawyer family way. I wanted to break that cycle. Steve…" she paused slightly, glancing at him with tired eyes. "Helped me break that cycle…Little did I know that I had a twin sister locked away in a box like an old porcelain doll, where my father tried to find a cure for her powers that could kill someone instantly with just her mind. Now she can control it, or could control it. She was hidden away from us to protect us so that we could live our lives, while he tried to perfect hers. My father thought Loki's staff could counter them, but it just made them worse and amplified people's deaths faster with her mind. I personally have come to believe HYDRA may have done something to Ava, and created some formula that made Ava have these special powers and he was just trying to get rid of them. I think HYDRA wanted her to be a weapon for them like they'd done to Bucky, and my dad didn't want that for her. I think he tried to help her when he was coherent enough to try and save her. But, uh, HYDRA caught on, and tried to take a hold of him instead... Anyway, I digress, now she's stuck in the soul stone with the others. I've gotten that much figured out. Thor had given me an assignment long ago to research the six stones, realizing we were pawns. I know emotions, and feelings, very well. And I can hold a lot of secrets, and information about other people. Science is not my best subject, so _please_ , English," Zoe said.

Scott swallowed hard at her story, swallowing another bite of Nat's sandwich. "That's a lot of information to swallow."

"Scott," Steve said, catching his attention. "What are you talking about?"

"What I'm saying is, time works differently in the Quantum Realm. The only problem is right now, we don't have a way to navigate it. But what if we did? I can't stop thinking about it. What if, we could somehow control the chaos, and we could navigate it? What if there was a way to enter the Quantum Realm at certain point in time, but then exist at another point in time? Like before Thanos," Scott explained.

"Wait, are you talking about a time machine?" Steve asked.

"No. No, of course not. No, not a time machine. It's more like a…yeah a time machine," Scott realized and Zoe couldn't help but smile at the idea. "I know it's crazy. But I can't stop thinking about it. There's gotta be some way…No it's crazy."

"I get e-mails from a raccoon. So, nothing really crazy sounds crazy anymore," Nat deadpanned.

Zoe curled her lips, hiding her smile, imagining Rocket sending e-mails to Nat. That ought to be interesting.

"So, who do we talk to about this?" Scott asked.

Zoe suddenly ran up to Scott and threw her arms around him, nearly making him stumble over and almost knocking Nat's sandwich out of his hand that he gripped rather tightly to keep from falling out of his fingers. Scott hugged her back.

"I'm glad we're friends again," she whispered.

"Me too," he said. "You know, if you want, just an idea, but you can keep the kiddo's with Cassie. She'd love to baby-sit them. If that's all right with Cap?"

Zoe pulled apart, and looked over at Steve, eyes pleading silently with him that she wanted to be apart of this. She owed it to Ava. She owed it to everyone. Steve nodded at her and she smiled brightly for the first time since her kids were born.

~*A*~

The audi pulled up to Tony's cabin. Steve, Zoe, Nat, and Scott piled out of the car to greet Tony. Tony saw them, and he sighed.

~*A*~

"Now, we know what it sounds like…" Scott said after his wild explanation to the genius billionaire who sat on his whicker lounge chair.

Zoe, Nat, Scott, and Steve stood by the porch's entrance, looking over at Tony curiously wondering what he was thinking about.

"Tony, after everything we've seen, is anything really impossible?" Steve asked.

"Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck scale, which then triggers the Deutech proposition. Can we agree on that?" Tony countered.

Zoe turned to look at the others, as per usual she was confused at the jargon words out of Tony's mouth.

"Tony, I just gave Scott a _long_ explanation of why science is not my forte, do you want the same explanation?" Zoe asked.

Tony smirked up at her. "No need to, killer. I already know your background history. I did find your mother's killer after all."

Zoe sighed. "Yeah, you did."

"Thank-you," Tony said. "In Layman's terms it means you're not coming home."

"I did," Scott said.

"No, you accidentally survived. It's a billion in one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pull a…what do you call it?" Tony asked them.

Scott cringed, feeling slightly embarrassed. "A Time Heist?"

"Yeah, a time heist. Of course, why didn't we think of this before? Oh, because it's laughable? Because it's a pipedream?" Tony genuinely asked them, that stung in their hearts.

"The stones are in the past," Scott said. "We can go back and get them."

"We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everyone back," Nat said.

"Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?" Tony glowered at them.

"I don't believe we would," Steve said firmly in his belief.

"Gotta say, sometimes I miss that giddy optimism. However, high hopes won't help if there's no logical, tangible way for me to safely execute said time heist. I believe the most likely outcome would be our collective demise," Tony said, glancing at Steve.

"Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel. That means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events –" Scott began.

"I'm gonna stop you right there, Scott. Are you seriously telling me that your plan to save the universe is based on _Back To The Future_?"

"I saw that one right?" Steve asked Zoe conspicuously in a small whisper.

She smirked, and nodded. "Checked off our bucket list. Had to be seen."

"No," Scott said.

"Good. You had me worried there," Tony said. "'Cause that'd be horse shit. That's not how quantum physics works."

Zoe couldn't help but frown.

"Tony…" Nat said. Tony turned to the Black Widow. "We have to take a stand."

"We did stand. And yet, here we are."

Scott frowned. "I know you got a lot on the line. You got a wife, a daughter. But I lost someone very important to me. A lot of people did. And now, now we have a chance to bring her back. Bring everyone back. And you're telling me that won't even..."

"That's right, Scott, I won't. Leave it. Got a kid," Tony said.

"And I've got _twins_ , Tony!" Zoe snapped at the billionaire. "Scott has a daughter too. We all have someone here, but we all have someone who isn't here. A chance is better than no chance at all."

Tony looked up at the former information specialist, shield agent. Suddenly, Morgan ran up to her dad. He picked her up and she hugged him. "Mommy told me to come and save you."

"Good job. I'm saved," he said to her, then he turned to face the others. He got up out of his seat and carried Morgan in his arms protectively.

"I wish you'd come here to ask me something else. Anything else. Honestly, I… I missed you guys. It was…Oh, and table's set for seven."

"Tony, I get it. And I'm happy for you. I really am. And I love my family too. But this is a second chance," Steve said.

"I got my second chance right here, Cap. I can't roll the dice again. If you don't talk shop, you can stay for lunch," Tony said.

Zoe watched Tony take Morgan inside the house. Then she looked over to see Nat and Steve start to head to the car. She shared a look with Scott and then they followed suit back to the car.

"He's scared," Nat said.

"He's not wrong," Steve agreed.

"Yeah, but I mean, what are we gonna do? We need him. What, are we gonna top?" Scott asked.

"No, I wanna do it right," Steve said. "We're gonna need a really big brain."

"Bigger than his?" Scott said, pointing to Tony's house.

"Hey," Zoe stopped Steve from getting into the car for a brief moment, touching his upper arm with her light touch. Steve turned around to face her. "Do you want me to stay with Tony and do a little recon on him?"

"Nah, he knows you too well. Anyway, I think the seeds have been planted enough. You're right. Just a little bit of science and imagination…and a bit of a friendly face goes a long way. Tony'll come around," Steve said.

"One can only hope," Zoe said, and climbed into the backseat of the car with Scott, before they headed off to find the big guy. Steve's right. They needed to do this the right way, or it was never going to work.

 **~*A*~**

 **A/n: So, I hoped all of what Zoe said made sense lol. I tried! Hope you all liked. Let me know! Thank you so much for following, favoriting, and reviewing! Love you guys! More updates soon!**


	138. Chapter 138: Time Travel

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers, just my OC.**

 **Chapter 138: Time Travel**

Zoe sat across from the big guy and just watched him eat. She didn't think she'd ever seen him this sad or depressed before. She even felt it. It was hard not to feel his melancholy personality right now.

Bruce wasn't supposed to be like this. Only Zoe could be like this. Only Zoe could take on the pain of loss. She was good at that. This was hard to watch. Maybe he needed his own pep talk. Heck, he'd given her therapy sessions more than she'd cared to admit, but they'd helped, and she was grateful for them.

"Come on, I feel like I'm the only one eating," Bruce said. He pushed his plate forward to Zoe. "Zoe, try some of that. Have some eggs."

Zoe wasn't hungry. She looked down at the plate in front of her and then up at the green guy. He put a fork on top of the plate for her. She forced a grin and grabbed the fork with her shaking fingers before she started to try and dig in and eat, but she found she couldn't. Zoe set the fork down and she pushed the eggs to the side of the table.

"I had a peanut butter sandwich before I came here," Zoe mumbled regrettably.

"I'm so confused," Scott said, glancing at the Hulk.

"These are confusing times," Bruce said.

"So, you just give up, and let all your anger resolve?" Zoe whispered, also confused.

"No," Bruce muttered in between his bites.

Zoe rolled her eyes. "That's exactly what you're doing. You're rolling over and playing dead possum. Only _I_ do that, remember?" She knew Bruce had had it hard. Hell, they all had it hard. Being defeated by Thanos was no pretty penny. Hell, she still missed Loki for crying out loud. And, that's saying something considering their history in the past. She never not once thought in a million years she'd ever think that.

"Like I said, these are confusing times," Bruce said, looking into her eyes. She looked up at him and she frowned.

"Right. No, no, that's not what I meant," Scott said.

"No, I get it. I'm kidding! I know! It's crazy. I'm wearing shirts now," his green fingers picked at his purple shirt.

Zoe chewed her bottom lip at that and glanced sideways at Steve worriedly.

"Yeah! How? Why?" Scott asked.

"Five years ago, we all got our asses beat," Bruce began. "Except it was worse for me. Because I lost twice. First, Hulk lost, then Banner lost. Then we all lost."

"No one blamed you, Bruce," Nat said firmly.

"How are the twins doing?" Bruce asked Steve and Zoe.

"They miss you," Zoe said. "And Nat's right. We don't blame you at all."

"I did. For years, I've been treating the Hulk like he's some kind of disease, something to get rid of. But then I started looking at him as the cure. Eighteen months in a gamma lab. I put the brains and the brawn together. And now look at me. Bets of both worlds..."

Some kids came up to the table, looking expectantly at the green guy.

"Excuse me, Mr. Hulk?" The girl asked.

"Yes?" Bruce turned to them.

"Can we get a photo?" She asked.

"100%, little person. Come on, step up," Bruce gave the phone to Scott. "You mind?"

"Oh," Scott said and then he started to get the photo ready for them, turning the phone around to take a good photo.

"Say "green"!"

"Green!" They chorused. Scott took the photo.

"Did you get that? That's good," Bruce commented with a grin.

"Don't you wanna grab one with me? I'm Ant-Man," he was about to hand them the phone back.

"They're Hulk fans, they don't know Ant-Man. Nobody does."

"Wait, no, no, he wants to... You want to take a picture with him, right?"Bruce asked. The boy shook his head.

"He's even saying no he doesn't. I get it. I don't want it either. I don't want a picture with them."

"He's gonna feel bad," he looked at Scott apologetically. "Sorry. They said they'd do it."

"I don't want it anymore."

"You'd feel bad,"

"Just take the goddamn phone," Scott nearly snapped.

"Scott," Zoe scolded, snaking the phone away from him and handed it back to Bruce. Bruce nodded at her. Bruce handed it back to the girl.

"Thank you, Mr. Hulk," she said happily.

"No, it's great kids. Thank you very much. Hulk out!" Bruce chuckled.

Zoe looked over at the others, sharing a worried look. This was definitely not the Hulk she knows and loves.

"Bruce."

"Dab!" Bruce said awkwardly.

"Bruce," Steve said, trying to get him to focus back on topic.

"Listen to your Mom. She knows better," Bruce yelled back to the retreating kids out the door of the café.

Scott leaned forward. "About we were saying..."

"Right. The whole time travel do-over? Guys, it's outside my area of expertise," Bruce shook his head.

"Well, you pulled this off. I remember a time when that seemed pretty impossible time, too," Nat said as a matter of fact.

Zoe smirked at her, loving her to death.

~*AE*~

Back at the lab, they'd gotten Scott ready for the time heist test. Scott had his van out along with his quantum…tunnel.

Zoe stood by Steve, arms crossed watching Scott get into his suit.

"Are we sure about this?" Zoe asked.

"You dated him," Steve said. "You tell me."

"Jealous?" Zoe asked, a small smirk played on her face.

Steve scowled, and then scoffed. "No. No more so than you're jealousy of a seventy-year-old crush."

Zoe's cheeks turned pink at that. "Good point."

"Seriously? That's what you two are fighting about?" Scott asked.

"Shut up, Scott. Let's do this, you good?" Zoe asked. Scott looked over and checked out his suit. He gave her a thumbs up.

"Okay, here we go. Time travel test number one. Scott, fire up the uhhh... van thing," Bruce said at the control panel.

"Breakers are set, emergency generators are on standby," Steve read and Zoe watched over him, reading the numbers.

"Good. 'Cause if we blow the grid, I don't wanna lose tiny here in the 1950s," Bruce said.

Everyone glanced at one another, giving each other a scared look. Zoe didn't want that either.

"Excuse me?" Scott demanded.

Natasha looked over at Scott. "He's kidding," she turned to Bruce. "You can't say things like that."

"Just... It was a bad joke."

"You were kidding, right?" Nat asked.

"I have no idea. We're talking about time travel here. Either it's all a joke, or none of it is," Bruce said. He pressed a couple buttons and thought it over before he said, "We're good! Get your helmet on, Scott. I'm gonna send you back a week, you'll walk around for an hour, then bring you back in 10 seconds. Makes sense?"

Zoe made a face.

"Perfectly not confusing," Scott said.

"Good luck, Scott. You got this," Steve said and nodded.

"You're right, Captain America, I do," Scott said determined with Steve's words of encouragement. Zoe couldn't help but smile. She had a strangely good feeling about this. This was going to work. They had to make this work.

"On the count of three. 3... 2... 1!" Bruce called out and then he pushed the button. Scott suddenly got sucked up into the quantum tunnel. Then all of a sudden, Bruce pushed another button, and a teenager came back into Scott's Ant-man suit. Zoe's eyes went wide and her jaw dropped.

"Guys? This doesn't feel right," Teenage Scott said, looking around.

"What's going on?" Steve asked Bruce, trying not to panic.

"Hold on," Bruce said, trying to figure this out.

"Who is that?" Nat asked.

"Is that Scott?" Steve asked as well.

"Oh my God…" Zoe realized, recognizing him.

"Yes, this is Scott!" He yelled at them. Then all of a sudden he disappeared back into the quantum tunnel, and then reappeared as an older Scott. Zoe winced.

"Owe! My back!" Older Scott cried out.

"Hang in, there, Scott! We'll get you back, I promise!" Zoe cried out to him as he whimpered, running a hand over his back. Zoe looked over at Bruce worriedly.

"Can you bring him back?" Steve asked.

The older man suddenly changed into a baby. Zoe covered her mouth in shock.

"It's a baby," Steve said.

"It's Scott!" Bruce cried.

"As a baby!" Steve cried in alarm. Zoe placed two palms of her hands to the side of her cheeks in shock.

"Do something!" Zoe cried.

"He'll grow!"

"Bring Scott back," Steve demanded.

"When I say kill the power, kill the power. And…kill it!" Bruce yelled to Nat who'd gone over to the lever. She pulled the lever down, shutting the whole quantum tunnel project down until Scott finally returned back to normal.

"Scott?" Zoe asked, running over to him to check to see if he was okay.

"Somebody peed my pants. I don't know if it was "baby" me or "old" me. Or just…"me" me," Scott frowned.

"Probably trying to get used to the different time changes," Zoe said. Scott nodded.

"Time travel!" Bruce shouted out suddenly.

"What?" Steve looked incredulously at Bruce.

"I see this as an absolute win!"

Everyone looked at one another. Zoe sighed. She pressed her temples together and failed to see how this was an absolute win.

"I'm gonna check on the kids, see how they're doing with Cassie," Zoe said, placing a hand on Steve's shoulder, giving it a squeeze.

"Tell them I love them," Steve said, and Zoe looked up into his gorgeous blue eyes, giving him a small smile. She nodded. She also needed a coffee break.

 **~*AE*~**

 **A/n: Hey guys! Another update today. Hope everyone's doing okay. Moving right along, somewhat, anyway from what I can scrounge, lol. If anyone has the full transcript, and knows where to find one, please let me know as we anxiously wait for the DVD. Thank you all so much for following, favoriting, and reviewing. Also, if there's anyone who'd like to see something in this story, let me know, and I'll try to add it in, okay? Thank you guys! It really means a lot to me! P.S. I will go back and edit the other chapters that have some missing letters for some reason. I swear I double checked, but eh, fresh eyes is always good right? :)**


	139. Chapter 139: Taco Musings

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. Just my OC.**

 **Chapter 139: Taco Musings**

Steve sat outside lost in pure thought. He wanted to make this work. It had to work. He wasn't sure what he was going to do if it didn't. He'd failed. Lost. He'd taken that upon his shoulders and it weighed heavy and true to his heart. He didn't want any of that burden on Zoe's shoulders. She'd had her own. She didn't need the pain that he'd felt all these years. He tried not to feel it. He tried to place every focus on his family, and put on a brave face, and be a dad. Zoe assured him he was doing fine, that being there to help was enough. But there were times when he wasn't there. He thought more on what they'd lost. He tried to carry it all on his shoulders, and tried to move on at the same time, but it was hard. He couldn't. And he felt as though he'd let _her_ down. Peggy. All of what she'd built for her entire life. He was letting the people he loved down. Zoe didn't show it on her face. She had two beautiful twins to love. She had her family. Her second chance. But she was willing to go through with the time travel heist. She still believed in him. She still believed in the Avengers. No matter how many times they'd fallen over and over, she'd believed in them. How did she do it? Most people have given up. Most people have moved on. At least the ones that were left in the dissolute world. She was his light. No matter how many times that light had wanted to burn out, she never did. She always pulled through. And she was always on his side. And he'd always been on hers.

Steve looked up at the sound of a car engine. An Audi R8 was hurtling towards the compound and came to a rough screeching halt. Steve scoffed slightly at the car. Typical. The car pulled right up to him, and the window rolled down to reveal Tony Stark.

"Why the long face?" Tony asked. "Let me guess. He turned into a baby."

"Among other things, yeah. What are you doing here?" Steve asked.

Tony opened the door and got out of the car. He walked around to the back of the trunk. "That's the EPR paradox. Instead of pushing Lang through time, you might've wound up pushing through Lang. It's tricky. Dangerous. Somebody should caution you against it."

"You did," Steve said with a small nod of his head.

Tony looked over his trunk as he opened it up. "Oh, did I? Thank God, I'm here. Regardless, I fixed it," he pulled out a device from the trunk to show him. Steve narrowed his eyes at it questionably. "A fully-functioning Time-Space GPS. I just want peace. Turns out, resentment is corrosive, and I hate it."

"Me too," Steve nodded sincerely at Tony, grateful for his return.

"We got a shot at these stones, but I gotta tell you my priorities: Bring back everyone? I hope, yes. Keep what I got? I have to, at all costs. And maybe not die trying would be nice."

Steve nodded, taking in Tony's terms. He wouldn't have it any other way. Steve wanted to keep what he got too. Tony wasn't alone in that.

"Sounds like a deal," he said, reaching to shake Tony's hand to make it official. Tony accepted.

And for once in a very long time, it felt like they were brothers again. Tony even pulled out something red, blue, and shiny that almost blinded Steve's eyes from the sunlight. His eyes went wide at the shield…a brand new shield.

He was about to give it to him, until Steve winced slightly. "Tony, I don't know."

"Why? He made it for you," Tony said as a matter of fact. "Plus, honestly, I have to get it out of the garage before Morgan takes it sledding."

He handed Steve the shield, and Steve strapped his arm into the strap against his arm, and gripped it tight, holding the shield within his fingers. He looked down at it appreciatively and respectively.

"Thank you, Tony," Steve said genuinely.

"Will you keep that a little quiet?" Tony asked. "Didn't bring one for the whole team…well, maybe except a little something for Killer. She around?" Tony asked reaching in the back of his trunk to pull out something heavy inside a black backpack.

"Uh, yeah, yeah….she's…around," Steve said.

Tony tilted his head to the side. "What's going on between you two? Need a little relationship advice?"

Steve scoffed. "From you?"

"Well, I am married," Tony boasted with a grin on his face.

"It's fine," Steve shook his head. "It's…complicated," then he let out a sigh and shook his head. "Then again, it's always been complicated between us."

"Yeah, well, she told you that when you met her,"

"Tony, she was my debriefing package," Steve deadpanned.

Tony nodded his head slowly at that. "I see. So she knew you from the beginning inside and out of that Star Spangled suit, huh? That must've been fun."

"I wanted to get to know her," Steve began. "She seemed fun, sweet, and kind, different, but in a good way, she just…then SHIELD fell apart, she fell apart."

"Well, yeah, Cap, that was her whole world. That's all she ever knew. You were her number one big crush, well, except for Clint, but she knew not to get involved and mess up something great. Something you two could have, do have. I know you've been trying to find that special shared experience with someone…" Tony began and Steve looked at him as if to say where'd he heard that from. Tony smirked and nodded. "Yeah, she told me. Why do you think she still stayed with us all this time? She could've found any other job in the world, yet she stayed with us. You were her Endgame, man. So, uh….where is she? Where is everyone? She's getting the whole team together, yeah?"

Steve nodded. "We're working on that now."

~*A*~

"Oh my God," Zoe sighed in heaven as she bit into her taco. "I remember," she began in mid-chew. " _Good_ tacos, like _really_ good tacos, especially Taco Tuesday. Do you remember Taco Tuesday?" She asked.

Scott nodded, and started to take out his own taco out of the wrapper.

"I think so. But ah, can I give you some advice on Cap?" Steve asked.

Zoe slumped her shoulders, and almost eye-rolled. "I need advice?"

"You're doing it again," Scott said.

"Doing what again?" Zoe asked.

"You're running away from your own problems," he said.

Zoe scoffed. "No, I'm not. We're totally cool."

Scott turned his head at her. "Where do you suppose you get it from? I know you don't like to hear this, but you do have some traits of your father in you, Zee."

Zoe looked down at the ground, suddenly not feeling very hungry. She hadn't thought of her father in a very long time. "I gave up my HYDRA bloodline a long time ago."

"Right. And so did he, so that he could protect you, your mom, and your sister. Sure, he might've gotten a little crazy, and there were some dark times in the past. They're no excuses. But he tried to turn things around, just like you did. And you want to know who was responsible for that?"

Zoe sighed, and realized where he was going with this. "Steve."

"Yup," Scott nodded. "I've never seen you happier."

"He does bring out the best in me," Zoe nodded.

"So, what are you doing?" Scott asked.

"I'm screwing it up," she said.

Scott nodded. "Yup. He's gotta feel like hell right now."

Zoe sighed, and groaned. "Ugh, I know. Okay. I promise, as soon as I finish this taco, I'm totally going over to Steve and we'll talk. Hmm, maybe more than talk."

"Didn't need to know that," Scott said. "But after lunch, you're supposed to go with Bruce to find Thor," Scott reminded her.

"Right," Zoe wrinkled her nose. "Huh. When did you go from clueless to smart?"

"Ha, ha," Scott said dryly. "So, your son wants to be a sandwich shop owner?"

"Yeah, says there needs to be more of them in this world. He said even with gluten-free bread for people like me, and Pepper," Zoe said.

"Kid's a genius," Scott said. "So, what are you doing eating a taco?"

Zoe nearly choked on her bite. "Gluten-free?" Zoe asked guiltily. Scott shook his head. "Ok. Ok. I'm cheating. I cheat when I get upset…" she said with a small frown. "And then totally regret it later."

"Thanks," Scott said dryly.

Zoe beamed and got up from the bench. "This taco needs more hot sauce, I'm gonna be right back and go find some."

She was about to walk inside the compound, until the Benatar landed in the front yard of the compound. She whirled around and narrowed her eyes at the ship touching onto the grass.

Rocket climbed out of the ramp, carrying his weapon against his shoulder. He walked passed Scott.

"Hey, humie! Where's Big Green?"

Scott glanced at him curiously. "Uh…kitchen, I think," he looked at Rocket's weapon, and motioned a chin nod of his head. "That's awesome."

Rocket walked right in as Zoe held the door open for him. He motioned a thank you nod to him.

Scott leaned into bite into his taco, except Nebula suddenly landed smack dab in front of him, causing Scott's taco meat and delicious toppings to fall out of his taco, making Zoe cringe a bit. Oops.

"Rhodey, careful on re-entry," Nebula said into her earpiece. "There's an idiot on the landing zone."

"Oh God!" Scott scrambled his taco stuff onto the bench and tried to clean it up with his napkin, startled out of Nebula's own landing. If she hadn't been so rough, the taco and Scott might've been okay.

Zoe closed her mouth shut and looked the other way, as Nebula walked inside the compound.

"What's up, regular-sized man?" Rhodey asked.

Rhodey walked through the door that Zoe was still holding and she smiled at him as he walked inside. He motioned a nod at her, and then Bruce walked outside the door and smiled brightly at Zoe. He was carrying a tray of his own lunch, two brand new tacos. He offered Scott one and Zoe smiled at the gesture, heart warming up again.

"I'll grab some napkins too," Zoe said, and waltzed back inside the compound.

She ran through the hall to the kitchen. She opened up the fridge door to search for the hot sauce. "Hot sauce…hot sauce….hot sauce…" she said.

"It's actually out on the counter," Steve said, standing behind her, making her jump. She whirled around and closed the silver fridge door behind her, blushing immensely. She blushed unable to help it as Steve held the hot sauce in between his fingers.

"Heh," Zoe said, and pointed to the hot sauce. Bruce must've left it out when he was dressing his own tacos. "Right. I knew that. Thanks," she said, and walked over to grab it from him. She reached for the neck of the small bottle of hot sauce, and Steve's fingers boldly reached up to touch hers that made her shiver. "We should probably stop meeting like this," she said with a nervous chuckle.

"Why? I never tire of it," Steve said. "If it makes our son a billionaire and is as good as Tony is…I'm okay with that."

Zoe chewed in her bottom lip, trying to hide her smile. "Like Tony? Well, I like that, but let's hopefully leave the playboy part of that because that would be totally awkward and I'm so not ready for that. Plus, he's more like you…And also, he should-" Steve leaned in and sealed her lips together with his.

She got lost within his kiss, eyes closing, forgetting about the hot sauce completely because that's what he did to her every single time she was with him. He made her feel alive.

There was a rough cough behind them, and Zoe reluctantly pulled apart from Steve, curling her fingers against his chest, turning to see that it was Bruce. She cringed and Steve looked at the hot sauce and then he reached over to hand it to him. "There you go, buddy," Steve said.

Bruce grumbled and walked back outside to finish his lunch with Scott, leaving Zoe to grin. "Not exactly Nat's exploding, proclaimed, dying love for one another scenario...but..." Steve said with a small shrug of his shoulders.

"It was bittersweet," Zoe smiled humbly at him. "I'm going to find Thor."

"Yeah, that'd be a good idea," Steve nodded. "Then you can take Bruce and Rocket with you when you do. Nat's working on Clint. You gave her the right coordinates, right?"

"Of course. Not sure what Clint's doing in Tokyo, but…I'm betting he doesn't want us to know. Lord knows, he worked hard to clean up his messes," Zoe nodded. And she smiled brightly once more. "Duty calls."

She walked away from him, and back to her office. Steve smiled after her, heart just a little bit warmer.

 **~*A*~**

 **A/N: Awe. Hope that wasn't too cheesy, lol. I loved that part with Scott, and his poor taco, so had to include it. Thank you all for following, favoriting, and reviewing! They're always welcomed and loved! More updates soon! Let me know what ya think!**


	140. Chapter 140: New Asgard

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. Just my OC.**

 **Chapter 140: New Asgard**

Bruce, Rocket, and Zoe got out of their truck. They finally made it to Norway. Zoe had never been. And she can see why. It was cloudy and dreary. She glanced around her busying surroundings by the sea. A small town by the port.

The remaining Asgardians walked around their town, acting like real human.

Zoe chewed her bottom lip worriedly.

"Kind of a step down from a golden palace for an Avenger highness and whatnot," Rocket commented lightly as he also observed what was laid out in front of him.

"Have a little compassion, pal," Bruce said. "First they've lost Asgard, then half the people. They're probably happy to just have a home."

"Ain't that the truth," Zoe muttered under her breath, vaguely remembering being involved with Hela's conquest. She wiped out everyone Thor ever cared about. They had no choice but to raise Ragnorak and destroy her, which included destroying Asgard. Then they ultimately ran into Thanos. And well, Zoe didn't even want to remember the rest.

Zoe looked over at Bruce as he'd spotted Valkyrie. She smiled at her as she paused in her trek.

"You shouldn't have come!" She yelled at them. Zoe narrowed her eyes. Why?

"Valkyrie! Good to see you, Angry Girl!" Bruce exclaimed.

Valkyrie eyed the green guy up and down. "I think I liked you better the other ways."

"This is Rocket, and you know Zoe," Bruce said to his companions that sandwiched him.

"How you doin?" Rocket greeted her with a nod of his head.

Zoe walked over and hugged Valkyrie. Much to her surprise, Valkyrie hugged back.

"He won't see you," Valkyrie said, shaking her head as she pulled apart from the human. She glanced at Rocket curiously then Bruce.

"That bad, huh?" Bruce asked.

"We only see him once a month, when he comes for…." She paused, gesturing a nod of her head over to the crates full of beer. Zoe raised her eyebrows in shock. "Supplies," she finished, as Zoe noted the kegs beside the overflowing crates along the docks.

"It's that bad," Rocket said.

"Yeah," Bruce said.

"Not on my watch," Zoe said, and marched down the road to Thor's house. Rocket and Bruce looked at one another before they followed after her.

~*AE*~

Zoe opened up the door to Thor's home. A strong and pungent smell wafted through her nostrils, almost making her dizzy, enough to make her fall backwards, but Bruce caught her.

"Thanks," she said appreciatively. Bruce nodded, and steadied her on her feet.

She ran her fingers over her nose and even pinched her nose to try and block the horrid smell. Oh, this was bad, she thought with a slight grimace.

"Are you hear about the cable?" Zoe could hear Thor's voice in the other room. She shared a small knowing look with Bruce. "The Cinemax ran out about two weeks ago, and the sports were all kinds of fuzzy."

He stopped in the foyer. His eyes landed on Bruce and Rocket. "Boys! Oh my God! How have you been?" He exclaimed. Zoe couldn't help but watch in shock and sadness as the Greatest Defender of all…was in this type of state. It broke her heart to be honest. This must've been what she looked like whenever she felt down. It was like looking at a mirror; then again she never got hooked on beer. It probably could've been way worse if she didn't have Tony, Steve, or her avengers.

"Come here, you little rascal!" Thor said boastfully as he picked up Rocket to hug him. Rocket grimaced at the God's arms around him. He looked to Zoe and Bruce for help.

"No, I'm good. I'm good. That's not necessary."

"It's bad," Zoe whispered.

"Zoe!" Thor beamed, hearing her. He dropped Rocket on the ground. Rocket tried to compose himself as Thor went to go hug her. She hugged him too. "My favorite SHIELD agent. How are you? Good? Any more secrets in that little noggin of yours?" He ran his knuckles over her head, messing up her already combed hair. She grimaced slightly and shook her head.

"None that I can recall," she said softly.

"Well, at least you're honest," Thor said, eyeing her up and down.

"I never meant to hurt you," Zoe said.

Thor nodded. "I know. So. Hulk," he turned to Bruce. Zoe flicked her eyes over toward him. "You know my friends, Miek, and Korg, right? I know Zoe does."

Zoe nodded, slowly remembering Miek and Korg. She'd met Korg in the arena's holding cell and Miek on the ship.

Zoe, Rocket, and Bruce followed Thor into the living room where they spotted the two playing a game in front of the television set. They were eating chips too.

"Hey, boys!" Bruce greeted them. Zoe waved at them, giving them a little hello as she stood beside Rocket.

"Hey guys. Long time no see," Korg said. "Beer's on the bucket. Feel free to log on to the Wi-Fi. No password, obviously. Thor, he's back. The kid on the TV that called me a dickhead again."

Well, this made sense as to how Zoe was able to hack into Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi streamed out of New Asgard. And that is how she was able to find Thor and friends.

"Noobmaster?" Thor asked.

"Yeah, Noobmaster69."

Thor reached for a headset and put it on his head to talk into it. "Noobmaster? Yeah, it's Thor again. You know, the God of Thunder? Listen, buddy. If you don't log off this game immediately, I'm gonna fly over to your house, come down to that basement you're hiding in, rip off your arms then shove them up your butt! Oh, that's right. Yes, now go cry to your father, you little weasel!"

Zoe widened her eyes at the language that was coming out of Thor's mouth. She chewed her bottom lip. He was arguing with a kid? She glanced worriedly at Bruce. Bruce shrugged at her.

"Thank you, Thor," Korg said.

"Let me know if he bothers you again, okay?"

"Thank you very much. I will," Korg said with a nod.

Thor looked at his guests. "So you guys want a drink? What are you drinking? We have beer, tequila, all sorts of things."

He then picked up Stormbreaker to open a bottle of beer and he started to chug it down. Bruce walked over to Thor to place a hand over his shoulder.

"Buddy, you all right?" Bruce asked.

"Yes, I'm fine! Why, don't I look all right?" Thor asked.

"You look like melted ice cream," Rocket deadpanned. Zoe grimaced at the poor choice of words, but she couldn't help but think it was true. This was not the God of Thunder she loved and remembered.

Thor just laughed. "So, what's up?"

"We need your help," Bruce began. "There might be a chance we could fix everything."

"What, like the cable?" Thor let out a burp, and almost causing Zoe to fall again. Bruce steadied her to make sure she didn't. "Cause that's been driving me bananas for weeks."

"Like Thanos," Bruce said.

Zoe watched the smile and charming demeanor of his disappear. He gripped onto Bruce's shoulder and glared. "Don't say that name."

"Thor," Zoe said.

"No. Nope. No. Not you too," Thor shook his head at her. "There is nothing that you can say will make me go back."

Korg stood up and looked at them as he took off his headset, glancing between them cautiously. "Um, yeah. We don't actually say that name in here."

"Please take your hand off me," Bruce pleaded as he picked up Thor's hand and took it off of his shoulder. "Now, I know that... guy might scare you."

"Why would I be? Why would, why would I be scared of that guy? I'm the one who killed that guy, remember? Anyone else here killed that guy?"

Bruce and Zoe looked at each other and Zoe looked at Rocket in silence.

"Nope. Didn't think so. Korg, why don't you, tell everybody who chopped Thanos' big head off."

Thor walked away from them.

"Umm... Stormbreaker?" Korg asked.

"Now, who's swingin' Stormbreaker?" Thor asked.

"I get it. You're in a rough spot, okay? I've been there myself. You wanna know who helped me out of it?" Bruce asked.

"I don't know. Is it... Natasha?" Thor asked.

"It was you. You helped me. You and Zoe," Bruce said.

"We helped each other," Zoe said. "You helped me get off of that planet. You tried to win my freedom for me. You helped me remind me who I was. You and Bruce. You two are my favorite avengers. Thor, you've always been there for me. If it hadn't been for your help, I don't think I would be here right now. Hell, Loki locked me up in that glass cylinder, you think I'd still be alive if we didn't get locked up together? Hell, no."

Thor eyed the little one up and down, vaguely remembering his time with her and that unfortunate demise. Shaking his head slowly, he walked over to the window and pointed at it. "Why don't you ask the, Asgardians down there, how much my help was worth," he said, and plopped down onto the sofa. _"_ The ones that are left, anyway."

"That wasn't your fault," Zoe stressed, walking over to Thor and sat down tentatively beside him.

"I think we can bring them back," Bruce said.

"Stop. Just, stop... " Thor shook his head. He reached for a packet of m&m's and started to eat a handful. "I know you think I'm down here wallowing in my own self-pity, waiting to be rescued and… and saved. But I'm fine, okay? We're fine, aren't we?" He looked over at Korg and Miek playing fortnight and eating pizza.

"Nah, all good here, mate!" Korg assured him. Zoe looked across the room and then back at Thor. She had her doubts.

"So, whatever it is that you're offering, we're not into it, don't care, couldn't care less. Goodbye," Thor said.

"We need you, pal," Bruce whispered.

"This is not Earth's Greatest Defender that Coulson died for," Zoe whispered as well when she stood up from Thor's sofa. She started to walk over and join Bruce, getting ready to leave.

Rocket glanced at the two then he crossed his arms, and looked crossly at Thor. "There's beer on the ship."

Thor gripped onto an m&m before he chucked it into his mouth. "What kind?"

 **~*AE*~**

 **Avenger's Compound**

Thor was now dressed in a hoodie that Zoe had acquired for him. He drank his beer and walked around the testing chamber gloomily. Tony followed him.

"Drifting left. On the side there, Lebowski," Tony said. He looked over at Rocket who was underneath the glass platform. "How's it going, Ratchet?"

"It's Rocket," he grumbled. "Take it easy. You're only a genius on Earth, pal."

"Yup," Tony said duly.

Inside the adjacent room, Scott, Bruce, Steve, and Rhodey were talking with each other. Scott's dressed in a white and red suit. It looked a lot like his Ant-Man suit, but it was anything but that type of technology.

"Time travel suit? Not bad," Bruce said as he touched the suit.

"Hey, hey, hey. Easy, easy," Scott said as he watched the red inside the glass tube worriedly.

"I'm being very careful," Bruce assured him.

"No, you're being very Hulky," Scott said.

"I'm being careful," Bruce said again.

Scott held up the red glass bottle in his hand. "These are Pym Particles, alright? And ever since Hank Pym got snapped out of existence, this is it. This is what we have. We're not making anymore."

"Scott, calm down!" Steve said. Zoe glanced over at Scott curiously.

"Sorry. We've got enough for one round trip each. That's it. No do-overs. Plus two test runs," he added, accidentally pressing a button, making him shrink. He made himself grow back. One test run.

"Maybe I should hang on to them for awhile?" Zoe asked.

Scott nodded, handing her the particles. "So long as you promise not to get kidnapped again."

Zoe rolled her eyes. She hadn't planned on it any time soon.

 **~*AE*~**

Zoe walked through the hallway and paused, stepping past a room where Clint was trying to put on one of Scott's time traveling suits. She pivoted on her heel and turned to face him in the middle of the threshold.

"Need some help?" Zoe asked.

"No, uh, I think I got it, thanks," Clint said, zipping up the suit so that it fitted him nicely. "So, what is this thing anyway?"

"Scott calls it the Quantum Suit," Zoe said. Clint glanced at her like she had three heads. "Yeah, I don't get it either, but he seems to believe it will work, so…" she shrugged. "I tried to find you," she said.

"Which time?" Clint asked, looking at her.

"Called you in Tokyo. You said and I quote, "Call again, and I'll kill ya," she said.

"Wasn't in the right mindset," Clint said with a small shake of his head.

"Are any of us are?" Zoe asked.

"Well, you know you're in the right mindset when you become an avenger," Clint said, glancing at her as he held her gaze. A shiver ran through her.

"I missed my favorite human avenger," Zoe said.

"The only," Clint added.

"Come on, the others are in the testing chamber, and I think they need a test subject," Zoe said.

"Lucky me," Clint said dryly. She could hear it in his voice. The loss, everything he must've felt. She felt it too. It'd been a long and tough five years for everybody. She was glad Natasha traveled to Tokyo to get him. That was the right move, the right call.

Zoe placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "Hey, they missed you too, you know. We all did. We need you now more than ever. Nat needs you now more than ever."

"Keep talkin' Sawyer, might just butter my ego up a little bit," Clint said as they walked out of the room and headed to the testing chamber.

"Counting on it," Zoe couldn't help but grin.

The group ventured to the testing chamber. Steve, Nat, Tony, Scott, Bruce, Rhodey, and Nebula stood at the control panel. Scott stood in the middle.

"All right. I'm not ready for this," Scott said, looking out to the group.

"I'm game," Bruce volunteered.

"I'll do it," Clint said, walking in the room.

Zoe followed suit, and stood by his side, arms crossed, with a smile on her face. She glanced sideways at the archer.

"Clint, now you're gonna feel a little discombobulated from the chronoshift," Bruce said.

She walked over to stand beside Steve as Clint stepped up into the middle of the platform.

"Don't worry about it," Clint said with a shake of his head.

"Wait a second, let me ask you something. If we can do this, you know, go back in time, why don't we just find baby Thanos, and... " Rhodey said, and he demonstrated strangling baby Thanos with a rope, making Zoe's mouth drop.

"Rhodey," Zoe scolded him.

"What?" He asked her.

"First of all, that's horrible," Bruce said.

Rhodey gave him a look. "It's Thanos."

"And secondly, time doesn't work that way. Changing the past doesn't change the future," Bruce said.

"Look, we go back, we get the stones before Thanos gets them... Thanos doesn't have the stones. Problem solved. Bingo," Rhodey said.

Tony shook his head. "That's not how it works."

"Well, that's what I heard," Rhodey said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"What? By who? Who told you that?" Tony asked.

Rhodey held up his fingers and started counting down. "Star Trek, Terminator, TimeCop, Time After Time –"

"Quantum Leap –"

"A Wrinkle in Time, Somewhere in Time –"

"Hot Tub Time Machine –"

"Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," Zoe added with a grin. They glanced at her confused. She rolled her eyes. "Harry and Hermonie went back in time to save Buckbeek and Sirius Black."

"Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Basically, any movie that deals with time travel." Rhodey said once everyone motioned a nod of their heads at Zoe's explanation of Harry Potter's time travel.

"Die Hard?" Scott asked. All eyes went on him and Zoe tilted her head to the side. She shook her head. "No, it's not..."

"This is known," Rhodey said.

"I don't know why everyone believes that, but that isn't true. Think about it: If you travel to the past, that past becomes your future. And your former present becomes the past. Which can't now be changed by your new future..." Bruce explained, or at least tried to explain to the group. Zoe tried to follow it.

"Exactly," Tony said.

"So... Back To The Future's a bunch of bullshit?" Scott asked.

Zoe pressed her fingers to her temple. Her head was starting to hurt. "I think I might explode," she said. Steve squeezed her shoulder gently and comfortingly. She smiled at the loving gesture.

"Alright, Clint. We're going in 3... 2... 1!" Bruce announced. A helmet formed over Clint's head and then all of a sudden he went quantum.

He felt himself zooming through the quantum realm and into a clearing, hurtling towards something of an image. He became himself again, no longer small size, but normal size.

He pressed a button on the side of his head to get a clearer look at his surroundings. He was inside his barn outside his home. He walked out into the yard and saw his white house with a picket fence. He looked at a baseball glove on the ground. He picked it up. He heard something from the house.

"Cooper? Where are my headphones?" Lila had asked.

"Lila?" He asked, hearing her voice through the door. He ran toward it, just as the device on his hand started to beep. He ran for the door and was about to open it to desperately see his daughter, but he shrunk back into size and headed back to the future.

"Dad?" Lila asked, just missing him. She looked around. " _Dad?"_

Back at the Avenger's compound and into the future, Clint resurfaced on the glass platform out of breath. Natasha ran up to him, and sat by his side, holding him up gently. "Hey, hey. Look at me," she said. "You okay?"

Clint tried to compose himself as everyone waited anxiously for the verdict. He picked up the baseball glove in his hand and looked at her. "Yeah, it worked. It worked."

Zoe covered her mouth, trying to hide her smile from popping up on her face. She turned and looked up at Steve, giving him bright eyes, and he nodded, looking back at her. This could work. They had an advantage.

"Zoe?" Steve asked her.

"Yeah?" She said.

"You're up," he said. Zoe grinned mischievously. She loved being the secret weapon, especially when times like these called for it.

 **~*AE*~**

 **A/n:** **((grin)) I don't know about you guys, but I'm loving the bit between Zoe and Steve. It's much smoother now. :) & a Clint & Zoe moment! Follows, favorites, and reviews are always welcomed and loved. Thank you all for reading! Let me know what ya think!**


	141. Chapter 141: Our History

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. I just own my OC.**

 **A/n: Enjoy guys!**

 **Chapter 141: Our History**

"So, while everyone in here was getting their asses kicked by 'You-Know-Who', or some form of an evil spawn…" Zoe began, "Ultron," she coughed, making Natasha, Bruce, Clint, Steve, Thor, and Tony glance at her oddly, along with Rhodey. She ignored their looks and beamed. Nebula and Rocket remained confused.

"I compiled a list, a database if you will, of every single encounter you guys ever had with the stones. I mean I did have my own office in the Triskelion, Records," she said.

"In between your own espionage right?" Rhodey asked.

Zoe smirked at him. "Right," she said. "Plus, it sort of helped that my grandfather had an archive of his own," Zoe pulled up the archives she and Steve worked on together on the holograms that were already up.

A list of people, things, places, etc. old files of missions and news papers of events occurred in the past appeared on the holographic screen. "When HYDRA had use of the Tesseract. The space stone."

"Aside from letting Strucker know all of your secrets to get ahead to find Ava, I _did_ get some of his secrets too. I wasn't just there to get to my sister. I was there to also have eyes on Strucker. Any plan of attack, any weapon he had, any experiment he ever continued on with Loki's scepter and the mind stone, I created an extra database so that we would be ready for the next attack. Cut off one head, two more will take its place. I tried to get as much information on him as I could get, but in the end he was just like the rest of them. Men who only wanted the power for themselves. Men who just wanted to control the universe. Kind of remind you of someone we know, right?" Zoe asked them, and they nodded slowly.

"Anything I ever did, it was to get some form of information with these evil people that we all took down together all vying for power. I was Fury's eyes and ears. I was the information specialist. He'd wanted me like a ghost in the field, observing, collecting, protecting, figuring out when the next bomb was going to tick. He wanted me to befriend you, train with you, learn your strengths, and weaknesses, in case someone on the other side needed said information so that I could stay alive. Because without it, I wouldn't have survived. I wasn't sure I could continue, going back and forth; being a double agent was tough, but I had you by my side. I knew you guys were out there fighting the good fight that needed to be fought. I believed in every one of you. I'm grateful for you. Getting my sister back was an added bonus. It wasn't a guarantee. But if it hadn't been for you guys…you've all helped me in one way shape or another. Hell, she and Sam operated a rescue to come get me to save Steve from something worse. But, anyway, all the information I ever collected over the years is right there for us."

"Everything?" Bruce asked.

Zoe nodded. "Everything. Call me a debriefing package if you will," she said, smiling at Steve, as she could feel his eyes burning on her skin.

"Where did she store it all?" Rocket asked.

The corners of Steve's lips curled upward.

"Okay, so the how works," Steve said, chiming in. "Now we gotta figure out the when and the where. Almost all of us has had an encounter with at least one of the six infinity stones."

"Well, I'd substitute the word encounter for damn well near been killed by one of the six infinity stones," Tony said.

"I second that," Zoe muttered.

"I haven't, I don't even know what the hell you're talking about," Scott said.

Zoe pointed onto her own holographic screen and she tossed Scott her controller. He caught it and looked at her. She smirked. "There's about ten years worth of information there, pal, get started."

Scott looked at the controller then he placed it down on the side, next to him.

"Regardless," Steve said. "We only have enough Pym Particles for one round trip each, and these stones have been in a lot of places throughout history."

"Our history," Tony added. "So, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in."

"Which means we have to pick our targets," Zoe said.

"Correct," Tony nodded.

"Let's start with the Aether," Steve said. "Thor, what do you know?"

"Is he asleep?" Natasha asked, glancing back at their God of Thunder, lying back in his chair.

Thor suddenly woke up and looked around the room. All eyes were on the God of Thunder.

"Thor?" Zoe asked him. He blinked at her several times. "The Aether? Do you want me to tell them or…"

He shook his head and let out a sigh, "No, no, it's fine. You're head is full. Where to start? Ummm…The Aether, first, is not a stone, someone called it a stone before. It's more of a... and angry sludge thing, so... someones gonna need to amend that. Here's an interesting story though, many years ago...My grandfather had to hide the stones from the Dark Elves... " He said, wiggling his fingers in the air as though they were spooky. No one said anything. Thor continued. "Wooooh, scary beings. So Jane,"

Everyone looked at the picture of Jane Foster. Zoe frowned. She'd never met the scientist but she knew the story. She never understood the breakup.

"Oh, there she is. That's Jane... She's... an old flame of mine... She... she stuck her hand inside a rock this one time... and then the Aether stuck itself inside her... And, she became very, very sick. So I had to take her to Asgard, which is where I'm from. And we had to try and fix her. We were dating at the time, you see. I got to introduce her to my Mother... who's dead," Thor's face suddenly fell that the very mention of his mother. Zoe bit her bottom lip urging him gently to continue. It was okay. He squeezed his eyes shut to keep his tears from falling in front of the group. "And oh you know, Jane an I aren't even dating anymore, these things happen though you know, nothing last forever," Thor said, getting a bit off topic. Tony pushed the God of Thunder back into his chair. Zoe had never seen Thor in such a state like this before and it broke her heart. But Thor raised a finger at Tony. "I'm not done yet, the only thing permanent in life is impermanence."

"Awesome. Eggs, breakfast?" Tony asked him.

"I'd like a Bloody Mary, thank you," Thor replied.

Zoe stared at Thor in disbelief at how broken he was. She looked over at Steve who shook his head. She walked over to him, and pulled him over to the side so they could talk in private.

"I've never seen Thor like this before," she whispered.

"Yeah, me either," Steve said, glancing over her shoulder solemnly.

"Thanos took our best and brightest defenders, put them all in a blender and turned them into smoothies," Zoe said.

"That's one way to put it," Steve said.

Tony came up to them. "You two want breakfast, or are you just gonna fondue?"

Zoe's cheeks burned bright red, as well as Steve's. "Breakfast, please," Zoe said.

"Fondue sounds really good, though," Steve said, and then pulled Zoe close toward him. "And yes, I actually mean Tony's reference."

~*AE*~

The avengers sat around the table, eating their meals. Rocket was pacing on top of the table's surface in front of everyone. Steve and Zoe were actually eating fondue, chocolate and strawberries with bananas and pineapple. Steve really did mean that reference, but Zoe wanted chocolate and fruit, plus they had a serious matter to attend to. They could always fondue later during celebrations when they win.

"Quill said he stole the power stone from Morag," Rocket said.

"Is that a person?" Scott asked.

"Morag's a planet. Quill was a person," Rocket replied Scott's question as he bit into his food.

"A planet? Like in outer space?" Scott asked.

"Oh, look. It's like a little puppy, all happy and everything," Rocket cooed at Scott. "Do you wanna go to space? You wanna go to space, puppy? I'll take you space," he teased him and Zoe couldn't help but laugh.

Scott rolled his eyes

~*AE*~

After breakfast, they moved on into the planning room. Zoe and Nat were taking notes of their plan, listening to everyone's ideas and experiences bounce off their heads. While Nat took note, Zoe typed it into her database for calculated reference.

"Thanos found the Soul Stone on Vormir," Nebula said monotonously.

"What is Vormir?" Natasha asked.

"A dominion of death, at the very center of Celestial existence. It's where…" she paused. The room grew somber. "Thanos murdered my sister."

"And then took the soul stone for himself, collecting all six stones to..." Zoe added, gathering what that really meant. She stopped unable to continue, but that was the gist. She looked around as awkward silence hugged the room tight. Nat wrote it down, and Zoe took it from her, also adding it into the database.

"Not it," Scott said, breaking the silence. Zoe reached for a blueberry on the table and smacked him with it.

"Owe," Scott wrinkled his nose at her and she smirked at him.

After what it seemed like hours going over their experiences, Tony and Nat had succumbed to lying on the table, surrounded by mountains of papers. Zoe leaned in Steve's arms, sitting in one of the armchair's, reading her database. She leaned against him while he hugged her tight. Bruce was lying on the floor.

"That Time Stone guy…" Nat began.

"Doctor Strange," Bruce supplied for her.

"Yeah, what kind of doctor was he?" Nat asked.

"Neurostuff meets rabbit from a hat," Tony replied. "Nice place in the village, though."

"Before it got demolished by the First Order," Zoe reminded him.

"That too," Tony said.

"Yeah. Sullivan Street. Hmmm…Bleecker," Bruce said thoughtfully.

"Wait, he lived in New York?" Nat asked.

"No. He lived in Toronto, right Zo?" Tony asked.

"Yeah, he was doing surgery at the time," Zoe said, reading off of her profile picture of Doctor Stephen Strange. She looked up at Steve, chin resting on his chest. He looked down at her, tearing his eyes away from her screen. "He was also in the algorithm hit list. Anyone who was ever a threat to HYDRA."

He nodded, remembering that as well.

"Guys, if you pick the right year, there are three stones in New York," Nat said.

Bruce sat up right. "Shut the front door!"

Steve and Zoe looked at each other. Steve gave her a smirk.

~*AE*~

They stood, looking at the holograms of each different location where the stones would be. The Soul and the Power stone in 2014, the Reality stone in Asgard 2013. The Space, The Mind, and the Time Stone were in New York City in 2012.

"Wow," Zoe exclaimed in shock. "Who knew that the Tesseract was a stone?"

"Huh, something she doesn't know," Scott said.

"Well, I mean, I didn't know it until I actually dug into it," Zoe told Scott, looking at her handy work of the holograms.

"All right," Steve stepped up. "We have a plan. Six stones, three teams. One shot."

Everyone moved out of the room, ready to get into their suits that Scott and Tony has designed for them. Zoe turned around and was about to work back on her holographic database design, but Steve stayed behind and gently pulled her away from her work.

"I want you to come with me," Steve said.

Zoe turned around in shock. "Steve, you don't need me on this mission. You need me here in case anything goes wrong."

He smirked slightly and scoffed. "Heh. After all the times I've asked you to follow my orders, now you choose to follow them, when I need you the most?" Steve asked.

Zoe inhaled sharply and looked up into his blue eyes staring down at her with need. "Loki's scepter was always your responsibility."

"Yeah, and look how that turned out. I became responsible for Wanda's experiments with her brother, with my sister…could've been a hell-of-a lot more, so you were right about me."

"You didn't know he was going to use that on humans," Steve said. "You were there to find out what Strucker was up to and report back. And you did, you have. And you came back to us, to me. You always said that you were with me, and not against me. Always. Is that true now?"

Her eyes danced upon his, listening to those words out of his mouth. Of course she was. She was never ever against him. She always believed in Steve. She loved him. "Always," she said.

"There's a suit waiting for you," Steve said. "Suit up."

~*AE*~

One by one, the Avengers walked in a long line and headed to the Quantum Time Machine. They were wearing the red and white Quantum suits, all different to their tastes. Rhodey had one in War Machine armor. Steve had his that was like his old costume from 2012 Steve. Zoe, Clint, and Natasha wore black like they were SHIELD agents again. They stood on the platform and looked around one another.

"Five years ago, we lost. All of us. We lost friends... We lost family... We lost a part of ourselves. Today, we have a chance to take it all back. You know your teams, you know your missions. Get the stones, get them back. One round trip each. No mistakes. No do-overs. Most of us are going somewhere we know. But it doesn't mean we should know what to expect," Steve said, making Zoe look at him. "Be careful. Look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives. And we're gonna win," Tony turned his head to also look at him when he said that. _"_ Whatever it takes. Good luck."

"He's pretty good at that," Rocket said.

"Right?" Scott asked excitedly at Rocket. Zoe rolled her eyes at the two, but smiled just the same. Yes he was.

"All right. You heard the man. Stroke those keys, jolly green," Tony said.

"Tractors engaged," Bruce announced.

Rocket looked at the tiny Benatar ship in Clint's hand. "You promise to bring that back in one piece, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I'll do my best," Clint nodded, glancing at the small ship clutched in his hand.

"As promises go, that was pretty lame," Rocket said.

"See you in a minute," Natasha said with a big smile on her face.

Zoe also smiled back at her. "You guys keep each other safe. Bring back both of you, you hear?" She needed her trainers to come home.

Clint and Natasha looked at one another and they smiled.

No sooner did they do that, they shrunk and then flew inside the Quantum Realm. Zoe found it to be an odd experience, going from human size to smaller size. Everything around her spun about so fast, she didn't have much time to really comprehend the quantum realm.

They suddenly spit out of the realm, and landed right in the streets of New York City. 2012. Zoe, Tony, Steve, Bruce, and Scott all glanced around one another. Zoe pressed her button so she could smell the fresh air of old New York.

"Ah, I love the smell of New York City," she exclaimed excitedly. Scott looked at her curiously and she shrugged.

Zoe looked up at New York City's tallest buildings. It was odd being back here at a time during the Battle of New York. She looked over at Scott and then at the damage done by the Chitari aliens.

"All right, we all have our assignments. Two stones updown, one stone downtown. Stay low, keep an eye on the clock," Steve said, and then paused when a crash suddenly appeared next to them.

Zoe turned to see 2012 Hulk smash a broken car down on an alien several times as dust and debris flew all over him. He jumped up on top of the car a couple of times and tried to scare the other alien away. He ran after it. Zoe, Scott, Tony, and Steve turned to look at 2019 Hulk, who'd turned bashful. He placed a hand over his face.

"Maybe smash a few things along the way," Steve said.

"I think it's gratuitous, but whatever," Bruce said, and started to rip his clothes off, and follow Steve's orders. He smashed the taxi car on the side with his fist, trying to get angry again.

Zoe really felt for him.

He picked up the crushed car and threw it. Then he raised his hands in the air and tried to become angry.

She gave him a thumbs up before heading with the boys to their assignment. She always thought it would be interesting to meet Dr. Strange at this time, but her assignment was pretty clear.

 **~*AE*~**

 **A/n: I'm not ready for this you guys. So, not ready.** **Sadface. Anyway, hope you guys liked. Thank you all so much for reading, following, favoriting, reviewing! Let me know what ya think. Reviews are always welcomed and loved! Thank you! More updates soon!**


	142. Chapter 142: America's Ass

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. I am just writing for fun.**

 **Chapter 142: America's Ass**

2012, New York City, New York

Zoe sped-walked right beside Steve inside Stark Tower. She missed Stark Tower with it's glistening windows and beautiful architecture of steel, only it looked like silver in the sunlight. It felt strange being back in this time.

"Strange isn't it?" Zoe asked Steve.

Steve looked up and around his surroundings as they walked down the hallway. "Little bit," he agreed. "So, after we defeated Loki, where'd you go?"

Zoe smiled fondly at the memory like it was yesterday. "I was taking an Epsom salt bubble bath."

"Sounds relaxing," Steve said thoughtfully.

"It was," Zoe nodded. "I was waiting for my next assignment from Fury."

"Ava or Loki's scepter?" Steve asked.

"Loki's scepter was a way for me to find my sister," Zoe said with another nod of her head. "I needed to join S.T.R.I.K.E. team and get into Rumlow's good graces again. Hadn't seen him since the academy."

"That when you started having feelings for him?" Steve asked.

Zoe's pale cheeks turned pink. "Um…" she bit her bottom lip. "Well, that was after."

"After?" Steve asked, quirking a brow.

"Uh, Clint," Zoe cringed.

"Barton?" Steve asked. "You liked Barton?"

"Um…yeah, before I knew he had a family. Honestly, it was just a minor crush, that's all. Anyways, I thought I told you this?"

"Maybe. It was a long time ago."

"To be perfectly honest, I started to have real bad feelings for Rumlow again when I saw you with Sharon," Zoe said.

"So you were jealous," Steve realized and Zoe nodded.

"Yes," she said. "Stupidly jealous that you were with Sharon, and I wasn't with you. I only started having feelings for you when Coulson gave me your profile and trading cards to gawk over. And, then I got caught up in the Battle of New York, and…my feelings for you intensified," she bit her lower lip. "My heart was torn in a billion places, but no matter where it led me, it led me to you, each time you've saved my life over and over. I was so grateful for meeting up with you again in Strucker's lab. I hated that place. Just a terrible reminder of what I've done, what my family has done," she whispered.

"Hey," Steve said, catching her wrist in his gloved hand, making her stop. Zoe looked at his hand and then into his blue eyes, holding his gaze. "You don't have to go there today. Today we have one job to do."

"Eyes on the stone," Zoe said, remembering their mission.

Steve nodded. "Exactly. Be the Zoe that I know you are." They looked into each other's eyes, and were about to close in to kiss…

"Got to hustle, Cap, things look like they're about wrapped up here," Tony's voice broke in their earpieces, making them wince. Steve smiled bashfully and Zoe lifted a piece of brown hair over the curved shell of her ear.

"Every time," Zoe bit back a smile.

Steve smiled at Zoe, and then nodded, glancing at the elevator ahead of him, pressing his earpiece with his index finger. "Got it. Zoe and I are approaching the elevator now."

Steve and Zoe made it to the top of Tony's floor with his drink bar and living room space. He really had a nice penthouse. "Man, Tony's penthouse was absolute goals," Zoe commented in a whisper.

"Why thank you, Killer," Tony said in her earpiece.

They could hear the team in Tony's living room.

"If it's all the same to you... I'll have that drink now," 2012 Loki said apprehensively looking at all of them.

"Man, Zo, you looked pissed," Scott couldn't help but comment.

"Well, he did enchant my partner after all, and try to take down my home apart, so yeah, I was hella pissed," Zoe agreed, replying back to Scott in her earpiece.

"All right. Good one," 2012 Tony said. "No standing around, I'm closing up this door for later," he turned to 2012 Steve. "By the way, feel free to clean up."

"Uh, Mr. Rogers. I almost forgot that that suit," Tony said. "Did nothing for your ass."

Zoe fought an eye roll and looked at Steve's face to see his reaction.

"No one asked you to look, Tony," Steve said.

"I looked," Zoe admitted with a bit of a blush.

Steve raised an eyebrow at her and she looked at him.

"What? A girl always looks at a guy's ass. See, first it's the eyes, because the eyes are the windows to the soul, and then you look at their ass because well...you know," Zoe said, blushing immensely red. "Did the same thing with Clint," she sighed dreamily.

"Okay," Steve nodded at her, and she couldn't help but grin.

"Jealous?" Zoe asked.

"No, because I know I'll get you in the future," Steve said with a mere grin on his face. Zoe's cheeks burned bright red.

"Ugh, get a room," Tony groaned in their earpiece.

"I think you look great, Cap. As far as I'm concerned, that's _America's_ ass," Scott said. Zoe could picture Scott doing a patriotic salute.

"Uhh, who get's the magic wand?" 2012 Natasha asked, holding it in her hand.

"Me," Zoe whispered with a gulp and looked up at Steve worriedly.

"STRIKE team's coming to secure it," 2012 Tony replied.

That's when the STRIKE team with Rumlow in the lead and Sitwell entered the room from the elevator doors, swooping in Tony's living room where the 2012 Avengers were, keeping Loki close.

"We can take that," 2012 Sitwell said, reaching for Loki's scepter away from Natasha's hands. "Off your hands."

 **"** By all means," 2012 Natasha said. "Careful with that thing."

2012 Clint glanced at it like the plague. "Unless you want your mind erased. And _not_ in a fun way," he turned to 2012 Zoe. "I'm really sorry I shot you, by the way."

"It's…fine," 2012 Zoe said. She shook her head.

"We promise to be careful," Sitwell said.

"Who are these guys?" Scott asked.

"They are SHIELD...Well, actually Hydra. But, we didn't know that yet," Tony said.

"Seriously, you didn't? I mean...they look like bad guys," Scott exclaimed. "Like Zoe's bad guys."

Zoe rolled her eyes. "Thanks, "

"Sorry," Scott apologized sincerely. "They are the type of crowd you used to hang out with in the past…past."

"It was in the past," Steve said. Zoe mouthed a thank you to him. Steve nodded, as they got out of the elevator, reaching Tony's top floor where the 2012 Avengers were. They just had to hide there for a brief moment until STRIKE team got into the elevator.

"That's what I said," Scott said through the earpiece.

"You're small, but you're talking loud," Tony chided.

"On my way down to coordinate search and rescue," 2012 Steve said on the phone, walking passed Hulk, Thor, and Loki.

Suddenly 2012 Loki materialized into Steve. "On my way down to coordinate search and rescue!" Then he materialized back to his real self. _"_ I mean, honestly! How do you think you'll be...

2012 Thor slapped on the pewter colored device over his mouth, shutting him up. "Shut up," Thor said.

"Thank you," 2012 Zoe said, "Thought he'd never. Anyway, I can't wait for a nice hot bath."

"It will do you some good, a little r&r with all those bruises," 2012 Clint said, touching the side of her face with his thumb, making her shiver unable to help it. She started to lean on him for support. "I'll help you."

"Thanks," 2012 Zoe said.

2012 Loki eyed her with a grin that made her shiver. Ugh. No thanks.

"All right, you're up, little buddy," Tony said, spotting the briefcase with the Tesseract inside it."There's our stone."

"Alright," Tiny Scott laid down on Tony's shoulder. "Flick me."

With his index finger and thumb he flicked Tiny Scott all the way over to his 2012 self. Tiny Scott landed in Tony's beard. 2012 Tony scratched his beard with his fingers, dropping Tiny Scott into his reactor.

Hulk came over to join the 2012 Avengers into the elevator with them but Tony stopped him, "Whoa! Whoa, whoa. Hey! Buddy. What do you think? Maximum occupancy has been reached."

"Take the stairs," Clint offered Hulk, shifting 2012 Zoe up a bit.

"Yeah," Tony agreed but then Hulk suddenly drew his fist back and was about to shove it through until Tony yelled at him. "Stop. Stop!"

"Take the stairs. Take the stairs!" Hulk growled angrily as he stormed the other way out of Tony's living space.

"All right, Cap, Zo. I got our scepter in the elevator just passing the 80th floor," Tony said, watching the whole scene from one of his pillars.

"On it. Head to the lobby," Steve said.

"All right," Tony said. "I'll see you there."

Inside the elevator, Sitwell spoke in his earpiece, "Evidence secure. We're en route to Dr. List. No. No hitches at all, Mr. Secretary. And, I assume, we hand the scepter to her as to not cause a scene, sir?"

"Yes. My _asset_ will assist her in her assignment."

The elevator opened. The agents looked at Steve and Zoe.

2012 Sitwell froze. "Captain. I thought you were coordinating search and rescue?"

"Change of plans," Steve said, walking into the elevator. Zoe slid right up beside him, and right next to Rumlow, of all people. At least it wasn't Sitwell. He was looking at her with wide eyes. She gulped.

Sitwell gave Zoe a questionable look and asked her with his eyes if she was okay, wondering if she'd gotten caught, but she shook her head at him. She was fine. _Just play it cool, Zoe… piece of cake…_ she thought over and over again.

"Hey, Cap, Zo," 2012 Rumlow greeted.

Zoe looked at the tall and dark handsome STRIKE member. Unfortunately Scott was right. She would've hooked up with someone like him in the past. Then she looked at Steve and realized that wasn't her anymore.

"Rumlow," Steve and Zoe said in sync.

Rumlow looked at her oddly. "Rumlow?" he asked her suspiciously. "Usually you call me by my first name. Did I do something to piss you off, Zee?" he asked.

Zoe shook her head. "No, sorry, it's just…been a long day with trying to you know save the world and all that," she said with a nervous laughter. "So, just, tired, that's all."

"I just got a call from the Secretary. I'm gonna be running point on the scepter," Steve said.

"Sir? I don't understand," Sitwell looked at him curiously.

"We got word there may be an attempt to steal it," Steve explained.

Rumlow shook his head. "Sorry, Cap. I can't give you the scepter."

"I'm gonna have to call the Director," Sitwell said.

"That's okay. Trust me," Steve said, and then leaned into Sitwell's ear and whispered, " _Hail Hydra_."

Everyone around him looked surprised. And dare she say it that when Steve said that out loud, it gave her so many tingles down her spine, she couldn't help herself. She'd be denying it if she didn't think that was the most sexiest thing he's said out loud. Though, that could be her old self talking, coming back out. Cause that's what Rumlow did to her. Zoe gave Rumlow a wink. Rumlow smirked at her, approving her attitude that she was still with them and the plan was in motion.

He leaned in to whisper in her ear, " _The asset?_ " He asked.

Zoe's lips curled in a broad smirk as an idea hit her. "Yup."

Sitwell gave Steve the scepter and Zoe walked along with him, giving Rumlow a shit eating grin at his impressed look.

~*AE*~

"So many stairs!" An angry 2012 Hulk cried in the stairwell.

The 2012 Avengers were heading out of the building. Tony was wearing a security suit, hidden incognito, watching their move as they had the Space Stone, the Tesseract.

"Thumbelina, do you copy? I've got eyes on the prize. It's go-time," Tony said watching from afar.

"Bombs away. Is, is that Axe body spray?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, I had a can just for emergencies. Relax. Can we focus, please?" Tony insisted.

"I'm going inside you. Now," Scott said.

" _Cause that didn't sound at all dirty_ ," Zoe said in his ear.

"Shut up, Sawyer," Tony said, making her giggle in his earpiece.

"May I ask you where you're going?" Alexander Pierce asked as he joined the group in the busy lobby area.

2012 Thor looked at him pointedly. "To lunch and then Asgard. I'm sorry, you are?"

Zoe listened into the conversation as she walked with Steve down the corridor... "That's right we had Shawarma after," she grinned at Steve. He looked at her with a look of amusement.

2012 Zoe grinned. She was totally famished. Food sounded perfect. She couldn't remember the last time she had a decent meal.

"Alexander Pierce. He's the man, one of the folks behind Nick Fury," 2012 Tony said.

2012 Zoe eyed him curiously.

"My friends call me Mr. Secretary. I'm gonna have to ask you to turn that prisoner over to me."

"Loki will be answering to Odin himself," 2012 Thor promised.

Pierce gave him a look. "Oh, he's gonna answer to us. Odin can have what's left. And I'm gonna need that case, that's been SHIELD property for over 70 years."

"Hand over the case, Stark," One of the agents said.

"All right, move it, Stuart Little. Things are getting dicey up here. Let's go," Tony implored him as he spoke through the radio in his hand, watching the situation in front of him with nervous eyes.

"I'm not gonna argue who's got the higher authority here, all right?" Tony asked.

"You promise me you won't die?" Scott asked.

"You're only giving me a mild cardiac dysrhythmia," Tony replied with a slight cringe.

"That doesn't sound mild."

"I need the case," Pierce said, glaring at 2012 Tony.

"I know you got a lotta pull. I'm just saying..." 2012 Tony began.

"Okay. Then give me the case," Pierce demanded.

"Do it, Lang!" Tony yelled at Scott.

"Get your hands off!" 2012 Tony tried to yank it back from him.

"Window's closing. Pull my pin!" Tony ordered into the radio.

"Here goes!" Scott cried and he pulled off 2012 Tony's reactor. Suddenly he dropped the case onto the floor with a loud thud and then collapsed onto the floor. Everyone freaked out, including Pierce.

"Stark? Stark!"

"Tony!" 2012 Zoe cried out.

"Look, he's convulsing. Give him air! Medic!" Pierce cried out.

"MEDIC! You guys, some help!" Tony yelled out, looking around the lobby, as some medical agents finally rushed to his aid.

"Stark, you- your chest machine?"

Ant-man pushed the case on the floor. Loki caught it with his eye. Tony then grabbed it and started to make a run for it.

"Good job. Meet me in the alley. I'm gonna grab a quick slice," Tony said, but then ran into Hulk 2012. He pushed Tony to the ground that caused the Tesseract to fall out of his hands. It got pushed to Loki with all the ruckus the Hulk was creating.

"NO MORE STAIRS!" Hulk cried out. Everyone in the lobby ran out of the Hulk's way as he charged down the lobby angrily, while the SHIELD agents tried to get to him to calm down.

Somewhere in the middle of the chaos when no one was looking, Loki 2012 grabbed the Tesseract and teleported out of the lobby.

"The case?" 2012 Tony asked once he was okay again.

Thor panicked and looked around for it. "The case. It's, uhh... Where's the case? Where's Loki? Loki!" He cried out, realizing his brother was not there anymore.

"That wasn't supposed to happen, was it?" Scott asked after a failed attempt to get the Space Stone.

Tony sighed, "Oh, we blew it."

"Loki!"

~*SPN*~

"Ooh that was close," Zoe exclaimed as they sped walked down the hallway with the case in hand. She glanced back behind her shoulder as they headed down the corridor. She looked at Steve as he tapped onto his communicator.

"Hold this for a sec," he said, giving her the case.

Zoe nodded and took it from him.

"Tony, what's going on? Tell me you found that cube," he said. He looked at Zoe. "Can you hear anything what's going on?"

"Scott? Come in," Zoe checked in with her earpiece but she didn't hear anything, just static. She shook her head, giving Steve a grave look. He looked up at let out a groan out of utter annoyance, and started to move forward again until he paused, dead in his trek. Zoe stalled the minute he saw him.

"Oh, you gotta be shitting me," Steve cursed.

"My thoughts exactly," Zoe winced, sharing a look with him. She was looking at 2012 Steve that had blocked them down the hallway bridge.

"I have eyes on Loki, and our mole. 14th floor," 2012 Steve said.

"I'm not Loki," Steve said. "And I don't wanna hurt you."

"So it is true," 2012 Steve said, looking at Zoe, completely heart broken.

Zoe's heart tightened in her chest at his crest fallen face hidden within his mask that she knew he had within those deep blue eyes of his that stared back at her. "No, Steve, please just let me explain this-"

"Don't need to," he said, and then looked at future Steve. "I see where your allegiance truly lies. And, I'm not going to let that scepter get into the wrong hands."

Suddenly 2012 Steve ran at future Steve, and clashed shields with a spark. Steve looked over at Zoe, "Go!" He ordered her. Zoe looked down at the case within her fingers and she started to make a run for it across the bridge. She looked behind her shoulder as they fought each other, suddenly crashing nearly a thousand feet through glass. She gasped, "Steve!" She cried out in alarm, and looked down at the great fall. "Oh, great Zo, you choose now not to fall, perfect timing," she said through clenched teeth to herself. She gripped the case in her hand tight and continued to run, searching for the stairs. She ran down the stairs, going to help Steve. She bit her bottom lip and was about to intercede, but she stopped when Steve shook his head at her. He waved his hand for her to go, but 2012 looked behind him and he tossed future Steve's shield at her. She flew backwards, dropping the case on the floor. The case opened and the scepter slid out on the floor.

"I can do this all day," 2012 Steve said, with a smirk as Steve attempted to get up off the floor.

"Yeah, I know, I know," he said and the two engaged into a fight once more, until 2012 Steve knocked him over onto the ground. As they both fell once more, the locket of Peggy fell out of Steve's pocket. 2012 Steve spotted it, and he reached for it.

"Where did you get this?"

Steve didn't answer. 2012 Steve yanked him up off the floor and got the upper hand, pulling him into a tight chokehold.

"Bucky…is…alive!" Steve grounded out through clenched teeth as he tried to struggle out of his own grip.

"What?" 2012 Steve asked. He looked down at the scepter, grabbed it and pointed it at 2012 Steve's heart, stilling him to the ground, face first on the tile floor.

Steve sighed in relief. He looked around for Zoe. "Zoe?" He asked. "Zo?" He asked again, and ran forward closer to the stairs, where she got hit pretty good. The shield was dug into her stomach, blood trickling over her black SHIELD uniform. It broke skin and the more he saw it close up, the more blood he saw she was loosing. His shield stuck up, crushing her ribs. Shit. He saw her on the floor, immovable. He ran over to her and knelt down beside her, and dropped the scepter onto the floor beside him carefully. His shield stuck into her. He pulled it out and dropped it, clinking it onto the floor. His heart pounded against his chest as panic flooded through him. He prayed to God she wasn't dead.

He placed two fingers on the side of her neck, checking her pulse, but she didn't move.

"No, no, no, no," he said to himself. He shook his head. "No. Please…God…" he tried so hard not to tear up and not to cry because she couldn't be dead, not by his hand. 2012 Steve, she'd chide him, her voice still haunting his mind. No, no…this wasn't happening. The glow of the mind stone gem caught his eye…could he? He looked at the scepter. But would he? The mind stone brought Vision to life… he could bring, will Zoe back to life?

He looked at the scepter, and looked into the blue glow of the scepter. He picked it up, and looked at the lifeless Zoe. He closed his eyes. He couldn't loose her. Not when it was his fault. With a deep breath, he placed the tip of the scepter onto her heart, pleading it would work, pleading she'd come back to him.

"Zoe," he said, scooting closer, cradling her in his arms. "Zoe, please…I'm so sorry, please,…" he pleaded with her, lowering his head down to her chest, the top of his sandy blonde hair brushing her skin. The slight tingle made her shiver awake.

"Mm…you're future self's going to have some explaining to do," she coughed, slowly willing her eyes awake. She gulped in oxygen into her lips and breathed out, coughing in the process. Steve looked up at her, relief in his eyes. He brought a hand to her cheek and she leaned into his warm touch.

Steve pulled her in for a desperate hug. "I couldn't loose you."

Zoe frowned against his shoulder, hugging him back. "You know the others are going to be pissed when they find out."

"Our little secret," Steve said.

Zoe pulled back and looked into his eyes. She sighed, "What have I done to you?"

Steve smirked. "Not a damn thing," he said, getting up off the floor. He helped Zoe up off the floor, and she brushed off her SHIELD uniform that looked good as new. No more blood. "You good?"

Zoe nodded, looking down at her stomach that'd been healed. She picked up the scepter. "Yeah, I'm okay. Thank you."

Steve nodded. He grabbed her other hand, tight, threading his fingers through hers that sent tingles down her spine and body, making her smile. They stopped at 2012 Steve's conscious self, and Steve looked at him curiously.

"That really is America's ass."

Zoe grinned and took a peek at it. Yes it was. She sighed. "You know, it would've been befitting," she said.

"What?" Steve asked her.

"Death by shield."

 **~*SPN*~**

 **A/n: So, ah, I might be stretching with this one, taking uh, some poetic license that the mind stone can bring her back, but** **I gave it a shot. Let me know what you guys think lol. Anyway, hope you all liked. Thank you all so, so much for the kind reviews, the follows, the favorites, and the reads! I love you all! It means a lot to me that you guys like the story so much. More updates soon, guys! :) Btw, loved Steve's, "Yeah, I know, I know," lol had me cracking up laughing.**


	143. Chapter 143: Trust Me

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. Just my OC.**

 **A/n: Thank you all so much! Here's another update for you all!**

 **Chapter 143: Trust Me**

2012, New York City, New York

Steve jumped down from the building with the scepter in his hand and a Zoe Sawyer clinging to him on the side, arms wrapped around his neck. He gently set her back down on her feet. "Okay, Spider-Monkey, down you go."

Zoe smirked. "Spider-Monkey?"

"It made more sense in my head," Steve said as Zoe brushed herself off. Steve handed her the scepter. "Thank you."

"Cap…" Tony said, waiting for them by a broken car that Steve was sitting in with a long look on his face.

"Sorry, buddy, we got a problem," Tony said, indicating that they didn't have the cube with them.

"Yeah, we do," Steve said.

Zoe sighed, squinting at them. "After all that?" She asked.

"Sorry, Zo."

"Well, what are we going to do now?"

"You know, what give me a break, Steve!"

"Guys!" Zoe yelled at their bickering again.

"I just got hit in the head with the Hulk," Tony said.

Zoe rolled her eyes, and glared at him pointedly not taking his shit anymore. "That's no excuse, Tony."

"We got one shot," Scott said. "It's shot. Six stones or nothing."

"You're repeating yourself, you know that?" Tony mocked. "You're repeating yourself."

"You're repeating yourself!"

"No! Come on! You never wanted a time heist, you went on board with the time heist…"

"I dropped the ball," Tony flicked his eyes at him.

"You ruined the time heist," Scott said.

"Is that what I did?" Tony asked.

"Yeah!" Scott cried.

"Are there any other options with the Tesseract?" Steve asked.

"No, no, no. There are no other options. There's no do-overs. We're not going anywhere else," Scott cried, shaking his head. "We have one particle each left."

"We'll stroll down memory lane," Tony said, making them look at him curiously. "Military installation. Garden State."

"Of course," Zoe said, realization dawning her. "Wheaton!"

"When were they both there?" Scott asked.

"They were there at a…I've a vaguely exact idea," Tony cringed.

"How vague?" Steve and Zoe asked in sync.

Scott looked at Tony questionably. "What are you talking about, where are we going?"

"I know for a fact they were there."

"Who's they?" Scott asked and Zoe tried to rack her brain for more information about history. "Guys, what's up? What is it?" Scott asked but no one answered him. Zoe was too far lost in thought.

"Well, it looks like we're improvising," Tony said suddenly.

Scott narrowed his eyes at the billionaire. "Right, what are we improvising?"

"Scott, get this back to the compound," Tony said. Scott took the scepter. "Zoe, go with him. You're its official proctor after all."

"But, Tony, if you guys are going where I think you're going, you'll need an advisor."

"No better advisor than the man with the plan, right Cap?" Tony asked.

Zoe sighed. "Maybe a proctor of the Tesseract so you don't loose it this time?"

Tony pouted at her and she looked at him pointedly.

"Boy, you just love adventure don't you kiddo?" Tony asked.

Zoe smiled proudly. "I was made for it. Scott, I am entrusting you with the scepter."

"No pressure," Scott coughed, as he took it from her. "Make sure they get home safe."

"That's my job," Zoe winked at him.

"Suit up," Tony said.

"What's in New Jersey?"

"0-4, 0-4, uh…07…" Tony said, looking at his watch.

"0-7."

"Excuse me."

"1-9-"

"7-0!" Zoe finished for Tony. "1-9-7-0."

"Are you sure? Cap, Captain. Steve, sorry. Captain America. Rogers," Scott stammered quickly. Steve arched an eyebrow at him. "Look, if you do this, and this doesn't work, there's no coming back. You'll never see your kids again," Scott said.

Zoe shared a look with Steve. "Maybe you should stay here," Steve told her.

"I know what's in 1970, Steve. I know what's in Wheaton, New Jersey. I remember now," Zoe said firmly, feeling it in every fiber of her being.

Steve inhaled sharply, and then nodded, getting it. "Your father."

"Before he lost his mind," she said.

"Thanks for the pep-talk, pissant," Tony glared at Scott.

Steve nodded at her. That's why Zoe wanted to go. She wanted to see him again. Steve understood that. And he was going to let her come with them. But then if something were to happen to them….

"Scott?" Steve asked.

"Yeah?" Scott said, glancing at him expectantly.

"You're the godfather of our children," Zoe said.

He blinked at her. "R-really? Are y-you serious? Are you sure?"

Zoe and Steve looked at one another and smiled. "Yes, we want you to be. You're ultimately the best candidate for it. I've seen how much you love Cassie, and because of her, you've changed into a good man."

"No pressure or anything," Zoe added with a wink.

Scott nodded. "Ok. Be safe, Zo. Come back, please?"

Zoe nodded at him.

Tony turned to both Steve and Zoe. "You trust me?" He was asking to mostly Steve of course, given their history, but ultimately, he'd always had a soft spot for Zoe as well. Kind of like the sister he never wanted.

"I do," Steve said, and Tony looked to Zoe, holding her gaze. She nodded.

"Yes."

"Your call," Tony said.

"Here we go!"

They jumped out of 2012 New York City, New York and landed in Wheaton, New Jersey, 1970.

An old fashioned yellow car sped passed them on the side of the dusty, unpaved road. "Hey, man! Make love, not war!"

 **~*AE*~**

 **A/n: Stan Lee. :( I miss him every day. I'm sure he would've been proud of Endgame. Anyway, thank you all for following, reviewing, favoriting, and reading. It means the world to me you guys!**


	144. Chapter 144: Sacrificed Past

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. Just my OC.**

 **Chapter 144: Sacrificed Past**

"Come on Zo, we don't got all day!" Steve called out to her.

"Don't rush. Perfecting the look takes time," Zoe called back out.

"Yesh, women…they take forever, don't they?" Tony asked Steve as they waited impatiently for Zoe to finish changing into her uniform. Steve arched an eyebrow at Tony's remark about women, and made no comment.

"I heard that!" She called out, and then finally came back out and joined the guys outside of the military base. She inhaled and exhaled with a large smile on her face.

Zoe stepped out of her changing room, and stepped heal to toe in heels. Zoe was wearing heels for the first time ever since she'd been in high school theatre. The shoes matched her military uniform Steve had snatched for her. Perfect so she could blend in. She drew a deep breath and placed her hand on top of her hair wrapped up in a bun, a low bun at the base of her neck.

"Well?" Zoe asked Steve, smoothing out her pencil-like skirt that just went a little bit past her knees. "What do you think?" She held up her arms at her sides in question, palms up.

The corner of Steve's lips lifted just slightly into a smile. "Definitely could be part of the USO," Steve said, making her laugh. She tried to hide her pink blush she knew was forming on her cheeks.

They started speed walking down the street. Tony ducked down looking into windows as they passed them.

"Clearly, you weren't actually born here, right?" Tony asked Steve as they walked

Zoe squinted her eyes from the brilliant sunlight. She never thought she'd be here again. Let alone in 1970. She could smell the hippie, flowers, and the music all the way. Maybe she was born in the wrong time.

"The idea of me was," Steve replied.

Zoe remembered the day she read Steve's file. The one Coulson handed to her personally. She was the only one, aside from Natasha, to have talked with him about those damn trading cards. And now all she can remember is the blood spilt upon them. _His_ blood. She would never forget what Loki did. That was when all of this mess started.

"Right. Well, imagine you're SHIELD, running a quasi-fascistic intelligence organization. Where do you hide it?" Tony asked.

"In plain sight," Steve replied.

They stopped underneath an under hang, and stared at the covered base. Zoe inhaled sharply. She never thought she'd be back here. She shared a worried look with Steve.

Tony tapped twice on his colored sunglasses and x-ray visioned what was inside the base. It was at least three levels down. He turned at what he saw. Zoe chewed her bottom lip nervously.

Zoe looked around to make sure no one was watching them, and they snuck inside. They met up with a woman dressed in a purple dress, and wore a gorgeous long necklace. Zoe loved her makeup and her hairdo as well. She was looking down at her files, and every so often looking at the two gentlemen that sandwiched Zoe in the elevator.

"Good luck on your mission, Captain," Tony said, walking out of the elevator that had stopped on his floor.

Steve looked up at him. "Good luck on your p-project, doctor," Steve stammered.

Zoe nudged him slightly as if to warn him not to be nervous.

"Yes, good luck, _doctor_ ," Zoe called after Tony, who winked at her as he left the elevator.

"You new here?" The woman asked Steve.

Steve turned toward her. "Not exactly."

Zoe grinned. "I'm just showing him the ropes. I love your necklace."

"Thanks," the woman said, as if Zoe's comment had just made her day. "It was a present to myself. First paycheck."

Zoe chuckled. "I so know what that's like."

"No you don't," Steve sing-songed.

Zoe coughed, hoping to hide Steve's words at her. "It's the best feeling isn't it?"

"Just the best," the woman replied. "That independent feeling is a rush."

"I agree. Women should be more independent," Zoe said and Steve nudged her.

Zoe gritted her teeth together, but smiled just the same to keep up appearances. The elevator finally stopped at their floor, and Zoe smiled at the woman. "Well, it was nice talking to you. Hopefully we can meet up sometime after work."

"That'd be nice," the woman said with a nod.

Steve steered her out of the elevator.

"You know you don't actually work here, right?" Steve asked, once the doors closed.

"I know. But I really did like that necklace," Zoe replied in a low whisper. She turned around and then smiled brightly. "Hey, I made it to the floor without falling this time. Ooh, there should be a 'I survived the 1970's T-shirt'. Oh, and an elevator one too."

Steve chuckled at her. "You're too much, you know that?" Steve asked.

"Sometimes," Zoe chimed. "But you're never bored right?"

"Right," Steve said softly, yet thoughtfully.

"Ok, so…Hank Pym's office should be down here…" Zoe said trying to remember the plans of Steve's old base. They sped-walked down the corridor and hid in an alcove when someone came running down the busy hallway.

"Excuse me! Out of the way!"

The man ran down the hallway. Steve and Zoe looked after him and then they looked at one another, and took that chance to head into Pym's lab to get the particles.

They looked around in the lab for the particles and then found them in the glass case. Steve walked forward and reached for the viles and how many he needed.

Zoe and Steve then walked out of the Pym lab, and headed down the hallway, though they heard that same woman they met in the elevator talking to a couple of guards on her suspicions that something wasn't right. Zoe winced. They've been made. Harrumph. And here she thought Zoe was being nice and cordigal. She really did like that necklace. Maybe Zoe had been too nice? Was that a thing?

Ah! They needed to hide. Quick! Zoe think. She and Steve backed toward the wall behind them and looked onward. She looked down their way, and Steve suddenly brought Zoe in for a deep kiss, pulling her out from the woman and the guard's view of them.

"And you've never seen these two men or woman before?" The guard asked her.

"No," she shook her head. "I've got an eye for this. The three of them looked fishy."

"Can you describe them?"

"Well, one of them had a hippie beard."

"Hippie? Like the Bee Gees or Mungo Jerry?"

"Mungo Jerry?" Zoe asked Steve in a low whisper as she broke apart, letting out a breathless breath of her own. She smiled up at him, cheeks burning red. That was some kiss. "Thanks?" She asked.

"Thanks? That was a good kiss," Steve said, giving her a perturbed look.

Zoe smirked. "That you learned from the best, huh?" She teased, arching a brow, remembering his kiss with Natasha, while on the run from Rumlow and STRIKE team.

He blushed slightly. "Well, I just-" he stammered.

"I'm kidding," Zoe said honestly.

"Definitely Mungo Jerry," the woman replied.

"Yeah, this is Chesler. I need every available MPs. On sub-level six. We have a breach!"

"Come on," Steve breathed and pulled Zoe, hiding in another room. A room.

Steve looked at a familiar photo and picked it up off the table. Zoe narrowed her eyes at the photo. She chewed her bottom lip. Peggy. She thought sadly for Steve. He looked behind him to see her name on the office door behind him. Zoe turned to look as well, not having realized they'd fallen into Peggy's office.

Distracted by Peggy's appearance in her office arguing with some man, Steve walked toward the office and stared at her in awe and shock.

Zoe stood off to the side, watching him in this moment. Once the man left her office, she walked over toward a table, dealing with a stack of papers.

Zoe's eyes darted at Steve's longing face. A slight pang hit her heart.

She turned and spun around ready to check to see if the coast was clear. She slowly opened the door and peeked her head outside. She didn't see any running officers yet, so she opened it and closed it, leaning against Peggy Carter's office.

"Dad, for the hundredth time, I'm _not_ joining the military," Zoe heard a teenaged voice down the hallway. She turned at the sound of it.

"Richard, you're fourteen-years-old. No future ahead of you. You can't just lay in bed every day."

Richard? Zoe thought and slowly crept over to the two men arguing. The tallest and oldest one dressed in a sharp black suit and tie, held a brief case in his hand. They were heading toward an office. She followed them. Not too far from Peggy's office.

"I'm not going to be lying in bed all day. Marilyn Monroe didn't lay in bed all day. She worked, pop. She read scripts for her next movie before her ultimate demise. That's what I'm going to do. Bing Crosby did it too," Richard said, following his father inside. Zoe slipped inside the office, and the boys headed into an even bigger office, closing the door shut. It was just like Peggy's. She watched them settle in.

The fourteen-year-old sat down in his father's leather chair, and he placed his two feet up, crossing them like a movie star would. Zoe couldn't help but smile. Her father wanted to be an actor. Like she had wanted to be an actress her whole life.

"You know the saying that silents are golden, kid? What do you think's going to happen when you get to Hollywood?"

"I'm gonna be a star! I'm not going to end up a druggie. I'm going to promote love. Not war."

Her grandfather rolled his eyes. "Heh," he stiffened.

"You can't make me join the military," her father argued. It was so weird to call him that at this young age.

"The government can," her grandfather retorted.

Zoe chewed her bottom lip. This was not going well.

"Here are those files from Dr. Zola you asked for, Dr. Sawyer," a young woman walked in from the side. She had red flaming hair, and a dark forest green pencil-skirt like suit.

"Thank you, Amanda."

Zoe's heart dropped as she watched the woman walk in and then out. The fourteen-year-old could not take his eyes off of her. She couldn't have been more than eighteen.

"Is _she_ in the military?" Richard the 2nd asked, pointing toward her as the woman retreated back to the shadows.

"USO, taking time off to repay an old friend's debt," Dr. Sawyer replied, stacking the papers from Zola to the side.

"I'm in," Sawyer grinned.

"Speaking of school, you have homework to do," her grandfather said, pointing out the door. Her father held up his hands in defense and nodded.

"Ok, ok…I'm not going to end up like Nick Adams you know," he said, and started to get up out of his chair. He paused at his father.

His father arched an eyebrow. "Who?"

"He's an actor. Died two years ago."

"Cause of death?"

"Overdose," he replied. "But I'm not going to be like that. I won't end up like them, and I certainly won't end up like Mom."

Dr. Sawyer cut him off with a silent glare. A glare that made the teenager recoil and head on to do his homework. "A Sawyer always knows their place in the world, son."

Zoe suddenly took the moment to get out of there, not wanting to be seen, and realized she'd spent too much time here already.

She was about to leave when she heard, "Hey!" Behind her. She winced and spun around on her heel. She inhaled sharply and looked at her fourteen-year-old father. "Who are you?"

"Um, Zoe," she said.

"Zoe?"

"Sawyer," she winced.

"Hey me too. You, uh..." he cleared his throat, and walked over to her, leaning into her. Zoe narrowed her eyes at him as he crept up to her. "A Sawyer always knows their place?"

Zoe cringed. "Y-yes. There's a lot you clearly don't know about our Clan."

"No, believe me I know. Dad's been trying to teach it to me ever since I lost my mom. Says it's a reminder of who we are, where we come from, and who we live up to be. Mom couldn't hack it. Ended up at the bottom of the river."

"Oh. Well, I'm sorry to hear that. Um, anyway I was just leaving. I took a wrong turn. I was just looking for the ladies' room."

"Oh, well, yeah, it's not even on this floor. You must be new." He said, studying Zoe.

Zoe let out a nervous chuckle. "Yeah. Guilty. Well. Anyway, off to go," she said, and turned to leave but then she stopped, hand halfway toward the knob on the door. She turned to face him. "You shouldn't let anyone tell you how to dictate your life you know."

He scoffed at her. "Tell that to my dictating dad."

"He's just looking out for you," Zoe said. "Wish I had that."

"You don't?"

Zoe shook her head. "I never really knew my parents. The most they ever did for me was take me to the circus. Some days they'd leave me there so I could see a second showing. But uh….anyway, you're lucky you have a father that cares about your future. I'd give anything to have that feeling again."

"Yeah, I guess. Just wish he'd cared about what _I_ wanted to do, and what would make me happy. I need to learn my _own_ way, you know?" He said.

Zoe smiled. "People don't usually talk like that around here," she said.

"No. But they should," he agreed.

"Thank you. Anyway, um, I gotta go," Zoe said.

"Zoe, right?" He asked her. She nodded. "Nice name. I'm Richard."

"Sawyer…I know, uh, your dad's name's on the door," she pointed to the frosted glass door behind her.

Another scoff left his lips. "Took him years to get that name can you believe it? And he wants me to work a boring 9 to 5 job just so I could wait and get my name on the door? Rather have my name on the silver screen."

Zoe smiled at him. "Big dreams."

"Some say, that's ambition," he said.

"Well, I hope you keep it. Just remember to follow your heart too, and not just your head," Zoe said.

He nodded. "I'll keep that in mind. Thank you."

"Good luck," she said, and spun around to get out of there before.

She had to get to Steve and they needed to find Tony and get out of there before they were caught. She and Steve met up with one another, and started to find a way out without being seen.

"How was your past?" Steve asked.

"Educational," she replied, giving him a small smile. "Yours?"

"A dream within a dream," Steve replied softly and Zoe's smile turned soft, nodding at him.

He got that right for sure.

~*AE: Endgame*~

Zoe, Steve, and Tony jumped back to the quantum base at Avenger's HQ. She tapped on her button to release her helmet so she could see around the room if the others had any luck at all and made it back. Tony was able to get the Tesseract, and got to meet his father. Zoe told him about her encounter with her grandfather and father in the past as well, bonding over their dads and what they did at the military base until everyone came back from their missions of obtaining the stones.

"Did we get them all?" Bruce asked.

"You telling me this'll actually work?" Rhodey was saying in mid-conversation.

Everyone had come back, well everyone except….

Clint returned last.

Zoe noticed it was just Clint that had returned. No Natasha. Zoe was almost afraid to ask with the heavy silence that fell around the room.

"Clint, where's Nat?" Bruce asked him.

Clint didn't respond.

Bruce fell to his knees in despair, letting out an angry yell that shook the room.

Clint's gloved covered fingers slowly opened the palm of his hand to reveal the soul stone.

Zoe clamped a hand over her mouth in dreaded realization. She closed her eyes letting out a silent cry, silent tear.

~*AE: Endgame*~

Silent mourning.

Zoe, Tony, Steve, Thor, Clint, and Bruce stood by the lakeside dressed in black and white. It'd been in honor of Nat's fall during the mission.

She'd been quiet the entire time.

Steve was sitting on the bench. Zoe was sitting next to him, hunched over, looking out into the dark ripples of the lake ahead of her.

She was done.

Zoe was done loosing teammates, loosing her family. She silently screamed inside. Everything she felt inside was fire burning around the strings of her unraveling heart to the point of hollowness.

"Do we know if she had family?" Tony asked.

"Yeah," Steve replied shortly. "Us."

"What?" Thor asked, in a bit of a daze.

"I just asked a question…" Tony said.

"Yeah, you're acting like she's dead. Why are we acting like she's dead? We have the stones, right? As long as we have the stones, Cap, we can bring her back, isn't that right? So stop this shit. We're the Avengers, get it together," Thor said, anger seeping from his veins and into his voice.

"I'm not an avenger," Zoe whispered, thinking that now she'd never get there. Not with Nat gone, she had no one to talk to. No one to talk to. No one to train with. No one to work with… now it seemed like every SHIELD member she ever knew was dead. Her whole family now. Gone. Dead.

Thor frowned at her.

"We can't get her back," Clint said.

"Wha-what?" Thor asked.

"It can't be undone," Clint said as though he'd repeated it a thousand times to the god of thunder. "It can't."

"I'm sorry. No offense, but you're a very earthly being. Okay? We're talking about space magic. And "can't" seems very definitive don't you think?" Thor asked.

Clint looked up at Thor. "Look, I know I'm outside of my pay grade here. But, she isn't here, is she?"

Zoe swallowed hard, keeping her tears bottled up inside.

" _This job ain't for the fair of hearts…"_

She bit back the tears as much as she could at Nat's line that she kept soulfully to her ever so breaking heart.

"Now that's my point…" Thor said.

"It can't be undone. Or that's at least what tha…great floating guy had to say," Clint said, then he shouted out in anger, "Maybe you wanna go talk to him? Okay? Go grab your hammer, and you go fly and you talk to him!"

Clint swallowed hard and struggled to keep his own anger down, especially when he saw Zoe's heart broken face staring at him, wide and child like. He looked away shamefully, regretfully.

A saddened anguish wrought within the lines of his face. "It was supposed to be me. She sacrificed her life for the goddamn stone. She bet her life on it."

Suddenly, an angry cry that turned into a roar left Bruce's lips. He picked up a bench, throwing it across the lake. It plunged into the water, making a big splash. Zoe watched in disbelief, a few years ago she never would've thought it'd be possible for a Hulk to exist. Now it was normalcy.

"We have to make this work," Bruce said, after he'd calmed down with just one look at Zoe's impassive look on her face. "We have to."

Steve nodded solemnly. "We will."

"No," she swallowed hard, and a little bit suddenly. Everyone looked at her. What? "I'm _done_." Zoe said through clenched teeth.

"Zoe," Steve said, looking up at her with a questionable look through the haze of his own sadness and loss.

She looked at him and gulped, tears welling in her eyes that clouded over. She stood up from her spot, and rose her hand in the air, as if she was declaring war. A war inside of herself. "No. I'm..." she struggled to speak. She inhaled sharply, and then pointed to the ground as if it was damned. " _Done_ loosing teammates, I'm done loosing family," Zoe said, and turned to stalk back up the hill to the facility. The others looked at one another, and Tony looked after her with a grave and hardened look on his face, arms crossed. Time to talk some sense into that one.

 **~*AE: Endgame*~**

 **A/n: Nat! :( Who's ready for some of Tony's old crack down? *** **Raises hand* I am! Lol. Follows, favorites, and reviews are welcomed and loved! Thank you all for reading! Reviews are just as lovely! Love you 3000! More updates soon guys!**


	145. Chapter 145: Stark Sympathy

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. Just my OC.**

 **Chapter 145: Stark Sympathy**

Zoe had walked to her office. She almost felt her legs walking towards Nat's, but she thought better of it. Going there would've just upset her more.

She looked at her simple office. She supposed it was Ava's now that Ava was the official information specialist, taking it when Zoe was still on suspension from Fury. Suspension. That's when things in her life went down hill. Well, she _was_ on suspension. Then, she came back with two Avengers. Technically she came back with Bruce, but at least in the end Thor still conquered and returned. Whether it was her doing, or not, he came back. She came back. And then Steve, Nat, Vision, Sam, and Wanda came back. And Ava. Ava had been with them in hiding for two years, least Zoe remembered that. Then Thanos happened. Killed every single person she ever loved. Took away from her.

Every person… she ever came in contact with. Coulson (Loki's doing, but he'd been working with Thanos the whole time, so it still counted as a Thanos death), Hill, Fury, Clint's family, Hope, Pym, Vision, Wanda, Bucky, T'Challa, half of Wakanda, Shuri, her parents, her twin sister, Nat….

Zoe sniffed at the thought of Nat's kind and beautiful face. Stony. She'd been stony and hard when Zoe met her, but she was a SHIELD agent after all. A well-trained spy slash assassin. Zoe had finished her training package. Spy stuff. SHIELD levels. Etc. Clint was supposed to help her navigate through too with the combat-y stuff, while Nat was on a mission bringing in the Avenger's together, but he unfortunately got Loki used his scepter on him with the mind stone, and placed him under a spell.

She walked over to her desk, and picked up her tablet. She hit the on button and started to swipe through the names of her avengers in the database that she had collected over the years whenever she had downtime. If she wasn't sleeping, or during a mission collecting information, she was here, putting it all together. She swiped the names in her list, ones she'd marked MIA, like Hope VAN Dyne

She finally went through the alphabetical list and landed on Natasha Romanoff's profile picture. It was similar to Clint's like the one she saw in the Hellicarrier's when they were searching for him.

She looked at the stats page right beside her profile picture, reading up on Nat's date of birth, etc. All of her secret vital information was here digitized and backuped on disk.

That flaming short red hair. Nat grew on Zoe a lot. They may not have gotten along in the beginning, but in the end... she adored her. She admired her. Natasha Romanoff was her freaking goddamn role model and now she was gone. She let out a sniffle and a cry at that thought racing in her head. Nat had been there for her when no one else could be.

Zoe took a seat in front of her desk and slid to the smooth floor beneath her.

It was too hard to go on. She was done. She'd been pleading silently for over a decade now to just let it end, to just let her…she should have gone in place of Natasha. She should have gone with Clint to Vormir instead. She knew what the soul stone took from Nebula. She knew… she could've…

Her arm suddenly felt heavy, too tired to hold the tablet much longer. It dropped to the floor and the tablet slid out from the palm of her hand and onto the floor. Everyone left her. Everyone always leaves her. Why couldn't she go too?

Why couldn't she just leave this goddamn world….

"Oh, Killer," Tony said with a tisk that left his lips. He stood by the threshold, arms crossed around his chest, staring at her for a good long time.

Zoe sniffed, but she didn't look up at him. "Not, now, Tony…I'm not…not in good company."

"Who is?" Tony asked. He pushed himself off the threshold he'd been leaning against all this time. He walked on over to her and looked down at her arm on the floor. "I'm gonna sit here, so uh, you need to move your arm…."

Zoe frowned, and picked up her tablet and moved it to the other side so that Tony could sit down beside her. She watched him curiously sit down on the floor with her.

He let her cry on his shoulder, a good cry that she had to let out for a good while.

"Come on, kiddo," Tony said after he waited for her tears to stop flowing down her cheeks. "You have two beautiful kids that need their extraordinary mother. You can't quit on me now."

Zoe gasped in realization and nearly jolted upward, picking her head off of Tony's shoulder. "Clint and Natasha," she exclaimed with wide eyes.

"Don't worry, Steve's checking in to make sure they're okay," Tony said, patting her lightly to calm her down.

Zoe felt relieved, then a thought occurred to her. "I'm a terrible mother," she frowned.

"No, you're just an extremely, terribly, dedicated, underpaid, employee," Tony said.

"Am I still employed?" Zoe asked Tony curiously.

"Never saw your name off the payroll," Tony shrugged.

"But you had a funeral for me," Zoe said with a small frown on her face.

Tony shrugged again.

Zoe narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him. "Uh- _huh,"_ she was about to press further, but then thought better of it. She gritted her teeth together. What the hell was she doing? "Ugh. You're right. Nat wouldn't want me to get lost in despair and loose my own kids. I don't want to loose them either. I love them way too much."

"And, you've always wanted a family," Tony reminded her.

Zoe nodded. "I wanted a family. But, I wanted a family in a world I can be proud of to live in."

"So," Tony let out a heavy sigh, and turned his head to look at her, facing her. "What's your solution to our broken world?"

Zoe drew in a deep breath and looked at Tony, letting it out. "We fix it."

"And how do we fix it?"

Zoe looked down in thought. They had the stones. Now it was time to build another gauntlet. It was time to continue their plan. Bruce was right. This had to work.

"By continuing with the plan," Zoe said.

"That's my good girl," Tony said, and got up off the floor. He offered his hand, but she didn't take it. She picked herself up, and dusted herself off. She reached down for her tablet, and swiped Nat's stat's away and onto the plans of Tony's gauntlet replica files. Turning it around, she handed it to him, and he looked at it in all of its glory.

"And if you're up to it?" Tony asked her. She watched him in pure wonderment as he shrugged off his backpack.

Swapping the tablet for the backpack, she took the backpack from him. She weighed the pack down, wondering what was inside it.

"There's a little something for ya, Killer, my favorite honorary avenger," he whispered, and walked out of her office.

Zoe pressed her lips to the side, zipped open the backpack and pulled out a pleather like material between her fingertips. When she pulled it out all the way it was a black outfit that seemed to match her size. The backpack fell to her feet. She held the suit in her hand to the side, and knelt down to see what else was inside that had clinked to the ground. She pulled out what it appeared to be a jetpack. She pressed her finger to her lips and hummed lightly to herself in pure thought.

"Tony, you know me so well," she said to herself with a smirk on her face.

~*AE*~

Zoe paced back and forth behind Tony in the Avenger's lab. She watched him delicately piece the stones into their place inside the golden gauntlet he'd made. Bruce and Rocket watched anxiously on either side of Tony as he worked miraculously and carefully around the clock.

"Boom!" Rocket suddenly cried out, making everyone jump in the lab, even Tony jumped a little.

Zoe gasped, "Rocket," she exclaimed, and he looked at her, shrugging his shoulders like what?

"Hehe," Rocket chuckled to himself. Tony grimaced, feeling a tad tense, and continued to make the gauntlet.

Steve poked his head into the lab, cell phone in hand. "Zo?" He asked her and Zoe let her nervous fingers drop from her lips, and unfolded her arms across her chest. She excused herself from the lab, and walked over to Steve, grabbing the phone from him.

"Hello, my lovelies….yes, I miss you too…please be good, and don't make any messes for Cassie..." Zoe said over the phone to her little ones. Talking to her twins had put a big smile on her face.

And she hadn't smiled, like really smiled in a really long time.

Steve had noticed that.

 **~*AE*~**

 **A/n: So, a tiny crack down from Tony. Love those two! Ugh, loosing Nat's been hard enough. We already lost so many people! *Sniffle* Anyone want tissues? Lol. Anyway, thank you all for following, favoriting, and reviewing! They are welcomed and loved! I love you 3000! More updates soon!**


	146. Chapter 146: Coming Home

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Avengers. Just my OC.

 **Chapter 146: Coming Home**

Everyone had gathered around the finished gauntlet. The stones were inside their respective places.

"All right," Rocket began. "The glove's ready. Question is, who's gonna snap their freaking fingers?"

Heavy silence settled around the room. Everyone looked at one another worriedly.

"I'll do it," Thor said suddenly.

Zoe looked up from the gauntlet. Her eyes heavy and stinging with question in them.

"Excuse me?" Scott demanded.

"No, no, no whoa."

"Stop. Stop."

"No, Thor, don't be ridiculous," Zoe said in the midst of everyone protesting the god of thunder's volunteered offer out on the table.

"Hey…hey…"

"Wait," Steve said, silencing them. "Wait, wait. Thor, just wait," he stopped the god of thunder before he put his arm in the glove. "We haven't decided who's gonna put that on yet."

"Oh, I'm sorry. What, were you just sitting around waiting for the right opportunity?" Thor asked bitingly.

Scott looked at him warily, as his eyes danced between the others and Thor. "We should at least discuss it."

Zoe nodded. "Yes. We should."

"Look, us sitting here staring at that thing is not gonna bring everybody back. I'm the strongest Avenger, okay? So, this responsibility falls upon me. It's my duty," Thor said proudly.

Zoe frowned.

"It's not that…." Tony began, but Thor shushed everyone before they could protest again. "It's… stop it! Just let me," he started to get teary eyed and Zoe's heart broke for him, if that were even possible. She thought she'd lost her heart, but no sooner did she talk to her kids that it came back ten fold. And now it was breaking again. She watched his crest fallen face, fall every second, just like she felt her own fall.

"Just let me do it. Just let me do something good. Something great."

"Look, it's not just the fact that that glove is channeling enough energy to light up a continent, I'm telling you're in no condition," Tony said as he got close to the god of thunder. "Tell him, Zoe."

"Um," Zoe cleared her throat, but she nodded in agreement with Tony. "I'm sorry, Thor, but Tony's right. You are a strong avenger, one of the strongest, but…"

"What do you think is coursing through my veins right now?" Thor turned to her questionably.

Zoe bit her bottom lip, unsure of what to say to him. She looked at Steve, anyone else for something to say to him.

Rhodey glanced at Thor. "Cheez whiz?"

Thor pointed at Rhodey, who shrugged. Anyone but Rhodey, and possibly Rocket. Zoe shook her head.

"Lightning," Thor replied.

"Lightning won't help you, pal," Bruce said. "It's gotta be me."

Thor let go of Tony.

"You saw what those stones did to Thanos. It almost killed him. None of you could survive," Bruce said as he walked toward the red gauntlet trapped within its case, powered by the stones.

"How do we know you will?" Steve asked.

"We don't. But the radiation's mostly gamma," he said, staring at the gauntlet as if he was studying its contents. "It's like….uh…I was made for this."

Zoe looked at him. Mind determined. With that said, she helped Bruce take the gauntlet out, and placed it into his hand, while everyone got their weapons respectively at the ready.

"Good to go, yeah?" Tony asked.

Bruce nodded, and Zoe gave Tony a wink. All saddled up, ready to go.

"Let's do it," Bruce said.

"You remember. Everyone Thanos snapped away five years ago and just bring them back to now. Don't change anything from the last five years," Tony reminded him.

Bruce nodded.

Zoe stepped back, looking at Bruce. "Good luck," she encouraged, and he gave her a light smile before she drew in a deep breath and let it out, stepping back next to Steve as he held out his shield in front of them.

Zoe looked down at her shiny new wristlette connected to her new suit that Tony had given her and powered it up. A power surge ran through the electric blue currents of her suit connected to the jetpack, letting her hover slightly in the air.

"Whoa," she exclaimed, then cleared her throat and managed to lower herself back down on her feet. She stepped into her readying stance, ready for whatever it was that was to come and face their way.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y. do me a favor and activate Protocol 8," Tony announced. He stepped in line with Clint. Thor stepped protectively in front of Rocket. Rhodey and Scott were ready. Zoe and Steve were ready as much as they could be.

"Yes boss," she replied and the Avenger's facility locked down completely around them. Zoe watched around her as the walls and the windows shut down.

Bruce looked at the gauntlet in his hand, and activated it with his fingers.

"Everybody comes home," he said. Like scales, the gauntlet's arm extended over Bruce's arm. It attached itself to him, fully into an iron gauntlet glove. The stones lit up in different colors and then all of a sudden took a strong hold of Bruce. He grimaced, nearly falling over as he gripped tight onto the gauntlet. The powers from the stones overtook Bruce.

Bruce cried out in pain. Zoe watched worriedly as he took it all in, fighting every ounce of it.

"Bruce?" Zoe asked worriedly, looking up at Steve in wonder. Her eyes darted toward Bruce as the electricity from the stones covered over him, as he knelt down, trying to fight against the power.

"Take it off. Take it off!" Thor cried out.

"No, wait. Bruce, are you okay?" Steve asked concernedly.

"I'm okay. I'm okay!" Bruce yelled out to him.

Zoe fretted anxiously, unsure that he was.

"Talk to me, Banner," Tony demanded.

"This is a very, very bad idea!" Zoe cried out in worrisome for her Hulk.

"I'm fine, Zoe!" Bruce cried out through his fitful of cries in pain. But he was in pain! She wanted to cry out worriedly, watching the power of the stones glow within his veins, lighting up like a Christmas tree.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," he repeated as Thor gave him two thumbs up in pure shock that Bruce was actually pulling through and not giving out like Thanos had.

As soon as Bruce held the power within him, and he felt ready to snap, he snapped his fingers, and then all of a sudden dropped to the floor. The gauntlet slid off of his hand and clinked onto the floor.

"Bruce!" Steve and Zoe ran after to him, and knelt beside him, ready to help him in need. Clint kicked the gauntlet away from him.

"Don't move him," Tony said. Bruce reached for Steve's arm, holding him, as Tony sprayed his other arm to cool off. Bruce let out several breaths, trying to recollect himself.

"Did it work?" Bruce asked.

"Worth a shot, it's over," Thor said, kneeling beside him. "It's okay,"

The facility's doors and windows opened up, no longer on lockdown.

Scott walked over to the windows, looking at….plants and birds.

Clint turned at the sound of his phone ringing on the table.

Zoe looked over at Steve as he tried to calm Bruce down. Letting go of Steve's arm that she'd been holding on far too anxiously, she pushed herself up off the ground and walked over towards Clint by the table, waiting anxiously to see if Laura was back.

Zoe licked her lips, "Well, answer it silly!" She exclaimed at him. She was trying to be encouraging. Couldn't fault her on that, despite everything. Clint looked over at Zoe, giving her a small strained smile. He picked up the phone and held it to his ear.

"Honey…."

" _Babe?_ "

"H-honey," he tried.

"Guys, I think it worked," Scott said, admiring the new sense of plant and animal life outside the facility.

"Well," Zoe said, glancing at Steve and Tony, as she held up her backpack in her hand that carried the jetpack. "Guess I don't need this after all. Sad really, I was kind of looking forward to-" But she didn't have time to finish because a missile headed straight down to the facility and landed inside the base, blowing everything to hell.

 **~*AE*~**

 **A/n: Oh no! Thanos! Damn him! Lol. Thanks for reading! Follows, favorites, and reviews are welcomed and loved and encouraged! Thank you all so much! More updates soon! Where or where will Zoe end up in the midst of chaos?**


	147. Chapter 147: Fallen Castle

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. Just my OC.**

 **A/n: Here's another chapter! By the way, I did edit the last chapter. Zoe only had the suit on, not the fully equipped jet pack yet. Just letting ya'll know for the bit that I wrote into this chapter. :) Enjoy guys!**

Last chapter...

 _"Well," Zoe said, glancing at Steve and Tony, as she held up her backpack in her hand that carried the jetpack. "Guess I don't need this after all. Sad really, I was kind of looking forward to-" But she didn't have time to finish because a missile headed straight down to the facility and landed inside the base, blowing everything to hell._

 **Chapter 147: Fallen Castle**

As the building collapsed, everyone fell through the fallen floors and debris. Rhodey grabbed onto his War Machine suit, and tried to grab onto the floor. Everyone else dropped to the bottom, landing at various places within the rubble.

Smoke. Fire. Ash all piled over as the building collapsed. Water started to pour through like a waterfall.

Bruce had been able to hold the rock formation underneath the debris as much as he could with the water rushing on top of him. Rhodey and Rocket had landed in a tight spot.

"I can't breathe, I can't breathe," Rocket cried out as he'd gotten stuck in between a rock.

Rhodey fought within his spot as his machine beeped at him. "Canopy, canopy, canopy!" He got out of his war machine suit and forced himself through the pain that riled through him and crawl on the rocks and debris to try and get over to Rocket.

"Rocket! Rhodey! Get out of here!" Bruce yelled as he continued to try and hold the rock formation as long as he could so they could get out.

"Let me out! Let me out! Come on!" Rocket said as Rhodey pushed the debris away and forced with all of his might to help Rocket out from underneath the rock.

Rhodey was finally able to help Rocket lift up the debris off of him so he could climb out and roll out from underneath. Rhodey collapsed, out of breath.

"Rhodey!" Bruce shouted as more water rushed through.

"Mayday, mayday, does anybody copy?! We're on the lower level of the explosion!" Rhodey pierced into Scott's ear as he woke from the pile of rocks.

He got up. "Ugh. What?"

"We're drowning, does anybody copy, mayday!" Rhodey cried again.

"Wait! I'm here! I'm here! Can anybody hear me?! Zoe?"

Clint grunted from his spot, hunched over… as he pushed his hand against the rock to lift himself up he looked down at what was underneath him. Who was underneath him. Zoe.

"Zoe?" He whispered, about to shake her awake. When he pressed two fingers along her neck, she jolted right up, gasping for air, nearly smacking Clint in the face, startled from the shock and the adrenaline that went through her. She let out a shocked yell from her lips.

"HYDRA!" she blurted in fear.

Clint calmed her down, pulling her hands away from his face, gripping them together. "Zo… Zo… Zo, it's okay. It's me, Clint, you're okay, you're okay. You're okay. You're not with HYDRA. You're with me."

Zoe blinked several times, looking into his eyes filled with much concern for her. She breathed deeply in and out until she finally calmed herself down. "Clint?" She asked.

Clint nodded slowly. He got up off of her, and he offered her his hand. Zoe looked at the friendly gesture and she grabbed it, realizing that it was Clint Barton, her Clint. And not someone like Rumlow.

He helped her up off the ground and she buried her forehead within the palm of her hand.

"Damn it, I think that's the last time I'm going to fall," Zoe said.

Clint smirked and picked up her backpack off the ground. "It will if you try this thing on, Killer," he said.

She caught it when he tossed her her pack. "Providing it still works after all that rubble."

"It's Stark Tech, do you doubt him?" Clint asked.

She chewed her bottom lip, pleading the fifth, and started to unzip it.

"Come on, hurry up, we gotta find the others-" he started, then realized the gauntlet was missing.

"Where's the gauntlet?" Zoe said as she dropped her pack on the ground, taking out her jetpack. A smile appeared on her face as she strapped in her jet's straps onto her shoulders. With a push of a button, they strapped on to her fit, covering her black shield suit that seemed to hook and fit nicely around her back. Not too heavy, not too small, just right for her size. She strapped on the rest with a metal snap, tightly fitted to her body so that it wouldn't fall off of her. Then she placed the gloves on her and when she squeezed her hands together pressing a secret button on the side of her index finger, a little bit of power from her jet pack caused her to make her fly up, causing her a little startled gasp. "Whoa…" then she tried to fly down to the ground, trying another button. She smirked at Clint.

"What else you got for me?" She asked.

"One thing at a time," he said with a slight chuckle at her as she enjoyed her new tech a little bit too much. "We need to find the gauntlet, then the others."

She nodded. "Right," she said.

"Cap?!" Clint tried calling him.

"Steve?!" Zoe called out. "Scott?!"

No answer from down here. "Rhodey!?" Zoe shouted. How badly did they get separated from each other?

Clint looked over at something shiny that caught his eye. The gauntlet. _Their_ gauntlet.

Zoe sighed with relief. "Well, that's a relief," she said. "It didn't get into the wrong hands."

True. Not in the wrong hands…not yet. Clint was about to pick it up until a low grumble sounded down the corridor. Zoe gulped, and froze.

Clint reached for his arrow, and turned around to fire at what had found them. Zoe's hand was right on top of the gauntlet. "Zoe, anything I should know about these things?"

"Well," Zoe began slowly, feeling her own heartbeat against her chest. Not these guys again. "They did once try to eat each other to make room for more if that makes you feel any better..."

"So in other words," Clint said, firing his bow down the corridor without another second.

He ignited his bow and Zoe grabbed the gauntlet. The arrow gave them just enough time to escape the growing monsters that were fighting their way down towards them.

"Fire at will!" Zoe yelled as Clint pushed her in front of him to run. The monsters jumped up from side to side of the corridor rushing after Zoe and Clint.

 **~*AE*~**

Surface of the Compound

Thanos appeared down the ground. Past Nebula walked over toward him proudly. "Daughter."

"Yes, father."

"So this is the future. Well done."

"Thank you, father. They suspected nothing."

He placed his sword down in the ground and then put his helmet on top of it.

"Yeah, they never do. Go," he said, turning around to sit down on a rock. "Find the stones. Bring them to me."

"What will you do?" She asked.

"Wait," he simply replied.

Tony walked over to Steve. "Come on buddy wake up," he said. Steve inhaled a sharp breath and woke.

"That's my man," Tony said, and leaned down with his shield, toward his side. He showed him Steve's shield. "Loose this again? I'm keeping it."

Steve grimaced. "What happened?" He tried to look around his surroundings now clearly debris and rubble of the old Avenger's compound. Where was Zoe? Panic flooded through him. He realized that it was just Tony and him that'd stayed on the surface. He hoped that she was with the others, somewhere safe, and they were getting out.

"You mess with time, tends to mess back," Tony replied thoughtfully as he looked at Steve on the ground. "You'll see."

Together they walked over to find Thor standing in the threshold of the broken compound, where he spotted Thanos sitting down, waiting.

"What's he been doing?" Tony asked, standing on the other side of Steve as Steve stood next to Thor.

"Absolutely nothing," Thor said.

"Where are the stones?" Steve asked.

"Somewhere under all this," Tony said. "All I know is that he doesn't have them."

"We keep it that way," Steve said, determination oozing out of his voice. Hopefully Zoe had them and that was enough.

"We know this is a trap, right?" Thor asked.

"Yeah. I don't much, care," Tony replied.

"Good. Just as long as we're all in agreement," Thor said. Thunder clashed above him. Lightning strikes covered around him as if they were his own suit of armor. He raised the clouds and thunder in the skies above them, controlling the lightning strikes in the sky. Mjonlir and Stormbreaker both came to his aid in his hands.

"Let's kill him properly this time," Thor said.

"You could not live with your own failure," Thanos said as they walked closer toward him. "Where did that bring you? Back to me. I thought by eliminating half of life, the other half would thrive. But you've shown me that's impossible. As long as there are those that remembered what was, there are always those that are unable to accept what can be. They will resist."

"Yeah, we're all kinds of stubborn," Tony said.

"I'm thankful, because of you, I know what I must do," he stood up from his spot. "I will shred this universe down to its last atom, and then with the stones that you've collected for me," he continued as he placed his helmet on top of him. "Create a new one, gleaming with life," he said, unsheathing the sword from the ground. "That knows not what is lost, that only knows what has been given," Thor ignited Stormbreaker and Mjonlir ready to attack Thanos.

"A grateful universe," he said.

"Born out of blood," Steve said.

"They'll never know it," Thanos promised him. "Because you won't be alive to tell them."

Thor raised his ax, letting out a battle cry. Tony got into Iron Man mode and flew up in the air. Steve attacked Thanos, the three of them working together with a flash of their own power against Thanos.

 **~*AE*~**

Bruce tried to hold the formation of the building together, with the water rushing all around him almost coming up to his chin.

"See you on the other side," Rhodey said as Rocket cried out from the water that would nearly drown him.

"Hang on! I'm coming!" Scott said in Antman form as he road the water. He jumped and dove down to try and get to their level.

Clint and Zoe ran down the corridor away from the monsters that were coming after them. Zoe gripped tight onto the gauntlet while Clint threw his trick arrows on the side of the walls. As they hit the walls, their timer went off, exploding behind them, causing fire to wipe out the monsters.

"Zoe! Jump!" he said and covered her with his back as they jumped and rolled onto the ground to get away from the explosion down the corridor.

Shakily, she got up off of Clint, and helped him up off the ground. They faced the monsters getting destroyed by the fire, but they were still trying to get through. Clint shot an arrow up above him with a zip line that he wrapped around himself and Zoe. "Now would be a good time to practice that jetpack," he told her.

Zoe clung onto him and pressed the button on her glove not needing to be told twice. She gripped onto the gauntlet tight against her and they shot upward. A claw clung onto Zoe's leg, causing her to yank back.

"Clint!" She panicked, loosing control of her jet, but she clung onto the gauntlet not letting it go. Clint felt the tug against the string that was wrapped around them. He pulled out his katana swords and chopped off the monster's head, slicing them apart so they could move. They jumped up and he sliced two more as he cried out in agony.

"Ah! Anyone else?!" He yelled back at them as they all dissolved into the fire and ash after they found themselves on the next level, out of breath. Zoe reached for her knife hidden in her boot and detached herself from Clint's zip line. The gauntlet sat in between Clint and Zoe while she tried to compose herself for a brief moment.

"Let's not do that again," Zoe said, breathing heavily. Clint nodded in agreement. "You okay?" She asked.

"Peachy," Clint coughed. "You?"

"Guess, I'll live," Zoe smiled lazily at him.

"Yeah, well, we humans gotta stick together," Clint said.

A shadow loomed over Zoe. Zoe looked up and saw that the shadow belonged to Nebula.

"Oh hey," Clint said. "I know you."

She reached down and grabbed onto the gauntlet as Clint started to give it to her.

"Father," she said into her earpiece as she held onto the gauntlet in her arms. "I have the stones."

"What?!" Clint and Zoe asked in shock.

Clint immediately sat up, and Zoe looked at Nebula's gun pointed at him. She dodged over to him to block the bullet from hitting his chest, but she didn't shoot.

"Stop!" Gamora had appeared behind her, making her turn around.

Zoe froze, unsure of what to do and looked into Clint's eyes. Together they stared at each other, holding each other's gazes. She gulped.

"You're betraying us," Past Nebula said to her.

Clint and Zoe just stilled, and watched as future Nebula appeared from the corner. Past Nebula cocked her gun and pointed it at her as the other one had her hands out in the air.

When nothing happened, Clint slid out from underneath of Zoe, and grabbed her, pulling her along side of him to hide in the corner. She got beside him watching the exchange.

"You don't have to do this!" Future Nebula said.

"I am this," Past Nebula said, too far gone.

"No, you're not," Gamora shook her head.

"You've seen what we become."

"Nebula, listen to her," Gamora pleaded, gun pointed at her.

"You can change," Future Nebula said.

Gamora lowered her gun, showing mercy.

"He won't let me," Past Nebula said with a shake of her head.

That was the saddest thing Zoe had ever heard. But also, not far from where she stood.

Past Nebula shot at Gamora, "No!" Gamora cried, but futrue Nebula shot her Past down first.

Zoe and Clint got up from their hiding places. She saw the gauntlet and she grabbed it off the ground with Clint closely beside her.

~*AE*~

"Ok Thor, hit me," Tony said, getting his arc ready for the lightning bolt. Thor's lightning hit at Tony, and struck at him that struck Thanos quite hard, knocking him over.

 **~*AE*~**

 **A/n: Kind of made sense for Zoe to be with Clint, right? Poor guy. They've all had it very rough, haven't they? Yeesh. Let me know what you guys think! I think Zoe will definitely have an encounter with Thanos. My other plan was to have Zoe with Steve, but I think she might've gotten caught in the crossfire lol. Anyway, follows, favorites, and reviews are most welcome, loved, and encouraged! Thanks for the favorites, and follows. Ya'll are the best, and I love my reviewers and readers to pieces. Thank you! More updates soon! By the way, that sad moment when you realize your life is way too much like past Nebula's? FML. He won't let me hit me right in the feels. I know exactly what that is like.**


	148. Chapter 148: Avenging Mindset

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. Just my OC.**

 **Chapter 148: Avenging Mindset**

Within the mess of destruction of the facility, topside, Thor powered up the lightning that came down toward him, and lit his whole body up. He brought his two hammers together and channeled the lightning to give them power to charge for Tony's suit, lighting up with power shooting it through Tony's Iron Man suit so they could attack Thanos. Thor called out for Stormbreaker, and tossed Mjolnir in the air and hit it towards Thanos like a baseball bat over to Thanos, but he grabbed Tony instead, using Tony as a deflective shield, which caused lightning to attack Tony instead, knocking Tony unconscious.

"Boss, wake up!" F.R.I.D.A.Y. urged him.

Steve suddenly jumped up, summer-salting in the air and round-kicked Thanos, but Thanos smacked him down through a rock on the ground before Steve ever had the chance to take a crack at him. Steve gritted his teeth together, groaning through the pain that riled through him.

Thanos threw his sword at Thor as Thor slid underneath it, rushing to attack Thanos after Steve just tried to take him down, and jumped up with Stormbreaker to attack. Thanos was quick to deflect his blow with his sword that had come back to him like a boomerang. As they fought one another. Thor tried with all his might to harness as much lightning as he could, as much power as he could to try to defeat this Mad Titan in front of him. He glared at him in the eyes of a monster, pushing Stormbreaker's edges against Thanos's sword. Finally he yanked it out of his hands, letting it fly off somewhere out of reach. All weapons gone now and stuck in the ground, they've resulted into fist fighting. He grabbed Thor by the throat and tossed him against rock and tree. Thor grunted at the impact, and before he could get up, Thanos started hitting him hard in the head with his fist. He yanked him up off the ground and tossed him against a rock. He started punching him hard in the face, making him bleed through his nose. Thor tried to struggle from Thanos's tight grip on him, but he was so powerful, and Thor was getting drained Desperately, Thor reached out for Stormbreaker. Thanos saw this, and grabbed the ax before it could get into Thor's hands. He attempted to kill Thor with Stormbreaker, but he fought with all his might not to let the ax slice off his chest.

Suddenly Mjolnir reached up in the air, hovering just a little bit until it suddenly hit Thanos in the head, causing the titan to turn and glare at who'd done that. Mjolnir then zoomed across to its worthy of an owner, Steve Rogers.

Steve gripped onto Mjolnir in his hand and smirked at the ax. He turned slightly and grinned at Thanos, at the ready with his shield in the other.

Thor widened his eyes and smiled, breathing heavily. "I knew it!"

Thanos kicked Thor down with the sole of his boot and turned around to face the first avenger.

Spinning the ax, Steve charged forward, getting ready for the power he harnessed, and swung up in the air, hitting Thanos's blow before he could hit Steve, causing Thanos to fall backward.

Steve twirled and tossed his shield at him to keep Thanos down, using just as much of his might as he could to try and defeat him, and tossed Mjonlir against the shield, trying to use every tactic he ever knew to keep him down. Mjonlir came back to him and so did his shield. He and Thanos got into a sparring mode, and started to try and tear each other apart. He yanked his shield up in the air to hit Thanos's chin, and then charged up Mjonlir's lightning, grounding it, so that the lightning attacked him between his legs, knocking the titan down on his back.

Steve raised Mjonlir in the air, charging up more lightning that lit up the dark gray skies above him and slammed it down on the ground, hitting every bit of Thanos as he could. The mad titan groaned in agony as the lightning covered him like a blanket. Steve ran at him with more charging lightning and came at him once more, but Thanos slid out from the blow, and grabbed Steve from behind. He shoved Steve hard on the rock, slamming him to the ground.

Thanos walked over to his fallen sword, and picked it up. Steve looked up from his fall, and gritted his teeth together.

Thanos growled in biting anger, and ripped off his helmet, letting it fall to pieces. He charged after Steve, wanting this annoying pest to die.

He stabbed Steve in his leg, causing Steve to let out a cry in pain. Steve attempted to hit him with Mjonlir, but Thanos grabbed it, and yanked it out of his hand, tossing it on the ground that nestled into dirt.

He tossed Steve on the ground, who rolled up against his shield. Thanos continued for him and brought his weapon down upon him, but Steve was quick to deflect his blow with his shield, but Thanos broke off the top if it with the amount of strength and anger he possessed as he advanced on Steve rather harshly. Steve fought his way back, trying to defend himself as much as he could with what he had left of his shield that was breaking into half and with one final hit, it had, and caused Steve to kneel on the ground.

Out of breath, Steve looked up at him, but suddenly wished he hadn't because Thanos swung his sword at him, causing him to fly in the air and land harshly on his back. He did all he could to brace himself with his shield, hands and knees. He let out a tired sigh, and glanced at his halfway, more than half broken shield as he shakily stayed where he was.

"In all my years of conquest, violence, slaughter, it was never personal. But, I'll tell you now, what I'm about to do to your stubborn, annoying little planet…I'm gonna enjoy it, very, very much," he promised, gleaming at the fallen avenger in his eyes.

"Starting with that _human_ girl of yours," he drawled. "Zoe."

Steve's eyes darkened at the name that came out of the Mad Titan's lips.

Thanos smirked at the reaction it elicited out of him. "Yes. We've come across each other's paths once. Don't worry. I'll kill her nice and slow."

As soon as Thanos said that, his Black Order came down in a blue and bright beam, as well as his whole wall of an army that appeared out of nowhere. Above him, his ship let out more of those screaming and metal eels that swirled out and into the skies above Steve.

Steve breathed in deep, trying to fight the anger that boiled within him, and grimaced at the pain that pricked and prodded his body. He looked down at the broken shield on his arm. He looked at the army of what he had to face. Slow and steady breaths left his tired lips as he looked around him at his bleak and looming surroundings.

Grimacing, he slowly picked himself up, listening to Thanos's words that spewed out of his lips. He fought through his silent struggling, and gritted his teeth together, grunting as he worked himself up to stand on his own two feet once more to face the mad Titan and his army of monsters behind him.

Fire and ash blazed into the dark skies. And Steve's two comrades? They'd fallen under the heavy fight they endured in, fighting for their lives, and lost.

Zoe and the others were only God knows where. He continued to regain his self-composure, breathing deep, breathless, soon realizing that he was truly alone in this. He was going to have to fight Thanos and his army…alone.

Taking a slow deep breath, Steve tightened his eyes, bracing himself for the harsh impact he knew was coming, and tightened the straps of his shield against his arm. He grunted at the tightened impact. He looked up at Thanos's ship and its monstrous eels coming down for him. He started walking further towards Thanos, still ready to finish the job, not backing down, and never giving up.

"Hey Cap, do you read me?"

Sam's voice suddenly echoed into Steve's earpieces, causing him to stop dead in his trek. Still breathing, trying to regain himself after the fight he just endured in, he turned to his earpiece in wonderment, wondering if he heard correctly that that was Sam Wilson's voice.

"Cap, it's Sam, can you hear me?" Sam tried again.

Steve looked up; trying to register that Sam was talking to him. He needed it to be him.

Steve raised his hand to his ear and was about to respond until Sam spoke again, "On your left."

Taking another few deep breaths, he turned, and looked at the sparkly circle thing rippling into his current reality and what he saw walk out of that circle shocked him to the core. _It's a portal silly!_ Zoe would let him know what it is. It was a portal, Steve reminded himself.

Okoye, Shuri, and T'Challa walked down the hill to join his side. T'Challa gave Steve a regarding look, and nod.

Relief shined in Steve's eyes the minute he saw them come through the portal. T'Challa nodded at Steve, and that's when Falcon flew out of the portal and into the skies, catching Steve's eyes in the sky.

And many more portals started opening up into the skies above him.

Dr. Strange appeared out of a portal and floated slowly down to join those that were slowly starting to come out of the portal and join Steve's side followed by Mantis, Drax, Quill, Spiderman, T'Challa's armies had come back and joined him and started the war chant at T'Challa's command, ready to fight the good fight, and take back what was theirs to claim.

Everyone was coming back. A large smile appeared on his face. _Thank God…_

Bucky, Ava, Groot, and more armies of T'Challa's men walked out of another portal, as well as Valkyrie and the Agrarians following after her not too far behind them. Scarlet Witch flew down with her sparkly red magic glowing around her hands, ready to take him down. Wong and the masters of the mystic arts joined not too long after.

The Wasp and Pepper Potts joined, dropping down in her iron suit much like War Machine's that caused Tony to look up in alarm.

And with a newfound sense of pride, Thor reached out for StormbreakerS and gripped it very tightly.

"Is that everyone?" Dr. Strange asked Wong.

Wong gave him a look. "What, you wanted more?"

As if he asked for it, and he probably secretly did, a giant Ant-Man popped up out of the rock and rubble of the fallen avenger's facility, carrying some avenger friends along with him in the palm of his hand.

War Machine flew off of his palm with Rocket on his shoulders, gripping his machine gun tight ready to fight.

Clint and Zoe dropped down from Ant-Man's palm, landing firmly on their feet.

Zoe glanced at Clint curiously. "Does this mean we're in the right mindset now?"

The corner of Clint's lips curled into a wide smirk at her. He handed her the gauntlet and she grinned wickedly.

Steve turned to look over his shoulder in awe at Zoe's appearance with the others. They'd gotten out. They were alive. They were good. He inhaled sharply and then turned to face the mad titan once and for all with his own army, letting out war cries, ready to head into battle.

"Avengers!" Steve called out, as everyone got ready to prepare to charge after Thanos and his monsters. Thor got right by his side after calling for Stormbreaker in his hand. Mjonlir zoomed right back into Steve's hand.

Zoe widened her eyes in awe. Of course she always knew Steve was worthy, but it was still shocking, and yet exciting at the same time. She continued to grin as a new sense of being swirled within her ready to take Thanos down.

" _Assemble_ ," Steve breathed out through clenched teeth.

"Now, you're an avenger," Clint whispered in her ear, which gave her the extra needed spunk, so she jumped up in the air, and with the press of a button she was able to fly with her jetpack attached to her suit that Tony had crafted especially for her. And she loved it. She was flying this time. Not falling out of skies. She was flying with the fliers ready to strike, feeling very much like a true avenger and she didn't want to let that feeling go.

 **~*AE*~**

 **A/n: Omg, that was a lot. Fight scenes…ugh, I'm really sorry if they're terrible you guys, I'm working on it! :) Hope you all liked. Thank you guys so so much for following, favoriting, reading, and reviewing as they are welcomed and loved. I appreciate you all so, so much! Hope you liked this chapter!**


	149. Chapter 149: Avengers Battle

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. Just my OC.**

 **Chapter 149: Avengers Battle**

Everyone charged after Thanos, and started running down the hill, coming face to face with his army. Each one clashed and clanked with their weapons, smacking right into one another. Everyone but Zoe. She shot down her blue-beamed energy pulsars that Tony had designed within her suit. They looked as if they were her own knives that had gotten fallen through all of that rubble. Avenger's facility gone.

"You know, I gotta tell ya, it's a little sad to see the Avenger's facility gone through that rubble," Zoe said through her earpiece.

"That's why we gotta kick his ass. Represent Zo!" Scott called out to her. Zoe grinned at his response, looking down at the battle below her. She gripped onto the gauntlet tight and continued throwing down her blue-beamed spears. They may not have been her old electric spear that she missed so much, but they were hell of a lot better than nothing.

Somewhere down in the crazy and messy battle below, Thor and Steve fought side by side. Steve had picked up Stormbreaker and swung it at several monsters that had come after him.

Thor noticed that he had Stormbreaker, turned to him, and shook his head.

"No, no, give me that," he held out his hand, coughing it up from the first avenger. "You can have the little one," he tossed him Mjonlir and they swapped axes, getting right back to the fight in front of them.

Peter Parker stumbled upon Tony in the midst of his fighting and cool special affects with the suit that Tony had crafted specially for him, and blinked at him.

"Holy cow! You will not believe what's been going on. Do you remember when we were in space? And I got all dusty? I must've passed out, 'cause I woke up, and you were gone. But Doctor Strange was there, right? He was like, 'It's been five years. Come on, they need us!" And then he started doing the yellow sparkly thing that he does all the time…"

Peter said in a rush, and with his two fingers he demonstrated Strange's swirl in the air. Tony, shocked, and relieved, feeling all kinds of silent wavy emotions inside of him had stopped him with a hug.

"W-what are you doing?" he asked as Tony came toward him with a hug. "This…is nice." He hugged him back.

Zoe was right. Kid should not be out here every time something goes wrong, or something like that could have happened.

On the other side of the field, Quill fought two of Thanos's minions. He shot at one and was about to shoot the other until Gamora suddenly shot him before he could get to Quill. Quill pressed the side button of his helmet and looked at her in shock. 2014 Gamora stood there, staring at him.

"Gamora? I thought I lost you," he said in pure shock. He walked up to her and started to run his fingers through her dark purple-magenta like hair, his heart hammering against his chest. But then she suddenly smacked it away, "Don't…." she kicked him hard, flipping him on his back. "Touch….me!"

Quill grimaced at the harsh impact she inflicted upon him. "You missed the first time…" he grunted, cringing. "Then you got them both the second time."

"This is the one?" Gamora asked Nebula as she came up to her. Nebula turned to look at Quill's fallen stance thoughtfully.

"Seriously?"

"The choices were him, or a tree."

Clint looked up at Zoe, twirling around with the fliers as they protected her up in the sky from the other flying monsters and eels of the like coming at them. Sam charged after the big monster, hitting him with all of his might with his Falcon wings, digging into its flesh, screaming out his own battle cry.

Clint shot up in the sky and all around him with his arrows as the minions came after him.

"You take care of the gauntlet, I'll take care of these guys, and cover you!" Clint told her, looking up at her to make sure that she had one priority and that was to protect the stones from Thanos."Cap, what do you want me and Zoe to do with this damn thing?" He asked through his earpiece.

Zoe looked down and saw a minion was about to jump on Clint, but she shot him down before it could do so.

In the middle of his own fighting the monsters around him, Steve turned around to see if he could spot Clint, and Zoe. He smacked one minion down.

"Get the stones as far away as possible!" Steve cried out.

"No! We need to get them back to where they came from," Bruce chimed in.

"No way to get them back. Thanos destroyed the quantum tunnel."

"Hold on!" Scott said, as Zoe gripped tightly onto the gauntlet in her arms, still flying in the air, trying to keep out of everyone's way. "That wasn't our only time machine!"

Scott pressed onto the button of his alarm keys, and then the sound of his van started to play out in the distance of the battlefield.

Zoe heard it, remembering Scott's poor van had been parked out front all of this time. She almost forgot about it.

"Anyone see an ugly, brown van up there?" Steve asked.

Zoe looked down searching through the rubble, ahd Thanos's monsters crawling over one another to get to her fellow avengers and T'Challa's army and the rest of the remaining Asgardians down below.

"Yes!" Valkyrie said, glancing down at the toppled over van. "But you're not going to like where it's parked."

"Scott, how long you need to get that thing working?" Tony asked.

"Maybe ten minutes," Scott replied.

"Get it started. We'll get the stones to you. Zoe, do you copy?" Steve asked.

"I copy!" Zoe said, pressing onto her earpiece with her other hand to make sure he heard her. Clint heard this as well, and continued firing arrow after arrow, especially the exploding ones. Zoe loved those exploding arrows.

"We're on it, Cap!" Hope said, and nodded at Scott. Together they shrunk down and flew over

As they flew into the van, they crawled up to the front of it. Scott started to try and get it started, and as he did so, Hope glanced around the messy van. "It's a mess back here."

"It's…it's dead," Scott sighed helplessly.

"What?"

"I have to hotwire it."

Scott pulled out the wires and started to take two intertwine ones, and try to get a spark going.

"Where's Nebula?" Thanos asked Glaive in the middle of his own battle on another side of the battlefield.

"She's not responding," Glaive replied.

"Sire!" Maw pointed up to the sky as he spotted the stones. Zoe shot her blue-beam down at one of the monsters, knocking it off its feet, trying to keep them safe.

Thanos looked up and saw her and with a biting glare, he spun his sword, and threw his sword at her that sliced through her jetpack, and suddenly caused her to loose her grip on her gauntlet, breaking her concentration on the fight below. She gasped, "Clint, heads up!" She cried. Then lost all momentum and started to fall through the air.

Clint looked up and widened his eyes. "Cap! We got a Zoe situation here!"

He reached for the gauntlet, and caught it. Zoe was too far away from him to reach and hoped that someone else could save her death-defying fall from a thousand feet up into the sky.

Clint looked around him and saw the black order coming after him and saw that they were closing in on him.

"Clint! Give it to me!" T'Challa urged him. Clint nodded at him, and tossed him the gauntlet. He started to run as fast as a black panther.

"I got her!" Bucky said, looking up as she fell straight down head first. He ran after her, since he was the closet to, meanwhile Ava killed just about any minion of Thanos's that came their way.

 **~*Avengers Battle*~**

 **A/n: Thank you all so so much for being awesome and amazing. Follows, favorites, and reviews are welcomed and loved dearly. I love you all 3,000! More updates soon!**


	150. Chapter 150: 1 Out Of 14

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers, just my OC.**

 _Dr. Strange flew down with his own magic, and lightning exploding the monsters all around him, causing a rubble. Fire and smoke spilled around him as Tony landed on the ground, facing him. Strange turned around and stared at him expectantly._

 _"Hey, you said 1 out of 14 million, we win yeah?" Tony asked. He glanced around him at the battle that's occurring, seemingly never ending. "Tell me this is it."_

 _Strange eyed around him before he replied, "If I tell you, it will never happen," he spoke mysteriously._

 _Tony gritted his teeth together and pointed a maroon gloved-covered finger at him. "You better be right."_

 **Chapter 150: 1 out of 14**

Zoe suddenly found herself in strong arms, one metal arm catching her, and cradling her from the thousand feet fall no thanks to Thanos. She gripped onto the Winter Soldier's neck tight, curled within his chest. She looked almost shocked that he'd caught her, but thankful just the same.

"Thanks," she breathed out, trying to calm her anxiety riding within her.

"Any time," he said, and set her down on her feet.

Just then a fiery Ava ran into her arms, nearly knocking her over, making Bucky chuckle at the twins. He picked up his machine gun and started shooting at the other monsters that tried to come at them.

"I'm so sorry for everything," she said in between her tears. Zoe shook her head.

"Hey, hey, Ava shh. It's been five years. It's ok. We're together now. That's all that matters," Zoe said after a minute and pulled her apart, holding her sister at arm's length. She smiled, taking in a good look at her. It was like looking at a mirror, but she was so happy to see her.

"Sorry about your jetpack," Ava said, glancing behind her shoulder. Zoe ran a hand over her shoulder and frowned. All she had was the suit on now.

"Yeah, I was getting kind of used to it," Zoe said, a small frown on her face. "Thought I might even have my own name now, like I don't know Killer Fly or something."

"Ugh, the Avengers are saturated with bug guts," Ava wrinkled her nose.

"Hey!" Spiderman said, taking an offense to that.

"Sorry," Ava cringed her shoulders.

"I think you left this at my doorstep," Shuri said, handing her Zoe's spear that she indeed had left in Wakanda.

"Spear," Ava smiled. Zoe merely grinned, holding her spear that she so dearly missed. "Ooh, The Spear."

"Isn't that too…jagged edge?" Bucky asked in between his firing.

"No, more like double-edged," Valkyrie added.

"Double agent, double edged sword," Clint said in the midst of the battle as he shot his own arrows around him, and the exploding ones as well. "The Spear."

"I don't know, I like Killer Fly better," Tony said.

Zoe smirked as she pressed the button on her spear and two swords came out with its blue electricity sizzling within its core build.

"Either way, I'm killing these guys," she said, and twirled her spear in her hand and started for one that came at the two twins.

"That's my girl," she heard Steve say through her earpiece that made her smile, and just want to kill Thanos's minions even more. Ava shot her own powers at the ones on her side, knocking them down on instant, as she and Zoe and Bucky worked together taking all of them down on their side of the battle.

"Where's the gauntlet?" Zoe asked through all the chaos.

"I see it," Wanda replied to her as she flew down, stopping Thanos's tracks for hurting anymore on T'Challa, who'd lost the gauntlet in the chaos.

She glared at him. "You, took, everything, from me," she said with much conviction in her voice.

"I don't even know who you are," Thanos said and started after her.

"You will," she replied, as her eyes lit up with her red magic, and her hands glowed fiery and strong. She rose up in the air, bringing the rubble and the ground behind her, shoving it at him, and knocking him over completely.

With every fire and conviction riding within her, she shot magic balls after magic balls at him, attacking him, gaining the upper hand as he tried to defend himself with his sword.

T'Challa ran from Thanos, but caught swept up in Ebony's magic as he used his power to wrap T'Challa up within the rocks and dust.

"Shit, what is going on out there you guys?" Zoe asked, pressing her earpiece against her ear. All she could hear on her end was the sound of magic and battle and then…

"I got it!" Peter cried out as he ran for the gauntlet. He landed on the ground, and grabbed it within the hook of his arm. "Activate instant kill."

Zoe sighed, and stabbed a minion as it came after her but it backed down when she stabbed the monster down on the ground. "This is not hot potato!"

"Rain fire!" Thanos said suddenly as Wanda attempted to pull him apart piece by piece as he was covered in her magic. She'd broken his sword and it landed on the ground.

"But sire!" Ebony cried after him.

"Just do it!" Thanos yelled at him in the pain of her magic tearing him nearly apart.

Rain fire started falling down on the Avengers from Thanos's ship. Strange tried to use his own magic powers to help it from touching down on everyone, as it came down knocking fellow Asgardians and Wakandans.

Pepper was about to help too until she turned around and saw the mess of rushing water coming up from over the wall and into the valley of the battlefield where everything could be washed away.

"Uh, is anyone else seeing this?" She asked nervously.

Strange took cue and turned around to stop it. With closed fists, he conjured up his power and shoved the magic mist and orange glows over toward it to stop it from overflowing, and twisted the water in the air like a twister.

"I got this," Peter said as he fought over an overload of Thanos's minions that seemed to overcrowd him. "Ok, I don't got this. Help! Somebody! Help!"

Zoe and Steve turned at the sound of Peter's cry for help. "Hey Queens," Steve said. "Heads up!" He took a couple steps forward and tossed his shield through the hoard of monsters attacking him that got knocked over on their feet thanks to Steve's shield. Peter raised his hands up and grabbed the shield and mjolnir so that he could get out of there quick without getting killed, also holding the gauntlet at the same time.

Steve and Zoe shared a worried look.

"Hang on, I got you kid!" Pepper said, zooming in her own Iron Man suit heading toward Peter as he tried to fight his way through the chaos.

Pepper helped Peter up and then he landed on Valkyrie's horse Pegasus that flew by to help him. "Hey! Nice to meet yo-!" He began but then she flew off, causing him to hold onto her for dear life.

Then Peter fell and got caught up in the rain fire as rocks and dust particles flew up all around him as he tried to protect the gauntlet.

"Peter!" Zoe cried, rushing after him, but Steve held her arm back as rain fire shot down on them. "But, Steve! He's gonna get killed!" She cried as she tried to wretch out of his iron grip, but he held her in place.

"Zoe. You're no good to him dead! Pepper?!" He asked, pressing into his earpiece in hopes that Peter was all right after all of that. He thought he heard an iron metal landing beside him.

He covered her body with his, protecting her from the rain fire that was preventing them from going after Peter. Everyone took cover, even Rocket and Groot as they fired and fired after them incredibly harshly, throwing all the stops.

Then, all the noise stopped. And all was quiet. The fire lasers on Thanos's ship lifted upward toward the sky.

Steve let go of Zoe's arm, as the two of them and everything around them stopped to look up at the hazy skies above them. What was going on? What was happening? They were firing at the skies above them.

"What the hell is this?" Sam asked as he flew upward to check it out.

Tony looked up worriedly. "FRIDAY, what are they firing at?"

"Something just entered the upper atmosphere," FRIDAY replied.

Zoe glanced warily at Steve as she looked back up and saw the fire break through the dark clouds, fighting against the rain fire.

Then fire suddenly ignited inside of Thanos's ship, and spat out from the other end. The ship started to crumble.

"Oh yeah!" Rocket cried at Captain Marvel's fiery entrance.

"Hate to say it, but she does know how to make an entrance," Zoe said, casting a small glance at Steve.

"I used to make that same kind of entrance," Steve said.

"I wouldn't say same, but almost," Zoe said, standing on her tip toes. She kissed his cheek.

"Danvers," Steve said as the ship fell heavily down into the water. "We need an assist here."

"How are we doing Scott?" Zoe asked, glancing around for the Ant-Man.

"Almost… got it," he said, and pressed the button to ignite the quantum tunnel, getting it started.

Captain Marvel flew down in front of Peter, as he looked scared, holding the gauntlet tight within his arms, shaky from all that crazy chaotic mess.

"Hi. I'm Peter Parker," he greeted.

She smirked, a little bit flirtatiously. "Hey Peter Parker. Got something for me?"

He got up off the ground and then looked over at the army crawling after them. "I don't know how you're going to get through all that," he said a bit breathlessly.

Wanda flew behind her with Valkyrie at her side, dropping the Sawyer twins off of Pegasus. They joined Wanda's side. "Don't worry," Wanda said.

"She's got help," Okoye said through clenched teeth with her spear in hand ready to charge at them and make way for Captain Marvel while she carried the gauntlet. Pepper dropped down as well as Mantis and Gamora and Nebula had joined her side. Shuri looked at Zoe and Zoe nodded at her.

This was for Nat.

They started forward ready to take their turn in the fight. Ready to end this.

Hope came up by Ava as her yellow-hands glowed at the ready. They ran behind Captain Marvel as she led the way.

Everyone used their special abilities, and Zoe twirled her spear around and stabbed and stabbed, yanking her spear out as goo got onto it, and onto her making a mess, but she didn't care. It's what Nat would want. Zoe fought her little heart's content, getting entangled with a minion as it hovered over her, but Pepper shot it down with one of her pulsar beams and Zoe smiled at the woman in thanks. She rolled over and jumped up to her feet, running with her crew, while Valkyrie took out an entire eel.

Pepper and the others used their beams on Thanos as he charged after Captain Marvel, flying through the army of Chitauri and the Outriders, knocking them out with her own kree powers, and hugged onto the gauntlet against her chest, as she flew head on.

Then all of a sudden, Thanos tossed his sword into the midst of power, knocking everyone out.

Tony came after Thanos from behind, but Thanos knocked him down. Then Thor got into a fight with him, swinging a lightning covered stormbreaker around him. He reached for mjolnir and put both axes together, holding Thanos's ground.

Steve jumped up from behind Thanos, and grabbed onto his neck, yanking him back and holding him in place with all of his might. Thanos suddenly head-butted Thor to the ground, and then pulled Steve off of him and threw him to the ground hard.

"Steve!" Zoe cried out in panic, rushing over to him. She shakily ran and knelt down beside him, cradling his beaten, torn up, covered in dirt face into her hands. "Steve…" she tried, and then saw Captain Marvel show up, and take Thanos on. "No!" She yelled at Carol as Thanos grabbed the gauntlet from her and tossed her to the side like a ragdoll.

"That's right little one," Thanos said as he held the glove in his hand, feeling its power, its hold, and what it did to him to make him feel so alive. "I will crush your precious Avengers to the little tiny insects that you are," he stomped over to her as she ran at him with her spear, but then his fingers crushed it to pieces. She gulped and stepped backward as he looked down at her. "And then I will tear you apart, starting with this world, making a new one as promised," he said and was about to crush Zoe to bits when Carol suddenly came back and flew in front of her. Zoe widened her eyes as Carol probably had saved her bacon from getting crushed into tiny pieces, like her poor spear.

Her eyes danced around worriedly for gauntlet replica in the middle of the fight.

He yanked his head forward against Carol's but nothing happened. She glared at him and pushed against him with all of her might. Thanos reached for the power stone and smacked her with it, tossing her out across the field. Zoe watched with horror in her eyes as Carol flew out of bounds. He placed the power stone within its gauntlet, and the gauntlet lit up once more, surging.

She finally found it, and while Thanos was distracted, she scurried across the field and ran for it, picking it up into her hands. She looked up and glanced between Strange and Tony, feeling a weird moment within her.

Tony and Strange shared a look across from one another at their respectable positions in battle, and Strange lifted one finger in the air. Tony gave him a regarded look at what that meant, reeling it in.

"All right, killer, moment's up, time to cough it up," he said, holding out his hand for the gauntlet. "It belongs to me now."

Zoe shook her head, glancing at Strange's look that he was giving her. She knew that look. She shook her head and hugged the gauntlet tight. "No," she whispered.

He yanked her close, and she stumbled into his metal hard chest. She looked up into his eyes, and shook her head. No. No. No. She didn't want to give it to him. He grabbed the gauntlet into his hands and Zoe knew she had no choice but to let go and give it to him, especially with Strange's finger lingering in the air for her to see. She could already feel the tears coming. "Maybe I am the type that makes the sacrifice after all," Tony whispered in her ear that just made her shake, as she stepped back, letting him go.

Tony ran at Thanos, trying to pry the gauntlet off, but Thanos tossed Tony to the side.

"I am inevitable," Thanos cried out amongst the power as Zoe watched helplessly, and snapped his fingers, but nothing happened. Thanos let out a breath of shock from his lips and looked over at the gauntlet. He snapped again but nothing happened, everything remained still, and Zoe could only hear the sound of her own beating heartbeat. She looked over at Tony worriedly.

He'd done it. He placed the power stone inside Tony's own gauntlet, feeling its power within him as he tried to harness it.

"And I," Tony said as he looked at Thanos straight in the eyes. "Am Iron Man," As soon as he said that and snapped his fingers, a bright white light cascaded all around them.

The Chitauri and the Outriders all started to dust away from everyone. Ava and Bucky looked around them as the fight started to die. Steve looked all around him as the fight died out from underneath his fists. No more. No more fighting. Thanos turned to dust.

Zoe helped a broken, shaky Tony as he crawled to lean up against an arch from fallen debris. Zoe let out a gasp as he almost got her hand caught from behind him. "It's okay," she whispered to him, "You're going to be okay," she tried to say without crying, but something tugged at her heart. Tony looked at her and she tried not to cry in front of him, putting on a brave face.

Rhodey then stopped to see him and Zoe looked up at War Machine. She tried to keep her tears inside of her as they threatened to fall. He placed a machine gloved hand on top of his cheek and lifted him up at him regarding him with a silent smile on his face. Peter dropped down as Zoe let Rhodey have his moment with him. She stepped back, arms crossed over her chest, feeling her heart hard as a stone, wanting to be ripped out of her chest like Tony's arc reactor.

"Mr. Stark," Peter said. Zoe looked up sadly as Rhodey looked down at the kid's voice in his ears. "Hey, Mr. Stark," he came up to him. "Can you hear me? It's Peter. We won Mr. Stark. We won, Mr. Stark. We won, sir, we did it…I'm sorry. Don't…"

Pepper grabbed Peter gently before he fell to the side in tears. She walked over to Tony. Tony's eyes lit up when he saw her, almost lit up, as it was the last bit of fire in him he seemed to have. "Hey," she knelt down beside him.

"Hey, Pep…" he tried to say but failed.

Pepper placed her palm over his arc reactor. "FRIDAY read vitals."

"Life functions critical."

"Tony," Pepper said. "Look at me," she said, and Tony barely moved his head toward her. "We're gonna be okay. You can rest now."

Pepper removed her hand from the arc reactor, no longer lit up. His eyes have closed. Pepper moved to press her lips against his cheek, and she looked down, crying silently within her grief.

Zoe let out a quiet sob, shoulders shaking as Tony passed away. Steve placed a hand over her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze as he and Thor watched Tony's passing in silence.

 **~*AE*~**

 **A/n: So, I'm struggling with this ending. The battle alone was tough. My fight scenes, ick, lol. Anyway, I have an idea. Not sure about it though. Ugh, I hate this you guys. Anyway, thank you all for reading, following, favoriting. Figured I leave this chap at ten pages ;) See what I did there? :D 1 more chapter coming up soon!**


	151. Chapter 151: Arc Burial

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers, just my OC.**

 **A/n: So, I imagine Tony's voice in like everyone's heads, especially Zoe when they're reuniting with friends and family, so bold words will be highlighted as Tony's Voice Over just for reader's clarification. :)**

 **Chapter 151: Arc Burial**

Steve and Zoe had come home.

 _" **Everybody wants a happy ending, right? But it doesn't always roll that way. Maybe this time, I'm hoping if you play this back, it's in celebration. I hope families are reunited, I hope we get it back, and something like a normal version of the planet has been restored."**_

Their little twins, Clinton and Natasha ran to their parents' and hopped into their arms. Steve and Zoe picked up one each and hugged them dearly.

Cassie had run to her father, Scott, and Hope, hugging them both. Steve mouthed a thank you to Cassie. She smiled at Captain America and nodded, happy to be of service to him.

 _" **If there ever was such a thing. God, what a world. Universe, now. If you told me ten years ago that we weren't alone, let alone, you know, to this extent, I mean I wouldn't have been surprised. But come on, you know?"**_

Scott had invited Steve, Zoe, and the twins to lay outside their porch and watch the fireworks and celebrations around them. Steve sat in a lounge chair out on Scott's porch with Zoe curled up in his arms, looking up at the beauty of the fireworks illuminating the skies with her head resting on his chest that breathed in deep and out. She could hear his calm heartbeat and it made her smile fondly. She could imagine the Avengers reuniting with their families and friends.

 _"_ ** _That epic forces of darkness and light have come into play. And, for better or worse, that's the reality Morgan's gonna have to find a way to grow up in."_ **

Stark Cottage.

Pepper, Happy, Rhodey, and Morgan all sat on the couch listening to Tony's hologram that projected from his Iron Man helmet.

"So, I thought I'd probably better record a little greeting…in the case of an untimely death on my part. Not that, death in any time isn't untimely. This time travel thing that we're gonna try and pull off tomorrow, it's…it's got me scratching my head about the survivability of it all. But then again, that's the hero gig. Part of the journey is the end," Tony's holographic form got up from his spot and walked over to his girls.

"Uh, what am I even trippin' for? Everything's gonna work out exactly the way it's supposed to," he leant down, smiling at his little girl. "I love you, 3000."

Morgan curled into her mother's arms, trying not to be sad about her father's death.

Pepper, Morgan, Happy, and Rhodey walked out of the cottage, and down the wooden steps onto the leafy ground. She was carrying a bouquet of flowers within her hand, Morgan at her side. In the middle she had Tony's arc reactor that she had made for him.

 _Proof that Tony Stark has a heart._ A long time ago.

She placed it in the lake, and let it go. She hugged her daughter, watching it float out into the middle of the lake, catching the afternoon's sunlight rays, glittering underneath them.

Behind her stood, Steve, Zoe, and their kids. Steve held Clinton in his arms, while Zoe had Natasha in hers, looking pensively out into the waters before them. Zoe just wore a simple black dress, 1940's style. A black flare dress. Sweet short sleeves that framed her V-neck line and winged collar top that gathered across her chest and snaked into her waistline. Her seam at the waist was covered with a sash, tied into a bow over her A-line skirt that just rested above her knees. Her hair was wavy in curls, and down passed her shoulders.

Peter and May Parker.

Thor. Bruce Banner. Doctor Strange. Wong. Scott Lang. Hope Van Dyne. Janet Van Dyne. Hank Pym. Peter Quill. Nebula. Gamora. Rocket. Groot. Drax. Mantis. T'Challa. Okoye. Shuri. Secretary Ross. Maria Hill. Carol Danvers. Nick Fury walked out onto Stark's porch, looking onward toward the lake. Wanda Maximoff. Bucky Barnes. Sam Wilson. Ava Sawyer, resting her head on Falcon's shoulder, just wearing a short black mini dress with a black coat over her shoulders.

"You know I wish there was a way… I could let her know. That we won," Clint said, coming up to Wanda. She looked over at him, looking into his tired, yet thoughtful eyes. "We did it."

"She knows…they both do," Wanda said with a nod.

He wrapped an arm around her gently and hugged her close. She returned the hug.

Zoe broke off from her family, as the kids went to go play with Clint's kids, and Cassie along with them. She looked over at Nick Fury, her old director, and walked over to him, hiding in the back of the cottage.

She passed Happy and Morgan.

"How you doing, squirt?" Happy asked.

"Good," she replied.

"You good? Okay. You hungry?" he asked.

"Mhmm."

"What do you want?"

"Cheeseburgers," she replied.

"You know your dad liked cheeseburgers," Happy said. "I'm gonna get you all the cheeseburgers you want."

"Okay," she said.

Zoe couldn't help but smile at that as she made her way toward her director.

She stood, arms folded across her chest, glaring up at the man with his eye patch with much defiance in her still.

"Job's over, Sawyer. I got nothing for you," he said. "Go home, be with your family. Live."

Zoe sniffed, but she nodded just the same. She didn't have much energy for another job. She guessed that her job was now being a mom. She smiled. She could live with that.

Speaking of, she thought in mid-frown. "Where is Steve?" She asked.

Fury motioned a nod back toward the woods of Stark's cottage. She turned to face out in the clearing where she spotted her sister, Sam, Bucky, Steve, and Bruce by the quantum platform.

She walked down the hill, and saw Thor with Valkryie in mid conversation about her being the new king to the Asgardians on Earth, and Thor leaving them. She stopped in her trek, posing a frown on her face.

"You're leaving us?" Zoe asked. "And so soon?"

Thor turned to see the former shield agent. "Zoe! Come here, little one," he held out his arms for her and she walked over to give him a big bear hug.

"You know I'll miss my favorite little human," he continued, as he pulled apart to get a good look at her. He eyed her up and down appreciatively. She'd grown up.

Zoe smiled up at him. "So, you're really taking off? You won't be alone I hope."

Thor shook his head. "No. No, of course not. I met some friends on my space journey. You haven't met them yet, I don't think. The Guardians of the Galaxy?" He asked her.

Zoe shook her head. "Can't say I have."

"You should put them in the database. I know you put Rocket's name in there," Thor said.

Zoe chuckled. "Thor," she said, stopping him. Thor raised his eyebrows at her expectantly. "That's not my job anymore. I'm a Mom now."

"So…strictly parenting?" Thor asked.

Zoe nodded. "Yes, Thor. That is the job description of a mother."

"Good," Thor said, giving her a small, but sad smile, knowing he might never see her anymore. "It suits you. I mean, he suits you. He is worthy after all. So, I approve."

Zoe let out another chuckle, smiling bashfully. "Yeah, well, I like him, my kids like him, so…"

"So, what are you waiting for?" Thor asked her.

Zoe shrugged. "The right moment?"

"Maybe now," Thor said, giving her a slight push forward to go join the boys and her sister. Zoe looked back at the god of thunder, her favorite god, and waved to him as he left with the Guardians of the Galaxy.

"Remember….you have to return the stones at the exact moment you get them. Or you're gonna open up a bunch of nasty alternative realities," Bruce was saying by the time Zoe came toward them.

"Don't worry, Bruce," Steve said glancing at him. "Clip all the branches."

"Clip all the branches?" Zoe asked, placing her hands on her hips as if she was scolding her children. Might as well if they were going to play with this thing again.

"Zoe," Steve said, his face looking as though it was going to pucker.

"Thought you could do one last job without me?" She asked, a small frown on her face.

"Well…we…um…"

"Uh-oh…" Sam said, brushing his fingers across his nose, looking the other direction. Bucky and Ava followed suit. Bruce held his fingers over the machine, hovering, scared, not to move a muscle.

"You know, I tried," Bruce began, cutting the tension between them from going overboard. Zoe flicked her eyes toward him. "When I had the gauntlet, the stones, I really tried to bring her back," he said, looking from Zoe to Steve. Her face had softened at the mention of Natasha. "I miss them, man."

"Me too," Steve said, giving him a nod.

"She wouldn't want to come back," Zoe whispered. "This was her legacy. Tony's legacy. We just have to remember and not forget what they've done for all of us."

"Ah, Zoe," Steve said, and walked over toward her, taking her hands into his. "My love. My light. I didn't tell you where I was going because I knew you'd come with, and I couldn't risk loosing you again. I corrected a wrong once, I don't think the universe would be so forgiving a second time," he held her hands tight, giving them a squeeze, and he planted a kiss on top of them that gave her a tingly sensation, making her smile, but then frown slightly.

"You're leaving too," she realized, dropping her hands out of his warm ones.

"No," he shook his head. "I'm coming back for you," he said, cupping his hands over her face, bringing her in. He looked into her eyes as they widened at what he said, and he kissed her passionately before he glanced at his two best friends, and Ava.

She stepped over to the side with Bruce.

"You know, if you want, I can come with you," Sam offered.

"You're a good man, Sam. This one's on me, though," Steve said.

He looked over at Bucky. "Don't do anything stupid 'till I get back."

"How can I? You're taking all the stupid with you," Bucky replied, giving him a bit of a smirk across his face, hands within his pockets.

They hugged one another. "Gonna miss you, buddy," Bucky said.

"It's gonna be okay, Buck," Steve said, and then walked over to the Quantum portal. He put the suit on.

"You better come back for her," Ava warned him. Steve nodded at the twin, as he zipped up his suit tight.

"How long is this gonna take?" Sam asked, glancing at Bruce. Zoe also looked at him questionably.

"For him? As long as he needs. For us? Five seconds," Bruce replied.

"Will be the longest five seconds of my life," Zoe murmured beside him, glancing at the control board.

Steve picked up Mjolnir from 2013.

"Ready, Cap?" Bruce asked. "All right. We'll meet you back here, okay?"

"You bet," Steve nodded.

"Going quantum. Three, two, one…"

Zoe sucked in a breath, and at that moment, he disappeared.

"And returning in five, four, three, two, one…" Bruce pressed the button waiting for their man to return. But he didn't return on the platform like promised.

"Where is he?" Sam asked.

Zoe began to panic.

"I don't know. He blew right by his time stamp. He should be here," Bruce said, searching for answers on the control board.

Bucky turned around in search of him.

"Well, get him back," Sam ordered angrily, glancing at the green guy.

"I'm trying," Bruce yelled back at him, frantically searching.

"Get him the hell back!"

"Hey, I said, I'm trying!"

"Sam." Bucky said, making him stop. Sam's face softened, and looked over to see Steve sitting on a bench, over looking the lake. Sam, Bucky, and Zoe walked over toward him. Zoe prayed it was still the same Steve.

She walked over to the bench, lifting a strand of hair that had fallen from the wind. She pushed it over her ear and let out a sigh, closing her eyes.

"Cap? Zoe, is it him?" Sam asked.

She nodded, relieved, that Steve had returned safe and sound, and the exact same as he was five seconds ago.

"Zoe?" Steve asked.

"Yes?" She came on over to him, wondering where'd been, what he was able to do. She bit her bottom lip questionably, then she spoke. "Steve, you could've….I would've been okay with it… we would've been okay…I would've understood…she was your world. After you put the stones back, you could've, I mean I just thought maybe you would've tried some of that life that Tony always talked about, and that he wanted you to get."

"You spoke about legacies," Steve said, tearing his eyes away from the lake in front of him. Zoe nodded, narrowing her eyes at him. "You're mine," then he got up from the bench, and knelt down on one knee, not missing Ava's slight gasp, as she caught herself, covering her mouth. He pulled out a box from his pocket, an old fashioned box, continuing to steady himself on one knee as he opened it to show her a ring. Zoe's heart pounded wildly against her chest as she widened her eyes at what Steve was about to do.

"We've worked too hard to get here at this point and in time…," he said. Her cheeks turned pink, burning warm. "Zoe-Lynn Sawyer, will you marry me?"

Zoe blinked numerous times at the perfect small diamond cut ring that looked like it'd jumped out of the 40's itself. She looked over at Bucky questionably, wondering if she was the right choice for the job, to be the woman of Captain America, Steve Rogers had always wanted. Bucky gave her a nod and then she looked at Steve's questionable eyes. She nodded. "Yes. Yes, Steve, I will marry you."

Steve's eyes lit up in relief, and a smile appeared on his face. He slipped it on her finger and he hugged her, picking her up and twirling her in the air, making her squeal with utter happiness.

He set her down, and leaned his forehead against hers, Zoe's heart bursting with happiness. "Plus, I didn't want Sam to be bummed out having to live in a world without Captain America."

Zoe laughed, tears falling down her cheeks, she pulled him in for a hug.

"I'm happy for you two. Truly," Sam said, glancing at the two of them. They deserved happiness.

"Thank you," Steve said.

She bit her bottom lip and pulled apart slightly, holding her hands around his neck. "If I'm your only legacy…what about…" she motioned a quick nod to the red, white, and blue shield that leant against the bench.

"Oh, that reminds me," he smirked at Sam. He walked over to pick up the shield, and hand it to Sam. "Try it on."

Sam gulped, and looked over at Bucky. The Winter Soldier gave him a nod. Sam walked over to Steve and held the shiny shield into his hand.

"How's it feel?" Steve asked, as Sam weighed it in his hands.

"Like it's someone eles's," Sam said with a frown.

"It isn't," Steve said firmly.

Sam tried not to cry and Zoe smiled at him. "Now you know how I feel on an emotional rollercoaster ride."

Sam chuckled in between his tears.

"Thank you. I'll do my best."

"That's why it's yours," he shook Sam's hand.

"You know, this isn't what I had in mind for your future," Ava said, looking over at Steve. Steve looked over at the prophetically full of essence Ava.

"I'm glad it wasn't."

"Me too," she nodded, smiling for her sister and Steve.

"So, you going to tell me when the wedding is?" Sam asked, motioning a nod over to Zoe.

Steve looked at Zoe, and she looked into his eyes.

"Soon," they said in sync.

Zoe's lips curled into a smile and she stood up on her tip toes, sealing his lips with a kiss.

~*AE*~

The kids were asleep and were with Sam and Ava, their babysitting adventures continue. And Zoe had transformed the apartment into a 1940's setting with the help of Bucky. They'd picked out the right songs and everything. She was going to teach Steve how to dance when he got home.

Right when she heard him coming in through the door, she placed the nose onto the record player of none other than Glenn Miller's In the Mood.

"Zoe? I'm home…" Steve called out and meandered his way through the hallway into their small apartment. She quickly leaned away from the record player in the corner of their living room and into the middle, where she and Bucky rearranged the furniture so it looked like a dance floor.

She held out her hand in the air and then one to the floor, striking a pose in her jitterbug dress, smiling at him.

Steve looked up around at the lights hanging around the living room, connecting the bookcases, of games and books overflowing into the records bins.

"Is…that a jitterbug dress?" He asked, a small lopsided smile appearing onto his face, as he placed his brief case down beside his armchair parked by the bookcase.

She flared it out with the palms of her hands, and twirled around. "You like?"

He looked around his small surroundings and then at her. He nodded.

"Well, ain't you a delicious dish," he winked at her making her feel all bubbily inside. "What's the occasion?"

"Well, if we're going to be dancing at our wedding, I thought it'd only be fair that I teach you. Bucky said you could use all the practice you can get. His words," Zoe said, grinning teasingly. "Now, hurry up, _In the Mood_ is almost over," she said, rushing up to him to bring him into the middle.

"All right, I don't know, I might step on your toes," he said. "I got two left feet," he said placing an arm around her waist and held her hand with his.

"Well, lucky for you, I have two right feet," Zoe said, with a laugh, and then she started to teach him. "In the Mood is easy to learn, I promise. Just like riding a bike."

"Funny. She told me you'd say that." Steve asked, smiling down at her and into her eyes. She looked up at him, feeling butterflies and she nodded.

"Yeah?" she said, feeling once and for all at home.

"Yeah," Steve nodded, and started to get into the rhythm with Zoe's help.

Then the song changed to Louis Armstrong's _La Vie En Rose_. "Hmm, better."

"Much, much better," Steve murmured against her, holding her close, and she agreed, smiling all the way.

 **~*AE*~**

 **A/n: 91k views, 171 favs, 161 likes, and 44 reviews, now, I'm sobbing. Glenn Miller's _In the Mood_ was the song she was playing when she first met Steve in his apartment! **CRIES** I can't believe it's over you guys. What a ride. I mean Tony couldn't have said it better himself. Now, I need tissues. Will be handing you all tissues. So, this is my favorite ending. I wrote this for my Steve and Zoe fans, it was really hard to choose. I have an alternate ending that I'll be working on soon. It was what I originally had in mind, but as one reviewer said, I couldn't pass up a Steve and Zoe ending because I love them so much as well. So, with that said, for those that like Peggy/Steve, and Zoe/Bucky, I'll be putting that alternate ending up soon. So that will be my last update. I love every one of my followers, favorites, and reviews. You've all been so awesome and wonderful. What a world, seriously. I love you, all 3,000! Ty, ty, from the bottom of my heart, ty!**


	152. Chapter 152: Alternate Ending

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers**

 **Chapter 152: Original/Alternate Ending**

"Are you sure about this?" Zoe asked, as her lips curled into a small frown. She looked over towards Stark Cottage where her and Steve's kids were playing, running around with Clint and Wanda and his own kids.

She pulled a wispy strand of hair away from her lips, standing on the platform. It seemed like a risk. A silly risk. She'd known her kids for five years and she loved them so much. She knew that Steve did too, but her heart tugged once more in two different directions.

"Zo, they're going to ask a bunch of questions if I come back," Steve said.

" _If_?" Zoe repeated.

Steve sighed. "We talked about this."

"Yeah, I know that. But, Steve, if we come back?"

"It's a risk we're both willing to take. Come on, you're my ride and die remember?" Steve said.

"No, if you don't come back," she said, not liking how it sounded out of her own lips. Sure, they were a team, they had been throughout all of this, and now their time was ending.

Zoe sighed, and pressed her fingertips to her forehead. Yes. She did. She remembered all their times together. Maybe that's why she was hesitant. She'd done so much...

Then again...

Nat's nagging voice in her head had come up several times during her mini battle...

 _Who's the girl?_

 _Remember the picture he looked at when we found Arnim Zola?_

 _Yes... she remembered all of it. She remembered always feeling like a competition to a ghost that wasn't there... but inside Steve's memory like unfinished business..._

"It's better for them, for you not to have answer so many questions at once. They'll ask why I'm old, why did I leave them, why did I go back in time. It…it just makes sense this way. At least then they'll won't ever have to remember those five horrible depressing years of their lives."

Zoe chewed her bottom lip and let out a sigh, contemplating Steve's pro's to her con's. It did make sense.

"Ok big guy," she said, letting out another sigh, turning toward him at the control board. "No more hesitations. Steve's right. Let's just get this over with."

Bruce slightly frowned at the former shield agent, but nodded just the same. She looked at Steve and he looked at her, sharing a knowing look of what was about to happen. One last job. And she wanted her children to have the best and brightest lives ahead of them, and this plan was a good one.

"Remember, You have to return the stones at the exact moment you got them. Or, you're gonna open up a bunch of nasty alternative realities," Bruce explained to them.

"Don't worry, Bruce. Clip all the branches," Steve said with an understanding nod of his head.

"You, know, I tried," Bruce said. "When I had the gauntlet, the stones, I really tried to bring her back. I miss them, man."

"Me too," Steve nodded.

Zoe licked her lips and stepped down to face them. "She wouldn't want to come back. This was her legacy. Tony's legacy. We just have to remember and not forget what they've done for all of us," she said, though Zoe had secretly planned on trying to go back to go in her place…that might've been a fight to the death. Steve advised her against it, and made her promise to him she wouldn't go back to that spot and trade places with her. She'd do it in a heartbeat, but she promised Steve she wouldn't. After all, Steve said Nat wouldn't want that for Zoe either. And he was right.

"You know, if you want, I can come with you, make sure you both stay out of trouble," Sam offered.

"You're a good man, Sam. This one's on me, though," Steve said.

Zoe looked at him with a bit of a chagrinned look on her face. "It's on both of us."

"As his guide and everything," Sam added, making her smile. She walked over to him and threw her arms around his neck, pulling him in for a hug. "Take care of him."

"Of course," Zoe said, glancing towards her sister. "So long as you take care of her."

"Always," Sam nodded. Ava sighed. "I just got you back and now you're leaving?"

"I'll be back," Zoe smiled brightly. "Just one last job."

Ava nodded and she hugged her sister, unable to help it.

"It'll be okay. It'll be fine," Zoe promised and pulled apart.

"I know. They do deserve the best life," Ava said, looking over at her niece and nephew once more. Even though those kids had smiles on their faces, the trauma of the last five years could've shaped a lot, deep within their little souls like it'd done to her and Zoe. Zoe was doing the right thing. And she was with her every step of the way.

"Don't do anything stupid 'till I get back," Steve said to Bucky.

"How can I? You're taking all the stupid with you," Bucky said one last time, and pulled Steve into a hug.

"It's gonna be okay, Buck," Steve assured him. He turned to Zoe. "Ready?"

Zoe inhaled sharply but nodded. "As I'll ever be."

She walked up to the platform with him. Steve handed her the quantum suit, and she started to put it on, wondering if this was going to be a good fit for her, but she put it through her arms and zipped it up nonetheless, following suit.

"How long is this gonna take?" Sam asked.

Steve picked up Mjolnir and gripped it tight in his hands.

"For us? Five seconds," Bruce replied.

"Ready, Cap? Zo?" Bruce asked them. Zoe and Steve glanced at one another one more time and nodded. "All right. We'll meet you back here, okay?"

"One last job?" Steve asked her.

Zoe nodded, smiling faintly. "One last job, partner."

"You bet," Steve then said to Bruce, giving him a firm nod.

"Going quantum. Three, two, one…" he pressed the button, making them both disappear.

"And returning in five, four, three, two, one…" Bruce announced, as he pressed the button on the board.

"Where are they?" Sam demanded worriedly.

"I don't know. They blew right by their time stamp. They should be here," Bruce cried frantically, searching through his calculations.

"Well, get them back!" Sam cried. Ava fretted silently, watching as Bruce tried to figure it out.

"I'm trying."

"Get them the hell back!" Sam shouted at him. Ava frowned.

"Hey, I said, I'm trying!" Bruce glared at the Falcon.

"Sam," Bucky said. "Ava. Do you hear anything?"

Ava licked her lips and turned around behind her only to find no one playing outside. It was silent outside the Stark Cottage not like it had been before.

She blinked in pure wonderment. Then she spotted him, an old man sitting on a log, and someone standing right beside him with long brown beautiful hair, wrapped up in a hair clip against her neck.

"Go ahead," Bucky said, motioning a nod for Sam and Ava to go forward toward them.

She wanted to take a tentative forward step to her sister, but she was hesitant.

"Cap?" Sam asked.

"Zoe?" Ava wondered out loud in shock.

A yellow sundress dress shaped her round belly carrying…twins? Ava never would've imagined such a thing possible if it hadn't been for her own eyes right about now. She blinked at her very pregnant sister.

"Oh. Zoe?" Ava asked.

Zoe turned around, hands wrapped around her belly and a smile plastered around her face.

"Hey sis, or shall I say auntie, again," Zoe smiled brightly at her. "Steve and I didn't want our children to live in a world that was half full. They deserved the whole world. You once told me, that growing up, all you remembered as a child was a box, a tiny box of four walls. I didn't want that for them."

The corner of Ava's lips trembled, but lifted into a small smile.

"Cap?" Sam asked then at the old man beside Zoe and Ava.

"Hi, Sam," Old Steve said. He looked at the young man before him and gave him a wistful smile.

"So did something go wrong, or did something go right?" Sam had to ask, especially seeing that Zoe was pregnant again, or re-pregnant. He was going to have to ask Ava on that one.

"Well, after we put the stones back, I thought….maybe…I'll try some of that life Tony was telling me to get. Zoe and I made a pact, discussing how much of that life we both wanted, but I was sorely out of time, even if I wanted to try and fit in with the 21st century, still…something didn't feel right… I thought Zoe deserved a family still, so she got to have her family, and…well…" he smiled at her and she smiled too.

"How did that work out for you?" Sam asked.

"It was beautiful," Steve said.

"I'm happy for you. For you both. Truly," Sam said. Then he furrowed his brows at Zoe. "But Zoe, pregnant again? Really?"

Zoe nodded. "Really. I know, it's a weird compromise. But as long as Steve was happy, and his soul fulfilled, I didn't want to take that away from him."

"I didn't want to take away what Zoe deserved either," Steve said. "So, it was a good compromise," he smiled warmly at her and Zoe nodded, looking into his deep blue eyes, and then at the ring on his finger. It did sting a little in Zoe's heart, but he'd given her everything, everything she could ever ask for. The least she could do in return was let him have a life in the 1940's with the one he truly loved, where his heart belonged. She could always see it, even if he did love her too, she felt like she was a bit off with Steve. She could be friends with him, really good friends. This was something she needed to give him, a good life.

"Only thing bumming me out is the fact I have to live in a world without Captain America," Sam said humorously.

"Oh, that reminds me…" he pulled out his shield from the log, and rested it against it. "Try it on."

Sam arched an eyebrow and then looked at Bucky. Bucky nodded for Sam to go ahead.

He held Steve's shield in his hand and looked at it, trying to feel the weight of the vibranium weapon in his hand.

"How's it feel?" Steve asked.

"Like it's someone else's," Sam said.

"It isn't," Steve assured him.

"Thank you. I'll do my best," Sam said, trying to hold back his tears.

"That's why it's yours," Steve said, shaking his hand.

He looked at Bucky. "Buck?" He asked, and then looked at Zoe. Zoe smiled. Her turn. She walked over to the Winter Soldier and stepped beside Steve. "I trust you'll watch out for them?" He motioned a chin nod to Zoe and her pregnant self.

"With my life," Bucky gave him a firm nod. Zoe smiled into Bucky's eyes.

Sam glanced at Steve's gold wedding ring. "You wanna tell me about her?" he asked.

"No," he smiled and then turned back to look out the lake, and Bucky wrapped an arm around Zoe, holding her close to him, looking out at the lake as well, as if he could hear the faint distant trumpets of an old forties song. "No, I don't think I will," he said, getting lost into the memory of himself and his lovely Peggy once more.

 **~*Avengers: Endgame*~**

 **A/n: So, that was the alternate/original ending that I had planned, or something similar to the lines of that. Sam got the shield, Bucky got the girl, lol. I thought it was a fair compromise. But anyway, someone asked for some bonus content. I'll try my best! And, as for Miss Zelda85, I'm replying to you here because I can't reply to guest reviews. My SPN story is up, it's just under a different name, titled Alive in Your Soul. :) Ty! Also thank you for follows, favorites, and reviews, I love every one of you! I can't believe this story is finally finished. Will top it off with a wedding, possibly, between Zoe and Steve. :D**


	153. Chapter 153: An Avenger's Wedding Part 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. Just my OC.**

 **Chapter 153: An Avenger's Wedding (Mini Series) Part 1 :)**

5 Months Later.  
A-Tower, New York City

It'd been five months since they lost Natasha and Tony, and many other Avengers in battle to defeat Thanos. Luckily, it was over. At least as far as former SHIELD agent Zoe Sawyer was concerned. There had been talks of whether or not to rebuild the Avenger's Facility. Were they needed so publically anymore? The big threat was gone.

But, everyone had to deal with repercussions. The loss had been too great for words. It was still hard on everyone, especially Zoe. But Natasha wouldn't want her to give up her new mother status raising her twins she respectively named after her two favorite SHIELD agents ever, who were also members of the Avengers. Things had been back to normal, considering. The stones were back safely. Zoe and Steve felt like they could finally live a normal life, despite those five depressing years of loosing half the universe and everyone they cared about. But, things were back to normal….

Or so Zoe thought…

She walked passed by Thor who was seating at a chair typing on a… Zoe narrowed her eyebrows in thought, cell phone? Then again she did see him play on XBOX before… so maybe he was adapting. She couldn't help but stop in the middle of the hallway and pivot to ask him what he was doing that made him so happy. Not that Thor shouldn't be happy because he'd been the worse out of all of them, blaming himself for what had happened when the whole time heist went down. Not a peep out of him. But now that that was all behind them, they could move on. And he was smiling again.

"Thor?" Zoe asked.

"Hmm?" he said, barely looking at her, still typing on the device.

She inhaled sharply. "Whatchya doin?"

"Oh, you know, replacing your minister," Thor said casually.

Zoe blinked slowly and arched an eyebrow at him as if she was scolding one of her own kids. "What?"

"Well, see, I accidentally crashed the ship into his car just as soon as he was arriving to prepare for your wedding and well…long story short, he's in the hospital with a minor leg injury-"

"Thor!" Zoe cried, holding out her hands in shock.

Thor held up his hand at her and jumped to his feet to show her what he was up to.

"Minor! Very, _very_ minor. So, in order to make it up for him, I thought I'd well…wed you and Steve together as your newly ordained minister," he chuckled as he finished typing and then he officially hit send. "Turns out anybody on the webnet-"

"Internet," Zoe reminded him.

"Internet, can be a minister," Thor grinned. "Problem solved." He said proudly and grinned at Zoe.

Zoe just looked at him in shock and wondered if Thor had gotten hit in the head during that crash when he landed home.

"I can't wait to tell Steve!" He said jovially and dashed off to go see Steve through A-Tower's halls, leaving Zoe totally dumbfounded.

Oh yes, this wedding was going smoothly and exactly as planned. _Sure, let's invite the Avengers's, our friends and family, the whole gang. Nothing can go wrong, he said….right…._ Zoe sighed at her rambling thoughts. Steve was not going to like this.

"Heh, and you wonder why Quill had a problem with you being the leader of his ship in the first place," she said with a nod of her head and went to go follow Thor. "Oh, honey!" she forced a grin on her face, braving it out like always.

 **~*A*~**

 **A/n: Let the fun begin guys. Thank you all so, so much for the reviews, the follows, the favorites! I really appreciate you all! Hope you like the mini series, and hope I can capture their personalities okay! It's been awhile! More updates soon!**


	154. Chapter 154: Avenger's Wedding Part 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. Just writing for fun.**

 **Chapter 154: An Avenger's Wedding Part 2**

When Zoe came out of her room and into her wedding dress to look in the mirror, she had absolutely no clue how she was going to react. She looked at the full-length mirror in front of her and swallowed hard when she took in the view of her wedding gown.

She still couldn't believe it. Today, she was getting married in New Church, New York City with her close friends and family. Her twins would be apart of it too. Her little boy would be a ring bearer and her little girl would be the flower girl.

Steve had his best men picked out: Sam, Bucky, Clint.

And Zoe had her bridesmaids: Ava (Maid of Honor), Wanda, Pepper.

The wedding had almost turned into a disaster. Between Thor replacing the minister, trying to find a decent venue on short notice, Zoe wasn't sure if getting married to Steve was such a good idea after all.

She worried that maybe she'd been right all along and that these were signs saying don't marry him. But Wanda had told her numerous times that they were perfect for each other and that she wouldn't have it anyway. She might even have to influence her own power on them if they didn't go through with it, which was the ultimate push for Zoe to get into her wedding gown.

Still, something just felt off about today. Maybe it was the lack of Tony Stark and the lack of her favorite assassin, Natasha Romanoff. Maybe it was the lack of her own parents not being here today with her. Though she had her family, her avengers and everyone else that were going to be here at the church today with her, she just missed them.

She missed them a lot. It wasn't fair. Tony could be there for her fake funeral, but he couldn't be here for her wedding. Zoe shook her head. She had to stop thinking like that. He gave up his life to save the world…worlds. As did Natasha.

There was a knock on the door behind Zoe. "Hey, it's Ava. Can I come in?"

Zoe let out a deep breath as if she'd been holding it for a long time, and ran her hands down the sides of her dress that hugged her curves tight. It was the perfect size. That never happened. Ava did a marvelous job on finding this dress. It was exactly what she'd imagined. Vintage and modern. V-neck top, straps, white sheer. Flowers embroided on the sheer fabric that stooped low and ended at her abdomen with a small belt like fabric that went around her waist and tied at the back. Her train was white and pure sheer with the same type of flowery embroidery in the front and some dazzling across the tulle folds of her gown that flowed around her feet.

Her hair was up in a messy bun with dark brown curls, complete with a beaded white headband.

Ava stopped mid-way into the room. She almost dropped to the floor at how gorgeous her sister was in her wedding dress.

"Oh my…" she breathed out. Zoe blushed at that. "Steve's going to…"

Zoe smiled. "I know."

"He's going to be totally flustered," Ava grinned widely at her sister.

"Like I don't know how he'll be able to stand on his own two feet flustered!"

Zoe giggled unable to help it and she nodded. "I know!" She hadn't felt this giddy in a very long time.

"Um, so we have a slight tiny problem," she cleared her throat after she calmed down.

Zoe inhaled sharply and let it out. "Ok. What is it this time? Does the Church hate us too?"

"No. No hate from the Church….it's uh…well, it's Fury. He had to go away on assignment last minute," Ava cringed at how bad that sounded. "So…he won't be able to make it to give you away."

She took a step back, waiting for the fury of Zoe herself to come out, but after a minute or two, nothing did. Zoe half expected something like this to happen. It seemed to be a curse.

"I'm so sorry Zoe," Ava said apologetically. "Do you want to see if I can find someone else? Or, I could do it," she gave her a small smile.

Zoe shook her head. "No. And you've done enough already for this wedding. It'd be too much. Just um, give me a minute okay?"

Ava nodded. "I'll stall the wedding. Guests are arriving any minute."

Zoe nodded, and watched her sister depart the room, leaving Zoe to fall to her chair by the vanity table adjacent to the changing room. Of course Fury would go on assignment. Same with Hill. They were always working around the clock, and didn't have time for silly things like weddings.

They were a shadow government after all.

But out of all the people in her life, she was really looking forward to having him one last time. Guess she should have known better.

She could hear the girls outside her room, Wanda and Pepper, but Ava was trying to get them to go to their places up at the altar. Bless her sister for Zoe wouldn't know what to do without her right now. She was entirely grateful for her existence.

Zoe didn't know what to do. She felt lost. She felt like canceling the wedding. She'd strongly considered it. But there were people that had traveled very very far to see her and Steve get married.

At the very least she could go up there and be brave and go down the aisle alone. Like she's always done for most of her life. She could do it again. It'd be tough and hard to face all those people inside the church, wondering why a girl was walking down the aisle alone with no one to give her away like tradition.

"You know, I am a little bummed that I didn't get asked to be in the wedding, but I get it, I'd have to fight for my best man title between two pretty strong guys…and, well…I don't wanna beat them to a couple of bloody pulps. I'd feel bad for Steve."

Zoe looked up at the familiar voice and her eyes widened.

"Bruce!" she exclaimed in shock. "But I did invite you."

He grinned at her. "I know,"

"Hey, you're human again. How'd that happen?" she asked, after they hugged one another.

"I got angry again," he replied with a shake of his head. "You look beautiful by the way."

"Thanks," Zoe blushed bashfully and looked at her almost see through dress.

"What are you angry about?" she asked.

"It's a long story," he said.

"No," she poked his side. "You're going to tell me."

"Can't I tell you later? We have a wedding to go to."

Zoe shook her head. "Not anymore. I'm running through that window. That's my escape plan," she pointed to the window that was open, letting out the cool spring breeze of New York City air.

"You mean this window?" Bruce asked, and walked over to it. Zoe nodded and he slammed the window shut. Zoe's mouth dropped open and he locked it. He turned around and lent against the window, crossing his arms. "Sorry pal, no can do. You wanna jump, you're going to have to go through me."

"Ok, no offense, but I miss the Other Guy."

Bruce chuckled darkly. "The Other Guy would drop you on your head and then you'd have a concussion. Trust me Zoe, I know."

Zoe sighed. "No good choices, huh?"

"The only choice I see right now is you walking through that door and down the aisle," Bruce said. "That's your best choice. Sides, that dress is too pretty to let it go to waste."

Zoe chewed her bottom lip. She wanted to cry right now. She just wanted to crumble and cry. Why did Bruce have to be so right all the time? He was really good at that. He was good at putting her in her place just like old times.

Zoe felt her body slid down into her chair by her vanity table and looked into her hands as they folded lamely together. "I just wish Tony was here."

He nodded. "I know. Me too."

"I miss him. And I miss Nat. God, I miss them all, Bruce," Zoe said, almost shaking. "It just hurts. Sometimes I just wish the pain to stop. Like, I should be feeling fine and perfect and amazing on my wedding day, but with everything that's gone wrong so far…I just…I feel empty. Drained. Tired. Like I don't matter. I wish I could do what you do. I mean if I tried throwing a knife at a robot, it'd just get crushed."

Bruce shuddered. "Ultron. Don't remind me," he held up the palm of his hand and Zoe winced.

"Sorry."

"Sides, no you don't Zo. Right now is the perfect time for you and Steve to get married. I'd never seen the man happier in my life, and I hear the girls talk about how all smiles you are. I've seen how good you and Steve are together. You're made for this Zo. All that fighting and saving the world…all that build up has come to this. You're creating a new life, a new family, and I'm thankful that you get to share it with us. I know we all miss Tony and Nat, but they'd want this for you and Steve too. You deserve to be happy. It's about damn time if you ask me. So, what are you waiting for? The shoe to fall off the other foot? I've seen you fall off of buildings and get back up again. What did Tony tell you in the park?"

Zoe licked her lips and let out a deep breath that she found herself holding, listening to Bruce's kind words. Kind but also true words.

"That I was an avenger."

He smiled at her and pushed himself up off the windowsill, and walked over toward her. "One of the strongest, I know," he held out a hand for her to take. "So, Zoe. It would be my honor to give you away at the wedding today."

"Really?" Zoe asked. "You'd do that for me?"

"I'd do anything for my favorite information specialist," he smiled. "Dried pineapples and all."

"There's actually some pineapple on the menu today for the reception," Zoe said. Bruce smiled widely as she stood up and grabbed his hand.

"Can't wait. Hey, uh, do you have a something borrowed yet? Ava mentioned you have a something new, something old, and something blue…but what about borrowed?"

Zoe shook her head. "I have my locket, something old, something blue…is well, can't tell you, cause it's definitely for Steve's benefit…" she blushed. "And something borrowed…um…"

Bruce pulled out something from his pocket and started to wrap it around Zoe's small wrist. Zoe looked at it in shock. "It belonged to Nat's. One of her Black Widow bites."

"You expect me to wear it on my wedding day?" Zoe asked skeptically. "You're not expecting an ambush are you?"

Bruce chuckled. "No, but you and Steve are going on a honeymoon right?"

"Yeah…" Zoe was blushing madly at the thoughts rolling around in her head. "But I'm sure it will be fine."

"Just trust me on this. Nat would want you to wear it. It's just like any other bracelet you'd wear on your wedding day. I just made it into an actual bracelet with her bite in between the silver diamond links," he explained. "Nobody would be able to tell the difference if it was a diamond bracelet or a Nat bite."

"Unless Steve gets shocked. And if he does," she pointed at him.

Bruce grinned. "Could use it in a game of-"

"Bruce!" Zoe said hotly. "Shhh."

He chuckled. "Okay, okay. Are we ready?"

Zoe let out a sigh and she nodded, looking around her room. She had everything now. She should be good to go.

She took in another deep breath and smiled at Bruce. "Thank you Bruce."

"You're welcome," he said, and held out the crook of his arm toward her. She took it in her hands and walked out of the room.

Everyone was at the altar waiting. She could feel everyone's nerves prickling their skins. Hell, she had the same nerves.

She inhaled another deep breath and let it out. She was trying not to let the anxiety hit her now. "It's okay for you to hold onto me, I won't let you fall," Bruce whispered in her ear, and she nodded, trying to keep her tears in. She didn't want to cry. She'd ruin her makeup.

The doors opened, and somehow when Zoe peeked inside, the crowd seemed ten-fold. She saw everyone there. Dr. Strange. Wong. Hope. Scott. Starlord. Mantis. Gamora. She saw her girls at the altar. She saw Steve's best men on the other side of the altar. Steve was up there, waiting patiently for her to walk down the aisle and head towards him.

 _Oh God…_ she thought, and tightened Bruce's arm. She could feel her stomach tighten in nervous waves. The music started and she closed her eyes, then opened them again.

She finally found herself walking down the aisle with a little help from Bruce. Her heart was beating wildly, she could hardly contain it. It was finally happening.

She was getting married to the love of her life.

And before she knew it, she was at the altar. Bruce turned her around and lifted the veil up and out of her face. She smiled warmly as he pulled her in for a kiss on the cheek, and handed her over to Steve up on the steps and underneath the altar where Thor stood, holding out a book with a large smile on his face as he watched the exchange between two of his friends.

"My dear family and friends," Thor began after Bruce took his seat in the front next to Scott, Hope, and Cassie. "We've all gathered here today under happy matrimony to bring our two favorite people in the world, Zoe Sawyer and Steven Rogers together. Finally. You may exchange vows. Zoe?"

"Steve," she said, holding out his hands. She gave them a gentle squeeze and he squeezed back, smiling brightly at her. "Before I met you, I was a mess. Sure, I had a job, and everything, but I didn't know who I really was until I met you. I may have been the one to guide you through monsters, magic, and the twenty-first century…" she said, and a chuckle from a few avengers erupted in the church. She bit back a smile and looked out at them but then at Steve who was blushing a bit. She gave his hands another squeeze. "But I wouldn't be who I am without you today. I owe you everything. My heart, my soul, and my love is yours forever if you'll still have me."

"Heh. Of course I will," Steve smiled. "Uh, may I?" he asked Thor and Thor nodded. "Zoe. You don't have to give me everything, just your friendship, and love of course I already know you love me with all your heart and so do I. I believe in us and that we can do this together. You and me just like before, except this time…we have each other, and we have our twins, Natasha and Clinton," he motioned a quick nod at the flower girl and the ring bearer. Zoe smiled back at her little ones and she nodded, trying so much not to cry. "You're my family, and I will love you till the end of time."

"Ah, now the rings, please, Mr. Ring Bearer," Thor said in a booming voice that made Clinton almost jump. He gave the God of Thunder a look and he winked at him. Clint offered the pillow to his parents. Zoe and Steve took the rings from him, thanking him, as he stepped back with his sister, who was all smiles in her little flower crown on top of her head.

"Steven Rogers, do you take Zoe Sawyer to be your wife? Do you promise to love, honor, cherish, protect her, forsaking all others and holding only to her forevermore?"

"I do," Steve slipped the wedding band on her ring finger. Zoe felt a slight shiver as it slipped onto her finger.

"Zoe Sawyer, do you take Steven Rogers to be your husband? Do you promise to love, honor, cherish, protect him, forsaking all others, holding only to him forevermore?"

"I do," Zoe nodded, and slipped on Steve's ring onto his, unable to help but smile as she did so.

"Well then, by the powers that have been entrusted in me thanks to the state of New York, I now pronounce you, Zoe Sawyer, and Steve Rogers, husband and wife. You may kiss the bride," Thor said.

Steve and Zoe turned to face one another and held each other's hands tight. He stepped forward and pulled her gently towards him in for a deep kiss. Zoe's smile widened within the kiss as she kissed him back feeling all the butterflies fly up within her body and soul, her mind racing a million miles a second until the kiss finally ended.

He leaned his forehead against hers and grinned. "We did it," he whispered. She smiled and felt her shoulders shrug up with happiness and joy that she felt all over.

"We did," she nodded.

The church erupted into applause. Clint and Natasha ran up to their parents. Zoe picked up little Natasha in her arms, while Steve picked up Clint and hugged them both in their arms.

She was now Zoe Lynn Sawyer-Rogers. It certainly has a nice ring to it.

 **~*A*~**

 **A/n: Oh my gosh you guys. I'm so sorry this took so long to get out. Every time I thought about it, it didn't seem right, and I don't know, I'm just terrible at writing weddings, lol. So if you want to see the dress I picked, it's called Galatea Embroidered V-Neck Tulle Wedding Dress and the music for the wedding walk and drama, I chose, 'Wedding Andate' by Roy Todd. I looked up stunning entrance wedding music. Lol. It was kind of fun. I felt like a wedding planner, and then I kept getting teary-eyed while writing this chapter. Ugh. Anyway. I may write the reception with everyone afterwards if you'd all like that. Just let me know! Thank you all for the follows, favorites, and the reviews of this story! I love you all!**


End file.
